Reflexões autoetnográficas de uma professora de língua portuguesa: letramentos e (de)colonialidades

Abstract

This work aims to contribute to situated understandings of Portuguese language teaching practice through the elaboration and analysis of narratives of experiences related to the school context. Aligned with the perspectives of critical literacy (Soares, 2002; Ferreira; Takaki, 2014; Rojo; Moura, 2019; Street, 2014) and decoloniality (Quijano, 2000; Mignolo, 2005; Walsh, 2013), the research seeks to unveil the cultural, historical, and political layers that permeate the act of educating, transforming it into an act of resistance and the construction of new horizons. In this study, the concept of critical literacy is understood not merely as a practice of reading and writing but as a process that questions power structures, while decoloniality provides a path to challenge colonial legacies, promoting the appreciation of plural knowledge and narratives that have been marginalized. From a methodological perspective, an interpretive qualitative approach based on autoethnography is adopted (Ellis et al., 2011; Berry, 2022), where the researcher positions herself as both observer and participant of her own teaching practice. This approach is enriched by the theory of life narratives (Linde, 1993), which emphasizes the relevance of personal stories in constructing coherence and identity, both individually and collectively. The study's corpus consists of narratives based on informal conversations that took place in the school environment with students and teachers, as well as interactions conducted via messaging applications like WhatsApp, mainly among teachers. The results indicate that teaching practice, analyzed through the lenses of critical literacy and decoloniality, reveals challenges and tensions involving representativeness, equity, and social justice in the school context. In this sense, the research suggests that incorporating these theoretical perspectives can open pathways for a more inclusive and transformative education that values marginalized voices and encourages critical reflection in the educational space.