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1 Images and signs: a collaborative teaching proposal to 2 understand the novel Os Sertões in the Brazilian Sign 3 Language (LIBRAS) 4 5 6 This article reports a collaborative teaching experience of Portuguese for 7 the deaf through a dialogue on Os sertões, by Euclides da Cunha, between 8 deaf student, Libras / Portuguese translator / interpreter and the Portuguese 9 language teacher. The purpose of the proposal was to encourage the 10 creation of specific vocabulary in Libras. The teaching experience took 11 place using the Digital Dialogical Notebook tool. For now, aspects of fauna, 12 flora, hydrography and relief of the northeastern hinterland stand out from 13 Os sertões. For this, the iconographic, geographic, anthropological and 14 linguistic aspects of this pre-modernist novel were studied. After analyzing 15 these indicators, photographs and images were perceived, linking all these 16 factors to a visual literacy that allowed a greater understanding of the work. 17 Recordings and video editions were made with the search of historical 18 record of these creations. It was found that, due to the direct and indirect 19 interactions between the professionals (translator / interpreter and teacher) 20 and the native speaker of Libras, it was possible to create linguistic material 21 of great social and educational value, since the Deaf People do not have 22 access to most literary works written in Portuguese. 23 24 Keywords: Libras, Os Sertões, Collaborative Teaching 25 26 27 Introduction 28 29 The present work is an experience report of the stages of creation of 30 vocabulary/lexicon in the Brazilian Sign Language of the species of fauna and 31 flora and the relief of the sertão, reported in the novel Os Sertões, by Euclides 32 da Cunha. It is intended from this proposal, to contribute to the development of 33 Libras with regard to the learning of Portuguese and Literature, to enable the 34 adaptation/translation of the work so that the deaf community has access in the 35 mother tongue, to show the importance of using of images in the teaching of 36 deaf students, serve as a historical record for the deaf community, as well as 37 foster more translations of accessible literary works. In the stages of production 38 of work, a presentation is made of the current situation of deaf people in 39 relation to access to bilingual education, as well as the difficulties they face in 40 making teaching and learning for deaf people possible. Soon after, the Digital 41 Dialogue Notebook is described, its proposal and the use of it for teaching 42 through images in the reading and interpretation of the novel. Photos of some 43 conversations in the Digital Notebook and images used in the production of the 44 vocabulary are shown, in addition to the QR codes so that deaf people and 45 listeners can see the signs created. Then, the steps of translation and 46 interpretation are detailed from the perspective of a complex process of 47 linguistic analysis.
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1 A Little about the Deaf and their Education in Brazil 2 3 The proposals of this work on the creation of Lexicon and vocabulary 4 analysis of the work arose due to the scarcity of adaptations for Libras of the 5 novels and literary documents that are the basis of the teaching of Portuguese 6 Language, Writing and Literature in Brazilian regular schools and sources of 7 study of Linguistics. The deaf person is seen as bilingual by society, however 8 access to Libras and the Portuguese language respectively does not happen 9 during the language acquisition period or in the proper way. According to 10 Lenneberg (1967 apud QUADROS; and CRUZ, 2011) there is a critical period 11 for language acquisition. This period “would start around 2 years of age and 12 end around puberty” (p.33). 13 Many deaf people live in rural cities where there are no associations of 14 deaf people, ESA (Specialized Educational Service) and similar centers, but 15 who share political and cultural movements and are users of sign languages. 16 There are also other deaf people isolated in rural areas, without contact with the 17 deaf community and who, like all deaf people, build their “world formation 18 through visual cultural artifact” (STROBEL, 2008, p. 20), with a degree 19 differentiated language, through familiar home gestures or familiar signs14. 20 The deaf people are made up of people from rural areas, urban areas, 21 Indians, deaf women, quilombola communities, deaf users of Sign Languages, 22 oralized deaf people5, implanted deaf6, with different genders and sexualities 23 and many others. These deaf people also make up the deaf people and need 24 access to information and communication as the texts of Laws No. 10,436 25 (Libras Law) and No. 12,319 (Law of the Translator / Interpreter of Libras) 26 sanctioned in 2002 and 2010 respectively and Law No. 13,146 (Brazilian Law 27 for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities). 28 29 30 The Teaching Experience 31 32 Based on the proposals made by the Portuguese Language course taught 33 by professor José Radamés Benevides in previous years at IF Baiano (Baiano 34 Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology), the dialogical 35 communication notebook between students and the teacher for improving 36 reading and writing was created and used for a few years in the classroom with 37 regular high school students integrated into the agricultural course at the same 38 Institute. In notebooks acquired by the students, texts of different genres, 39 images and reports were transcribed or pasted weekly and delivered to the 40 teacher. The teacher, in turn, took it to his residence, read, responded and made 41 constructive observations in order to encourage more productions.
