CULTURAL REPRESENTATIONS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION: A STUDY ON CHINESE LEARNERS OF PORTUGUESE 1

Studying a foreign language is strongly associated with learning the target culture(s), developing representations of the foreign language realities, and acquiring interculturality. A pilot study conducted over a 4-year bachelor’s degree program in Portuguese as a Foreign Language aimed at understanding the cultural representations of Portuguese-speaking realities by Chinese students and how they evolved. Results show that: the foreign culture representations only slightly change over the 4 years; the mobility programs’ destination greatly influences representations of the host country; the students’ passivity causes superficial and school-based cultural representations of the target cultures, countries, and their inhabitants. These results have several pedagogical implications concerning the mobility programs’ preparation and the intercultural approach in the classroom.