Reflections on literacy practices developed in minority language school context

Abstract

We aim, in this article, to reflect on literacy practices in German language introduced in a rural school from the implementation of changes in the municipal language policies, and their interface with local literacy practices within a bilingual community of German immigration. The research data, which came from an ethnographic study and was analyzed under the light of the New Literacy Studies and of the bi/multilingualism of minority language groups, suggest that the teachers belonging to the local ethnic-linguistic group try to recognize the inherited language of both the children and the community, although they suffer the pressure of the school curriculum, based, mainly, in the Portuguese monolingualism. Within a complex sociolinguistic scenario, teachers should take pedagogic decisions over the literacy practices and language they should value at school.