INFLUENCE OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN THE TEACHING OF PORTUGUESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN BRAZIL AND THE UNITED STATES: EDUCATION FOR A LANGUAGE HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

In this work the findings of a historiographic research on the influence of the Second World War in teaching Portuguese as a foreign language in Brazil and the United States are presented. Based on the principle of contextualization, we describe the climate of opinion of the 1940's as unfavorable to bilingual education of German immigrants in Brazil, and as favorable to the teaching of Portuguese for students in American schools and universities. With the analysis and discussion of the data, we can attribute the different impact of the War on the pedalinguistic practice of the two countries to the different views of the legislators about the necessary language education for their populations. We can also point to the importance of historiography for language teachers training