1Term used by researchers and linguists that designates the communication of deaf subjects who, when isolated and without access to sign language and Portuguese, use gestures and dramatizations to communicate. 5Deaf people who speak Portuguese in oral mode. 6Deaf people using cochlear implants.
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1 2 The Subjects of the Dialogue 3 4 Since in Brazil, the deaf people have late access to learning Libras (L127) 5 and successively to the Portuguese language (L28); for deaf students, this work 6 was already happening collaboratively between Libras translation / interpreting 7 professionals and the Portuguese language teacher using the students' own 8 notebooks and the Specialized Educational Service (AEE) moments. 9 According to data, “more than 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents 10 who do not use sign language” (STROBEL, 2008, p. 35), as a result, “deaf 11 children are often exposed to sign language as a first language in an age range 12 well beyond childhood ”(QUADROS; CRUZ, 2011, p. 5). 13 14 The Medium of Dialogue: The Digital Dialogical Notebook 15 16 In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this work was adapted for 17 digital version through a group in the WhatsApp application, always on 18 Wednesdays on the afternoon shift, allowing a direct conversation between the 19 student and these professionals. However, some concerns arose from the 20 formation of this virtual work (Figure 1). As the Digital Dialogical Notebook 21 (nomenclature adopted by the Portuguese language teacher) had the objective 22 of working on written communication in Portuguese language via the Internet 23 with the deaf student and encouraging their learning, the proposal arose to use 24 it for analysis and appreciation of literary works in the Portuguese language, as 25 explained by Oliveira (2009): 26 27 Faced with the complex contemporary social reality, which makes all kinds of 28 information available through the most varied linguistic systems and 29 technological devices, the school needs to form a citizen capable of interacting 30 and communicating through all these means. In this context, a language that is 31 constantly used is visual. (Oliveira, 2009, p. 5) 32 33
7First language 8Second language
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1 Figure 1. Photograph of part of the conversation in the Digital Dialogue 2 Notebook.
3 4 Source: Author's collection. 5 6 All this work also comes from the specific incentive of a study and 7 research group created in the Senhor do Bonfim region in Bahia within the 8 Federal Institute of Bahia (Libras-Português-Libras Group) with the 9 participation of several deaf and hearing professionals. In 2019, he offered a 10 Portuguese language teaching course as L2 for deaf people in the region. 11 12 The Dialogue about Os Sertões: Fragments of a Conversation 13 14 One of the novels chosen to work with the discipline Portuguese 15 Language, in 2020, through the Dialogical Notebook was the book Os Sertões, 16 by Euclides da Cunha, an emblematic work from the pre-modernist period, 17 published in 1902, and which would be read by all students of the third year of 18 the Technical Course in Agricultural Integrated to High School. A regionalist 19 novel that chronicles events of the Bloody War known as the Canudos War. It 20 was led by Antônio Conselheiro in the region of the city of Canudos in the 21 interior of the State of Bahia during the years 1896 and 1897. The book is a 22 historical account that mixes culture, relief, fauna and flora of the Brazilian 23 Sertão and a historical landmark of the history of Brazil; it can be analyzed by 24 several areas of knowledge and sciences such as Anthropology, Sociology, 25 Geography, History, Linguistics, among others. The work has a realistic critical 26 characteristic, addressing political, economic and social issues in Brazil in the 27 pre-modernist period. 28 Euclides da Cunha makes use of scientific language to recriminate 29 nationalism and pride in Brazilian society in this period. Through the work, the
