Academic and Social Impact

Social Impact 

The UNIFRAN Graduate Program in Linguistics has a direct and significant impact on the city of Franca and its surrounding region, prioritizing research and outreach activities focused on urgent social issues. Research themes, covering violence against women, racial prejudice, homophobia, and transphobia, are explored at all levels, from scientific initiation to doctoral studies, and across all research lines. Faculty and students actively collaborate with local institutions, such as the Pastoral do Menor, offering lectures and workshops. In schools, extension courses focused on ENEM (National High School Exam), learning, and the mental health of children and adolescents, including in the context of the pandemic, are taught. Furthermore, scientific methodology workshops are available to all UNIFRAN students. 

Thus, the UNIFRAN Graduate Program in Linguistics has a multifaceted and highly relevant social and cultural impact, extending far beyond mere financial returns for its alumni. One of the pillars of this impact is active collaboration with various institutions, such as the partnership with the Pastoral do Menor, which resulted in an extension course on the theme of suicide among adolescents, offered in 2019, reaching an audience of over 50 people. This initiative demonstrates the program’s commitment to addressing sensitive social issues of great importance to the community. 

The program’s faculty directly engage with public schools, offering extension courses for high school students, benefiting annually more than 100 students and maintaining these partnerships even after the 2020 pandemic. Writing workshops for ENEM are also a notable example, annually attracting more than 100 participants, directly contributing to preparing these young people for access to higher education. 

In a broader approach, several extension courses offered, although aimed at higher education, are open to community participation, with a highlight on the inclusion of Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) translation for participants from the deaf community. This openness and accessibility allow each event to reach more than 200 people, including undergraduate and graduate students from all regions of Brazil and even from abroad. The program also offers scientific methodology workshops open to the entire UNIFRAN academic community, impacting around 100 people. 

Academic Impact 

The faculty’s work extends to renowned scientific entities, with participation in Commissions of associations such as ABRALIN and ANPOLL, and in research groups in the state of São Paulo registered with CNPq. These UNIFRAN research groups also include the participation of undergraduate students (Scientific Initiation or general interested parties), graduate students, and alumni, attesting to the impact of the work across much of the national territory, given the welcoming of students from various Brazilian states. 

Since 2019, the UNIFRAN Graduate Program in Linguistics, in partnership with the Graduate Program in Health Promotion, has been part of the project “Innovative practice for monitoring the first milestones of infant development: premature universe,” funded by FAPESP. This innovative project resulted in the “UNIVERSO PREMATURO” application, available for iOS and Android, aiming to monitor the post-hospital development of premature children through a longitudinal study with data collected from mothers’ testimonies. 

While the Health Promotion Program focuses on the child’s global development, the Linguistics Program analyzes data from mothers’ testimonies, under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Luciana Carmona Garcia Manzano and with the participation of Prof. Dr. Aline Fernandes de Azevedo Bocchi in the project “Meanings of motherhood in premature conditions: body, voice, and subjectivities.” Prof. Dr. Marilurdes Cruz Borges, also from the Health Promotion Program in the Linguistics area, investigates the cognitive development of premature children through language. 

These joint actions highlight the importance of language for understanding child development, expanding the visibility of faculty work and the program in the scientific field. In 2020, the “Universo Prematuro” project expanded with an interdisciplinary documentary, “Mães de UTI” (ICU Mothers), coordinated by Prof. Dr. Assunção Cristovão, publicizing the difficulties faced by these mothers and the international reach of the application. 

During the last quadrennium, the UNIFRAN Graduate Program in Linguistics solidified its academic collaboration with interinstitutional partnerships. Research groups such as ERA (PUC-SP) and PARE (UNIFRAN) already carried out joint activities, such as conferences and participation in examination boards. Faculty from both institutions reciprocally served on master’s and doctoral examination boards, and a UNIFRAN professor completed his post-doctorate at PUC-SP. Prof. Dr. Vera Lucia Rodella Abriata coordinated the Semiotics and Literature Atelier of the CPS at PUC-SP, involving advisees and alumni from the UNIFRAN program in article production. A research network with UNICAMP and USP was also established, focusing on themes of discourse and subjectivity, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Aline Azevedo. There was strong cooperation with UNESP, with co-supervisions and joint publications, aiming to formalize an agreement. UNIFRAN faculty also served as members of examination boards at various universities across the country. The program consolidated its national insertion, training faculty and professionals who work in various areas and encouraging the continuation of research at the doctoral level. 

Finally, the appointment of Prof. Dr. Beatriz Maria Eckert-Hoff to the CAPES Advisory Commission, one of Brazil’s main research funding agencies, underscores the recognition of the program’s excellence and its direct contribution to graduate studies guidelines in the country. Professor Beatriz, with her vast academic experience, plays a crucial role in definitions that impact the Brazilian educational system, promoting research and the growth of Master’s and Doctoral Programs. 

The XI SELINFRAN – UNIFRAN Linguistics Research Seminar, held in 2021, represented an important contribution to the field of Linguistics, by proposing reflections around the thought of Paulo Freire, the Patron of Brazilian Education, and its articulation with various theories in the area. The event, which honored Freire on his centenary, had “Languages as a practice of freedom” as its central theme. 

The seminar brought together researchers, advisors, and Scientific Initiation, Master’s, and Doctoral students, whose works related to Text and Discourse Linguistics theories, including French Discourse Analysis, Argumentation and Rhetoric, Bakhtinian Studies, Textual Linguistics, and French Semiotics. 

Among the highlighted activities, the opening conference, on September 16, was “Freedom in Exile: Paulo Freire and Epidictic Discourse,” delivered by Prof. Dr. Luiz Antonio Ferreira (PUC-SP). There was also a round table on “Languages as practices of freedom,” with the participation of several professors. The closing conference, “Word and action, or for a practical-theoretical reason in Freire and Bakhtin,” was given by Prof. Dr. Adail Sobral (Federal University of Rio Grande – FURG). 

It is important to mention that, as part of the activities, Fátima Freire Dowbor’s speech, “Languages as a practice of freedom,” presented at a pre-event on September 11, was adapted and became the opening chapter of the e-book resulting from the seminar. This e-book, the fifth volume of the Focus Series: Text and Discourse Linguistics, consolidates the articles, essays, and theoretical reflections presented, perpetuating the legacy and importance of the XI SELINFRAN. https://selinfran.com.br/