A IMPORTÂNCIA DA LITERATURA PARA O PROFISSIONAL LEA-NI

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze how the studying of literature contributes to the education of the professional majoring in Foreign Languages Applied to International Affairs, and how it correlates to other themes studied in this major. The research method applied is a theoretical, exploratory and qualitative analysis of documental and bibliographic sources, which range from articles and scientific papers from other authors regarding this subject and documents such as the university guidelines for Foreign Languages programs in Brazil. By presenting a general overview of the literary studies and its relationship to other fields of knowledge, the paper seeks to highlight the importance of literature in the Foreign Languages Applied to International Affairs majors in Brazil, with a main focus on the Universidade Federal da Paraíba, and how the literary studies can contribute to the professional, linguistic and civic growth of the future Foreign Languages professionals. It is possible to observe, after this research, a strong relation between literary studies and cultural studies, and between language, literature and culture, seen as literature is located in the intersection between language and culture. It is also noticeable that there is an influence of literature in possible fields of work of the Foreign Languages professional, such as literary tourism, which is a subcategory of cultural tourism, involving cultural matters as well. Furthermore, literature is an important component of teaching and learning foreign languages, serving as a tool for the understanding of culture and possible speech variations to be studied in the classroom to further improve the process of linguistic acquisition. Therefore, although the Foreign Languages Applied to International Negotiations major does not have its focus turned towards literary studies, its students might benefit from an interdisciplinary approach of literature that considers culture, language, and other elements of their field of study and acting, and there are arguments that justify the approximation between the Foreign Languages student and the literary studies.