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1 author exemplifies how the Brazilian population was portrayed or represented 2 in that period and how the backwoods / Northeasterners were stereotyped at the 3 national level. It is a scientific and artistic test aimed at confronting an 4 idealistic vision of the Indian hero and the black worker. 5 The work is extensive and divided into three parts with the following 6 themes: “The land”, where the author describes the place, climate, relief, 7 vegetation and species of the entire Sertão and the drought that is plaguing the 8 region, and is divided in five chapters where a study and descriptive analysis 9 are done; the second part of the work is called “O homem”, also in five 10 chapters that make up an anthropological and sociological study of life, 11 customs and the people that make up the Northeastern Sertão, that is, the 12 sertanejo itself; next, in the last part of the work, there is a description of the 13 Canudos War, a scenario where a large part of the northeastern population was 14 decimated and there is now a historiographical study that is divided into 34 15 chapters, and in this part of the work we have four expeditions made by the 16 Brazilian army and the period referring to the “post-war” period, called by the 17 author “last days”. In this work, he focused only on the vocabulary part, as a 18 contribution to the stages of production of the adapted work. 19 20 21 The images of the dialogue/Of the images, the dialogue 22 23 Thus, through the work with this work, the professionals were faced with 24 some concerns. The first, about the lack of sufficient lexicon in Libras or in the 25 Brazilian Sign Languages for relief, fauna and flora typical of the northeastern 26 hinterland region. The second was that there was no adaptation of this novel 27 accessible to deaf people who used Libras. 28 Therefore, the creation of specific vocabulary to adapt this work required 29 linguistic support from the deaf student Matheus Anacleto da Silva, a third year 30 high school student at IF Baiano, who despite being a regular reader of the 31 Portuguese language and fluent user of Libras, did not dominated or was 32 unaware of regional terms and variations described in the book; besides, of 33 course, the difficulty in the morphosyntactic aspects of Portuguese that differ 34 from Sign Languages. 35 Then, the Portuguese language teacher initiated, in three different stages, 36 dialogues of analysis of the geographical aspects, vegetation and animal 37 species of the entire Sertão region described in the book (Figures 2 and 3), 38 asking the student about the knowledge or ignorance of their names. 39 Afterwards, the deaf student and the teacher returned with researched photos 40 via the Google Images website (Figures 4 and 5), emphasizing how important 41 the images are for contextualizing and understanding the literary work. At the 42 same time, the professional Libras Translator and Interpreter accompanied the 43 discussions, assisting in the translation process and taking notes of this specific 44 Lexicon. Remember here that the deaf people make use of Portuguese words 45 by organizing phrases and periods in the syntactic structure of Libras, and 46 listeners are not always able to understand due to the lack of socialization. The
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1 Portuguese language teacher described above already had regular contact and 2 also experience with teaching L2 for the deaf39. 3 4 Figure 2. Photograph of part of the conversation in the Digital Dialogical 5 Notebook
6 7 Source: Author's collection. 8 9 Figure 3. Photograph of part of the conversation in the Digital Dialogical 10 Notebook
11 12 Source: Author's collection. 13 14
9In 2019, an extension course of teaching Portuguese language for deaf people will be promoted by a team of 12 professionals in Senhor do Bonfim / BA, through the partnership between IF Baiano and Faculdade Mustruia18.
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1 Figure 4. Photograph of the Queixada.
2 3 Source: Google Images. 4 5 Figure 5. Photograph of Barriguda
6 7 Source: Google Images. 8 9 Associated with this, Libras professional, Márcio Araújo, already had a 10 channel on the streaming platform called YouTube, where a sign (dictionary of 11 lexicon in and of Libras) with about ten thousand words / words, several 12 classes and videos about Libras and Cultura Deaf are available and accessible 13 to the entire deaf community (Figures 6 and 7). However, even with all this 14 digital collection in videos, the specific lexicon of the novel did not yet exist on 15 the platform. The search for lexicon in these specific areas begins via the 16 internet, books, social media and scientific articles. Even with all the search, 17 the gloss regarding the geographical part and the species of plants and animals 18 of the Northeastern Sertão did not yet exist. Only works related to other areas 19 of knowledge, other literary works or some generic terms from the specific 20 vocabulary related to the Sertão that were also incorporated into the work were 21 found. 22 23
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1 Figure 6. Logo of the Author's YouTube channel.
