On the construction of cultural and identity representations in online interactions in Portuguese among French, French-Portuguese and Brazilian students

Abstract

In its French-Brazilian version, the Teletandem Brasilproject (www.teletandembrasil.org) enables students of Portuguese from the University of Lille 3 (France) and students of French from the São Paulo State University (Unesp, campus of Assis), to participate in a process of collaborative learning of their languages and cultures, according to the principles of tandem and webtandem. We present some preliminary remarks on the construction of identity and cultural representations by the students who took part in this process. We analyze some of the themes they discussed and, more precisely, the prominence of Brazil as a discussion theme during the sessions in Portuguese. We also study the possible conflicts arising from the confrontation between a Portuguese identity often claimed by the French students and a French identity, which the Brazilian students assign to them. This confrontation will allow us to perceive that only those who have a peaceful relationship with their own culture are able to develop asuccessful partnership.