Program Overview

Overview

The establishment of the new Stricto sensu graduate program in Languages and Literature at Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) was recommended by the Scientific Technical Council (CTC), major bureau of CAPES, on the plenary of July 27, 2008 with grade 4. Its academic activities started in March, 2009, in Masters level with two main areas of concentration: Linguistic studies and Literary studies.

With recognized excellence of its undergraduate and graduate programs, UFV has extended its offer of post-graduation by establishing the master’s degree in Languages and Literature.

The university has, therefore, recognized the successful trajectory of its Languages, Literature and Arts Department (DLA), which has, historically, been characterized by an academic practice that integrates teaching, research and extension. In line with the university’s Institutional Development Plan (2004-2008), DLA established as one of the priorities of its Management Plan the implementation of the graduate program in Language and Literature (PPGLET – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras) in 2009. The creation of the Program represented an important milestone, with regard to continuous and necessary interaction between UVF and its socio-cultural context, enabling the constant dialogue between knowledge production and society.

The proposal to create PPGLET was feasible in 2008, when it was sent to CAPES right after DLA attested the required conditions to establish and develop a program of such nature; i.e. the teaching staff was composed mostly by graduate in Linguistics, Languages and Literature. Therefore, the wanted coherence expected on their qualification, degrees and area of expertise pointed to the offer of a Master’s degree course in which both teaching and research activities would focus on Linguistics and Literary studies. There was also a good amount of intellectual production (books, articles, conferences, lectures, paper sessions and research) in Discourse Analysis, the relationship between Literature and Culture, and Applied Linguistic, the latter focusing on foreign and first language teaching. In addition to the consistent number of doctors added to a qualified intellectual production, the academic staff had the necessary experience on advising, nourished by a significant number of students advised on scientific initiation researches as well as the ones advised on the Lato sensu graduate course on Applied Linguistics and Comparative Literature, over a decade.

The foundation of the program was guided by an academic concept based on the following principles:

1. a) a rigorous framework of the Program to match CAPES’ guidelines whereby a graduate program can cover two areas of concentration: Linguistic Studies and Literary Studies. According to CAPES, this features a Mixed Program, structured in, at least, two areas of concentration: an area of Language/Linguistics and another of Literature/Culture;
2. b) the desirable and necessary balance between the researcher training/qualification and the expansion of Linguistic and Literary studies through reading, discussion and research;
3. c) the achievement of proposal that focuses on interdisciplinary practice, with regard to the methodological approach in Language and Literary Studies, through the indispensable dialogue with other fields of knowledge;
4. d) the emphasis on the responsibilities of the professor-advisor, whose participation is not limited to the elaboration of a dissertation. The orientation begins at the admission of students to the master’s program, in a joint work for structuring and executing their study plan.

It was based on those prerequisites and considering the maturing process towards the implementation of the post-graduate program in Languages and Literature  that we established the two constituent concentration areas of the program and their respective research lines, aggregating the research projects developed and the production of both the faculty members and students.

The graduate program in Languages and Literature estimates the annual admission of 18 students, 9 for each of the areas of concentration. As defined on the bylaws, it is not mandatory to fulfill all the 18 vacancies.