ABSTRACT
This article is based on a case study of a non-formal alphabetization and literacy projet in Portuguese as Non-Mother Tongue with adult immigrants. 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 six learners (2021), proceeded by classes’ archives (2016-2020). In this article, we will discuss how the diversity of sociolinguistic profiles, both of the educators and the learners, impacts the alphabetization and literacy project of the collective. 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.
Keywords:
alphabetization of adults; literacy; critical literacy; non-formal education; immigrants