O processo ensino-aprendizagem da língua brasileira de sinais nos cursos de licenciatura da Universidade Federal do Maranhão – Campus Dom Delgado

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate how the teaching-learning process of Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS) has been occurring in undergraduate courses at the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), Dom Delgado Campus, in the perspective of Inclusive Education. For this, we developed an exploratory research, descriptive, with qualitative approach, with four teachers who teach the discipline of LIBRAS in undergraduate courses at UFMA, and 98 students from their respective classes. The data were collected through a mixed questionnaire containing 13 questions related to the object investigated. The results of the research reveal that among the 17 undergraduate courses in the Dom Delgado Campus, only five courses were offering the discipline of LIBRAS to the students of UFMA; there is a need for further clarification regarding the objectives of LIBRAS; the workload of the discipline of LIBRAS was considered short of what is necessary in relation to bilingualism; the methodologies used by teachers in LIBRAS classes are diverse; however, the use of digital technologies in the teaching-learning process of sign language was sporadic; the platforms and applications most used by teachers and students were YouTube, Hand Talk and LIBRAS Alphabet. The subject of LIBRAS is of utmost relevance in the context of inclusive teaching practice. In this sense, the findings of the research correspond to the fact that for the realization of bilingual education, under the perspective of educational inclusion, the initial teacher training, of good quality, is extremely necessary. The primary outcome of this study corresponds to the visibility of the learning of LIBRAS in Higher Education, and the secondary outcome aims to contribute in a critical-reflexive way about the bilingual teacher education (LIBRAS/Portuguese) in the undergraduate courses of the Federal University of Maranhão.