Culture in the training for language teachers in Ibero-American context

Abstract

This text aims to discuss the cultural component in teacher training courses of Spanish and Portuguese foreign languages. Through qualitative research, it is proposed to analyze how two training courses for language teachers - the course of Licenciatura em Letras - Espanhol, located in Brazil, and Profesorado de Portugues, in Argentina - represent the culture. This is done through the analysis of official documents that guide the courses, that is, the Pedagogical Political Project and the syllabus of the Brazilian course and the Course Guide of the Argentine course. The data analyzed indicate that the courses are based on a traditional conception of culture, marked by essentialism and Eurocentrism and expressed by working with the history of nations and the description of their societies. The two contexts are differentiated by the greater focus given to culture and Latin America (represented by Brazil) by the Argentine course. The Brazilian context is marked by the silencing of Latin American culture, which indicates the colonialist heritage in the academic and professional formation of the language teacher.