Ensino de línguas de sinais: um panorama internacional de objetos digitais e tecnológicos

Abstract

Twenty years after the Libras Law, in 2002, large advances were achieved in the educational sphere for the deaf as well in the disseminating Libras in Brazilian society process, although many obstacles still need to be overcome, for instance the scarcity of curricula and teaching materials. In these two decades, a huge transformation has occurred in the general educational context, mainly due to advances in Digital Information and Communication Technologies that impacted, to mention, the field of language teaching. Based on this observation, the research problem was: what is the free access digital and technological tools and materials that can help professors in the sign languages teaching? In this sense, the study aimed, in general, to execute a survey of platforms, tools, and digital and technological materials that contribute to the teaching of sign languages. This investigation is relevant because it supplies a global panorama of how the signed languages teaching incorporates digital and technological objects in its practice and, therefore, generates necessary reflections for the advancement of Libras teaching practices in Brazil. For its accomplishment, the method of Systematic Mapping of Literature was used, in which its application was divided into six steps: 1) definition of the guiding question; 2) definition of descriptors and databases; 3) definition of search criteria and initial selection; 4) application of selection criteria – inclusion/exclusion; 5) critical analysis; and 6) data interpretation. At the end of these steps, the snowball method was applied to enhance the digital and technological objects identification. The analysis occurred using quantitative and qualitative approach and the objects was classified based on Filatro and Loureiro (2020). The data was grouped into two corpora of studies and of digital and technological objects - which revealed that, on the subject, the largest number of publications was from American and wrote in English language, in which the largest flow of publications occurred in 2013, 2019, 2020, and 2021. About the objects, only 34% had free access, most of which had American Sign Language and British Sign Language as their target language. The objects with free access could be classified into 'Content library', 'Games and gamification', ‘Social networks’, ‘Enriched digital books’, and ‘Evaluation tools and course platforms’. Research data show that the categories 'Content library' and 'Games and gamification' brought together the largest amount of digital and technological objects with free access. This field of discussion proves considerable advances, but not enough, especially in the Brazilian context. This study, therefore, supports the idea that the teaching of sign languages needs to incorporate technological developments as a contribution to the intensification of learning. It shows that it is possible to use digital and technological objects as allies to promote the teaching of Libras in an innovative, engaging way, and that encourages active learning, as it is used in other countries.