“Eu sei screvé bonito com caneta…” literacy with adults immigrants in an informal project

Abstract

This article is based on a case study of a non-formal alphabetization and literacy project in Portuguese as a Second Language. The project works with immigrants from different countries of the African continent and is run by a non-formal collective that carries out numerous initiatives to support the community of a precarious housing neighborhood on the outskirts of Lisbon. The research, analyses the educational and social action of the collective in the period 2016 - 2020 to respond to the needs of the participants. In this case study, we used qualitative methodology, such as semi-structured interviews with five women and one man (2021), aiming to understand their sociolinguistic and sociodemographic profiles and perceptions about the project. Additionally, in order to understand the development of the project over the time and the aspects that educators value, were analyzed class reports, realized weekly after each class (2016 – 2018). In this article, we will discuss how the diversity of sociolinguistic profiles of both educators and learners impacts on the literacy project. It intends to analyze how the different actors involved mobilize resources and overcome their difficulties in a non-formal education context, in a territory characterized by international mobilities, multilingual profiles and communicative practices, null or low levels of schooling, and particularly vulnerable socio-economic situations. It is observed that the project provides possibilities of linguistic contacts and literacy practices in Portuguese, through socially contextualized dialogue between all involved (learners and educators), being above all a revealing space of socialization in face of the innumerable material difficulties of the learners and the learning context.