2 3 Source: Author's Collection 4 5 Figure 7. QR Code to access the Author's YouTube channel
6 7 Source: Author's Collection 8 9 The Northeast makes use of regional linguistic terms and due to its size, 10 number of federative units and local dialects; the linguistic framework is 11 immense. Thus, the focus needed to be maintained in the Book (Os Sertões) 12 proposed in the Digital Dialogical Notebook. 13 Primarily, the deaf student, mediated by the Libras Interpreter Translator 14 (also a Portuguese language teacher) in cooperation with the Institute's 15 Portuguese teacher, analyzed the photographs and explanations of the concepts 16 of this proposed vocabulary for his understanding of the location and visual 17 characteristics hills, mountains, depressions, plateaus, vegetation in general, as 18 well as animals typical of the region. Since Libras is a visuospatial language, 19 its phonological parameters need to be respected in the process of creating new 20 signs (words), as well as the participation of professionals from different 21 scientific areas is necessary for the theoretical and practical basis of its 22 production, since it is of the interaction of the deaf with the interpreter and with 23 the content they are studying that the sign is born410. It should be noted here 24 that Libras is a language and like every language, it is a social phenomenon 25 that flows in the automatic and natural creation of its words by its people and 26 allows its use in different social, professional, teaching and research contexts. 27 As a resident of the Northeastern Sertão region, the deaf student already 28 had visual aids and contact with species of animals, plants and hills close to his 29 city of residence (Filadélfia / BA), but he was unaware of most of the names 30 used in the designation of animals, vegetables and relief. This work adequately 31 subsidized their understanding and helped in the creation of the signs. Maps of 32 the Sertão, of the Northeast region, of Bahia, of relief, hydrography, vegetation 33 and climate (Figures 8, 9 and 10) were presented to the student through the
10 The origin of the signal in an academic-scientific context is described here.
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1 WhatsApp digital platform so that he could understand the connection between 2 all these maps and geographical area called Northeastern Sertão. 3 Then, the general description of the Sertão was made, always asking 4 the student what he knew or did not know. The following data were presented 5 and discussed below: 6 7 Figure 8. Photograph of red clay
8 9 Source: Google Images 10 11 Figure 9. Photograph of Serra da Furna
12 13 Source: Google Images 14 15 Figure 10: Photo of location on Google Maps
16 17 Source: Google Maps
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1 According to TAMANINI and SILVA (2020): 2 3 To affirm that textbooks feed a buzzword about Northeasterners is not new. A 4 quick bibliographic survey shows that, for decades, many writers have seen the 5 Northeasterners only by their accents and frills, comical and strident, fervently 6 Catholic, rustic, quarrelsome, etc. We also found that, very often, textbooks 7 confabulate such an imaginary, reinforce partialities, failing to teach the other 8 side in schools. (TAMANINI; SILVA, 2020, p. 6) 9 10 As stated by the aforementioned authors, textbooks, as well as the media in 11 the use of “dried out images” (TAMANINI; SILVA, 2020) do not collaborate 12 to overcome stereotypes and distorted interpretations of the Northeast and the 13 Sertão. Because of this, other information emerged through photos and images 14 and by inquiries from the student himself about the sertão not only being an 15 area of droughts, hunger and misery, but also of rich agricultural production, 16 stretches of water and beautiful sources of tourism. 17 18 Description and analysis of work with images for translation / 19 interpretation 20 21 For the work of translation and interpretation, a historical-anthropological 22 analysis of the Canudos War centered on Antônio Conselheiro with the 23 physical aspects of the backcountry people, such as the typical clothes, 24 ethnicities and religiosities portrayed by Euclides da Cunha was necessary 25 (Figure 11). 26 27 Figure 11. Prisoners of the Arraial de Canudos after the confrontation with the 28 Army portrayed in “Os sertões”; the photo was part of the exhibition “Euclides 29 da Cunha. Os sertões - testimony and apocalypse ”, at the National Library
30 31 Source: National Library 32 33 This entire description was cited as a basis, how much information was
