Produção de livros digitais (e-books) como ferramentas de apoio no ensino e na divulgação da língua Wapichana em Roraima

Abstract

This research deals with the production of digital books (e-books) as a support tool in the teaching and dissemination of the Wapichana indigenous language, a people that since the 1990s, through the organization of indigenous teachers in Roraima has been seeking and producing ways to preserve and teach their language. These initiatives complemented with the production of e-books can be considered as actions to encourage the use of multilingualism in cyberspace, taking into account the recommendations of communication and information of UNESCO. This paper also presents the concepts of e-books, their main formats and their advantages over traditional books. The e-book resulting from this research, called “Watuminhap Wapichan da’y!” ‘Vamos Aprender Wapichana’, was organized from the base text that accompanied the Wapichana language lessons transmitted by FM Radio Monte Roraima in the year 2005. This e-book had dialogues that were written in Wapichana with Portuguese translation, and Wapichana audios that were recorded by indigenous teachers. The e-book produced can be used in devices such as notebooks, tablets and smartphones; can be distributed easily over the internet or by bluetooth. This is expected to facilitate and reach a greater number of people interested in learning, teaching and disseminating the Wapichana language, especially the younger people who are enthusiastic about digital technologies.