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Affiliated Faculty

Edvan P. Brito

Edvan P. Brito

Assistant Professor of Portuguese

(ARSC)-Arts & Sciences

(WLLC)-World Languages, Literatures, & Cultures

Phone: 479-575-3359

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Dr. Edvan Brito is Assistant Professor and Director of the Portuguese Program in the Department of World Languages Literatures and Cultures at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University, an M.A. in Mass Communication and Media Studies from Howard University, and a B.A. in Portuguese and Linguistics from the University de São Paulo (USP). His dissertation study focused on sociolinguistic variation, race/color, and stancetaking in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the area of Sociolinguistics, his research is centered around the question of how language use and power relations among people and institutions shape and are shaped by the identities they perform and negotiate in different interactional contexts. In the area of Applied Linguistics, Dr. Brito focuses primarily on the elements that influence the teaching and learning of Portuguese as a foreign language in the United States context. He has published several peer-reviewed articles in these two areas. His research interests include language, identity and power, language variation and change, language and race, discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, media discourse, and Portuguese as a foreign or additional language.

Research Interests

Language, identity, and power

Language variation, and change

Language and race

Discourse analysis

Critical discourse analysis

Media discourse

Portuguese as a foreign or additional language.

Courses

Portuguese for Spanish Speakers I and II

Elemantary Portuguese I and II

Intermediate Portuguese I and II

Portuguese Conversation

Brazilian Cultural and Social Issues

Brazilian Cinema

Introduction to Luso-Afro-Brazilian Literature

Education

Ph.D. in Linguistics. Georgetown University. 2016.

M.S. in Linguistics. Georgetown University. 2013.

M.A. in Mass Communications and Media Studies. Howard University. 2010.

Graduate Certificate in International Studies. Howard University. 2010.

B.A. Portuguese and Linguistics. Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. 2006.

Publications

Brito, Edvan P. and Rachel M. Hernández. (Forthcoming). Perspectives on reduced forms instruction in Portuguese as a foreign language. Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages.

Brito, Edvan P. 2019. A sociolinguistic analysis of word-final /s/ aspiration in a Rio de Janeiro favela. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 18(1). 1-20. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/jpl.205

Fernandes, Eugênia, Edvan P. Brito, and Célia Cordeiro (Eds.). 2018. Estratégias e materiais para o ensino de Português como língua estrangeira [Strategies and materials for the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language]. Roosevelt, New Jersey: Boa Vista Press.

Brito, Edvan P. The variation of obligatory preposition-article contractions in the interlanguage of adult learners of Portuguese. Revista do GEL, 15(3). 241-256. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21165/gel.v15i3.2390

Brito, Edvan P. 2017. “I love homosexuals like I love gangsters”: Epistemics and evidentiality in a Brazilian hybrid television news interview. Text & Talk, 37 (5). 561-585. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2017-0019

Brito, Edvan P. 2016. The variation of post-vowel –s in the Portuguese dialect of Rio de Janeiro. Cadernos de Estudos Linguísticos, 58 (1). 139-151.

Brito, Edvan P. 2015. Grammatical gender in the interlanguage of English-speaking learners of Portuguese. Portuguese Language Journal, 9. Article 7.

Brito, Edvan P. 2013. Strategies of racial identity negotiation of Brazilian immigrants in the United States.  Revista Multidisciplinar Acadêmica Vozes dos Vales, (Especial Issue “Brazil Abroad: Debates on Portuguese Language and Brazilian Culture for Foreigners”), 2(4). 1-13.

Brito, Edvan P. 2010. Estudo comparativo das palavras-chave do campo das ações afirmativas no português brasileiro e no inglês americano [Comparative study of affirmative action keywords in Brazilian Portuguese and American English]. Plurais: Revista Multidisciplinar da UNEB, 1(1). 44-60.

Brito, Edvan P. 2009. Comparative study of affirmative action keywords in Brazilian Portuguese and American English. In Vinícius R. Vieira and Jacquelyn Johnson (eds.), Pictures and Mirrors: Race and Ethnicity in Brazil and the United States, 265-289. São Paulo: FEA/USP.

Experience

Assistant Professor of Portuguese, Defense Language Institute (DLIFLC), 2015-2016.

Visiting Instructor of Spanish and Portuguese, Dickinson College, 2014-2015.

Portuguese Linguistics Consultant, IBM, January-August 2014.

Portuguese Lecturer, Howard University, 2010-2014.

Honors & Awards

New Faculty Commendation for Teaching Commitment. University of Arkansas Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center. 2019.

Travel Assistance Program for Faculty. University of Arkansas Provost's Office. 2019.

New Faculty Commendation for Teaching Commitment. University of Arkansas Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center. 2018.

Robert C. and Sandra Connor Endowed Faculty Fellowship Award, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, University of Arkansas. 2018

Travel Assistance Program for Faculty. University of Arkansas Provost's Office. 2018.

New Faculty Commendation for Teaching Commitment. University of Arkansas Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center. 2017.

Travel Assistance Program for Faculty. University of Arkansas Provost's Office. 2017.

Travel Assistance Program for Faculty. University of Arkansas Provost's Office. 2016.

Research Camp Fellowship. University of Arkansas. 2016

Startalk Portuguese Teacher Training Program Fellowship. US Department of Education. 2014.

Fulbright Program/ Luso-American Foundation Fellowship. Portuguese as a Foreign Language Teacher Training at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. 2012.

Race, Development and Social Inequality Exchange Program Fellowship. FIPSE-US/CAPES-Brazil. 2005.