Aprender português como língua estrangeira: dificuldades e motivações dos estudantes romenos
Learning Portuguese as a Foreign Language: Difficulties and Motivations of Romanian Students

Summary/Abstract: Previous studies indicate that the main difficulty perceived by students when learning a foreign language concerns pronunciation and oral expression. This study aims to verify whether this observation also applies to Romanian students learning Portuguese as a foreign language (PFL) and to assess the extent to which it affects the learning process. We further seek to explore the teacher’s role and to determine whether a positive attitude towards teaching and learning can motivate students to overcome speaking difficulties, particularly those experiencing high levels of pronunciation anxiety. This phenomenon, still little studied in the case of this language pair, has significant impact on students’ aca -demic performance, often discouraging them from attempting to express themselves in the target language – a tendency that becomes especially evident during oral examinations. The results of this study support the hypothesis that positive teacher behaviors in class can reduce learners’ pronunciation anxiety, provided that the students perceive these encouraging and supportive behaviors as consistent. The teacher also plays an essential role through the guidance offered not only for improving linguistic performance, but also for developing the skills students will later use in their professional careers.

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