Abstract
This chapter analyzes the role of Open Educational Resources (OERs) in the teaching of Portuguese as an Additional Language (PAL). It shows the shift in the field of language teaching, focusing on how OERs have diversified and influenced the way that Portuguese is being taught in some institutions of higher education, both in the United States and in Brazil. For some decades now, the field of Digital Humanities (DH) has offered new ways of interacting with course materials, oftentimes enhancing learners’ experience. The teaching of PAL has followed the footsteps of other languages, adopting OERs as the main material for Portuguese language courses, from podcasts to electronic textbooks. The “democratization” of language teaching is also in alignment with theories of decolonization of the language classrooms. In many cases, OERs reflect the decolonization process by proposing a shift in power and profit from publishing houses to open-access and free resources. This shift encompasses the revision of the teaching curricula and, in some cases, it emphasizes the need for a more diverse and inclusive narrative in the production of teaching materials for Portuguese. This chapter also presents the results of a survey with creators of OERs in Portuguese in the United States and in Brazil. It outlines their motivations, the impact of their OERs, and the process of creating them for Portuguese. Particular attention is given to the development of teaching material that promotes inclusion and takes into consideration current issues that affect the way Portuguese is being taught at the university level, including issues of race and antiracism, gender orientation, climate change, and social justice in general.