LISTENING TO THE SILENCE: REAL SITUATIONS OF LIBRAS USE IN INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS IN SANTARÉM - PARÁ
Keywords: Deaf. Brazilian Sign Language. Bilingual Teaching.
This research is mainly interested in the current scenario of teaching the Deaf in elementary schools in the urban area of Santarém - Pará, involving the Brazilian Sign Language - Libras and the Portuguese Language, in written form. We will verify, through reports of Deaf people, how their educational trajectories were. Through these reports we can find answers to our main question: Do the methodologies used in teaching Deaf people in Santarém-PA include the use of Libras in promoting a bilingual and inclusive space? We seek to identify whether these environments have resources that may favor bilingual teaching (Libras/Portuguese). The research data will be generated through semi-structured interviews with Deaf graduates from basic education, so that they can express, through their language, the experiences they had in their training trajectories. The experience reports are related to 06 deaf graduates, Libras users, aged between 19 and 40 years. The deaf graduates will report their opinions about the teaching they received, and so we will collect and analyze these reports that will unfold in the results of this research. As we are going to talk about a language, we feel motivated to investigate its aspects in real situations of use by its speakers. To theoretically dialogue with this work, we cite important works by authors such as Quadros & Karnopp (2004), Gesser (2009), Ferreira (2010), Quadros (2019), among others. The outcome of this research could bring contributions to the knowledge of the intrinsic aspects of the use of Libras in the teaching of the Deaf and broaden the reflection and debates about the need to expand and offer bilingual education in the city of Santarém.