"It's different in Libras": literacy practices in a class of deaf students on a Letras-Libras course

The admission of deaf students to the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) is quite recent. One of the challenges posed by this entry concerns the literacy practices that deaf students engage in at university. This study aimed to investigate some of these practices, especially those that take place in the classroom. It was observed the participation of a group of four deaf students from the second term of the UFMG Letras-Libras graduation course in a Portuguese as a Second Language course, focusing especially on reading activities in which Libras and Portuguese were in constant relation. The analysis of these practices was based on studies in the field of literacy (Street, 1984; Kleiman, 1995; Street, 2003; Castanheira; Green; Dixon, 2007), academic literacy (Lea; Street, 1998; Lillis; Scott, 2007; Lillis et al., 2015), literacy of the deaf (Ribeiro, 2016; Fernandes; Moreira, 2017), reading (Bloome, 1983) and second language reading by deaf people (Silva, 2014; Pereira, 2018). For the observation and analysis of literacy practices, an ethnographic research perspective was adopted, with participant observation (Spradley, 1980; Lüdke; André, 1986; Green; Bloome, 1997; López, 1999; Green; Dixon; Zaharlick, 2005; Blommaert; Dong, 2010). The analysis of the events that took place in the classroom focused on the construction of meanings of the text in Portuguese and the negotiation of meanings between the participants through Libras. The analysis highlighted the strong presence of decoding reading as a frequent mode for deaf students to engage with written texts and the way in which this mode of reading can compromise their overall understanding of what is being read. It also highlighted the importance of mapping the prior knowledge – textual, linguistics and world knowledge – needed for reading, in order to try to remove possible barriers to student learning that could compromise this activity. Finally, the role of sign language in reading and literacy practi...