Portuguese in today’s world: A study with future professionals in Social Communication

Abstract

Social Communication is facing great changes. The way the professionals of that area use their mother tongue is changing too, taking into account publics that use intensively the social nets and have access to information. Consequently, it is important to determine how these professionals see their mother tongue and assure that their training will help them to know it and to master it in a more efficient way.

Thus, we developed qualitative studies – case study – using a questionnaire to collect data and content analysis to analyze them. This text refers to an exploratory study whose participants were future Social Communication professionals attending the 3rd year of a graduation in a polytechnic institute. They disclosed social representations on their mother tongue (Portuguese) too attached to its geographic origin and misrepresentations concerning its variation capable of preventing adaptation to the 21st century society, mainly multicultural and plurilingual.