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1 needed in this work and how previous research and analysis are absolutely 2 accurate for academic production in Libras and in any language. And it 3 becomes more complex when images are not used. Without the use of images it 4 would be impossible to make the deaf student (visually literate) understand or 5 understand the location, training, creation and the entire extension of the 6 studied region. According to Heberle (2010): 7 8 [...] the importance of considering the way in which other semiotic resources, in 9 addition to verbal language, are interrelated in texts, since the reality experienced 10 by our students and by us in contemporary society requires immediate actions in 11 order to enable pedagogical actions that encourage the development of 12 'multimodal communicative competence' (HEBERLE, 2010, p. 3). 13 14 A search of images was started on the Internet, in Whatsapp conversations 15 and also on specific sites for analyzing the work. After analyzing the visual and 16 descriptive aspects, the translator and interpreter collected the pre-existing 17 signals in a text and voice file; the deaf student was encouraged to create the 18 nonexistent signs for a specific disallowance to be organized in YouTube 19 Playlists (video galleries) and then these signs will be used in the adaptation / 20 translation of the work Os Sertões para Libras. 21 Regarding the previous interpretations / translations of the chosen videos, 22 the Libras and Portuguese Translator / Interpreter noted the signs with the 23 parameter descriptions and used pictographic drawings; limited recording time; 24 recorded audio in Portuguese using a cell phone application with narration of 25 signal descriptions; adjusted lighting, background, focus and camera position; 26 he checked whether the clothing was appropriate for the contrast of 27 background and lighting colors; started recording your interpretation / 28 translation; watched the video to see the quality of the content and image; 29 removed the video from the cell phone or camera by transferring it to the 30 computer; through a video and image editor program, it enlarged, cut, deleted, 31 removed audio and checked content (a time of about 2 hours was spent editing 32 each 30 minutes of video depending on the resources used); uploaded (posted) 33 the videos to Youtube generating electronic addresses (links), separated the 34 videos into galleries (playlists), incorporated photographs and images into the 35 initial screen of each video and finally generated, via mobile application, QR 36 Codes used in this work. All these steps were necessary according to Libras' 37 complexity precepts, according to Quadros and Karnopp (2004) considerations: 38 39 Sign languages are therefore considered by linguistics as natural languages or as a 40 legitimate linguistic system and not as a problem for the deaf or as a pathology of 41 language. Stokoe, in 1960, realized and proved that the sign language met all the 42 linguistic criteria of a genuine language, in the lexicon, in the syntax and in the 43 capacity to generate an infinite amount of sentences [...] noted that the signs were 44 not images, but complex abstract symbols, with a complex interior structure. He 45 was the first, therefore, to look for a structure, to analyze the signs, to dissect 46 them and to research their constituent parts. (TABLES; KARNOPP, 2004, p. 30). 47 48 The following categories were produced: Bahian and Northeastern cities
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1 (Figure 12), animals typical of the Sertão (Figure 13), species of plants native 2 to the Northeast (Figure 14), sign of the Canudos War (Figure 15), sign of the 3 author Euclides da Cunha (Figure 16), sign from the geographic region called 4 Sertão (Figure 17), sign from the Caatinga biome (Figure 18) and in addition 5 several other signs used in the work such as verbs, objects, clothing and 6 expressions are distributed in other video galleries already posted on the 7 YouTube channel Mustruia Dezoito. 8 9 Figure 12. QR Code of the Bahian cities playlist
10 11 Source: Author's Collection 12 13 Figure 13. Signs of typical animal species in the Northeast
14 15 Source: Author's Collection 16 17 Figure 14. Signs of native plants in the Northeast
18 19 Source: Author's Collection 20 21 Figure 15. Canudos War Sign
22 23 Source: Author's Collection 24
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1 Figure 16. Euclides da Cunha Author's Sign
2 3 Source: Author's Collection 4 5 Figure 17. Sign of the geographic and cultural area of Sertão
6 7 Source: Author's Collection 8 9 Figure 18. Sign of the Caatinga biome.
