Overcoming linguistic barriers in Portuguese higher education: The case of international African students

Abstract

This article reflects about the contextual and theoretical assumptions of the project ‘Trovoada de Ideias: Linguistic and social inclusion of students from Portuguese-speaking African countries in Portuguese higher education’, an ongoing action research on Portuguese academic language teaching involving students who speak different varieties of Portuguese. By adopting a multidimensional inclusion approach (simultaneously linguistic, cultural and social), the ultimate aim is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the factors of (in)comprehension between students fluent in different norms of Portuguese and the university host community in Portugal, and consequently, building a frame for improving higher education institutions responses to multicultural challenges implied in the social dynamics of language variation.

Migrants’ Health Policies and Access to Health Care in Portugal within the European Framework

“…These migration flows, although occurring in different historical periods and contexts, portray transversally the need to search for better living conditions, regardless of the language barrier or the labor conditions that immigrants face in the host country [10]. Even for immigrants from Portuguesespeaking countries, the existence of different dialects and variations in Portuguese, which include large phonological and lexical differences, creates difficulties in communicating in the host country [18].…”