10 11 Source: Author's Collection 12 13 As for the signs related to the relief, a work was done through Google 14 Maps so that the student could understand where each hill, mountain, plateau, 15 district, town and city of Sertão is located as reported in the book by Euclides 16 da Cunha. 17 As stated by Santaella (2012): 18 19 […] A more systematic learning than what could be called “visual literacy”, with 20 the purpose of developing a critical reception of images that allows discussing the 21 practices of looking and the practices of production, circulation and construction 22 of meanings attributed to them. (SANTAELLA, 2012, p.1) 23 24 Thus, with the use of images and videos, a process of visual literacy 25 focused on this work and so many others was initiated so that the student could 26 see the work Os Sertões by Euclides da Cunha not only in social aspects, but 27 also in historical aspects , geographic, cultural and economic. 28 29 30 Conclusion 31 32 From studies of sign languages and oral languages, it was possible to infer 33 that the use of images is a fundamental means for understanding and
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1 interpreting literary works, textbooks and academic studies in general. Through 2 an unconscious or conscious analysis of the image, the deaf subject who is 3 visual incorporates readings and advances in the teaching-learning process; as 4 well as the signifiers and meanings of a word / sign undergo changes from one 5 language/culture to another. Not only deaf students, but each and every student 6 creates deeper interpretations and understandings using visuality. 7 This work brought contributions to the academic deaf community, to deaf 8 high school students and also provided those involved with enriching 9 professional and linguistic acquisitions. This project is part of a historical 10 collection of and for the deaf people, as well as it is a proof of how the 11 inclusion of deaf people through the teaching and learning of Portuguese and 12 Libras is possible while respecting linguistic variations and differences. 13 14 15 References 16 17 AB’SÁBER, Aziz Nacib. Os domínios de natureza no Brasil: potencialidades 18 paisagísticas. 4ª ed. São Paulo: Ateliê Editorial, 2007. 159p. 19 ADAS, Melhem; ADAS, Sérgio. Expedições Geográficas. 1ª ed. São Paulo: 20 Moderna, 2011. 280p. 21 BRASIL, Constituição (2002), LEI Nº 10.436, DE 24 DE ABRIL DE 2002. 22 Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/2002/l10436.htm. 23 Acesso em: 15 nov. 2020. 24 BRASIL, Constituição (2010), LEI Nº 12.319, DE 1º DE SETEMBRO DE 2010. 25 Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2007-2010/2010/lei/l1 26 2319.htm. Acesso em: 15 nov. 2020. 27 BRASIL, Constituição (2015), LEI Nº 13.146, DE 6 DE JULHO DE 2015. 28 Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2015-2018/2015/lei/l13 29 146.htm. Acesso em: 15 nov. 2020. 30 CAMPELLO, Ana Regina e Sousa. Pedagogia Visual / Sinal na Educação de Surdos. 31 Estudos Surdos II / Ronice Müller de Quadros e Gladis Perlin (organizadoras). 32 Petrópolis, RJ: Arara Azul, 2007. 33 CAPOVILLA, Fernando C., Raphael, Walkiria, Macedo e Eliseu. Manual Ilustrado 34 de Sinais e Sistema de Comunicação em Rede para os Surdos. Instituto de 35 Psicologia da Universidade de São Paulo. São Paulo, 1998. 36 CUNHA, Euclides da. Os Sertões. São Paulo; Editora L&PM Pocket (1201), 2016. 37 EMBRAPA – Empresa Brasileira De Pesquisa Agropecuária. Disponível em: 38 https://ainfo.cnptia.embrapa.br/digital/ Acesso em: 15 nov. 2020. 39 FERNANDES, S.; MOREIRA, L.C. Desdobramentos político-pedagógicos do 40 bilinguismo para surdos: reflexões e encaminhamentos. Revista Educação 41 Especial, Santa Maria, v.22, n.34, p.225-236, 2009. Disponível em:
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1 antecipa chegada de água do São Francisco à Fortaleza. 2017. Disponível em: 2
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