Description:
This article discusses the outcomes of an investigation of social representations of Portuguese primary school pupils in Germany towards “their languages” (mainly Portuguese and German) within a theoretical framework based on the concept of “Heritage Language” and its role in the development of plurilingual competences.The results of the collected data (956 drawings from pupils in 7 German Federal States) point at the existence of: i) bounds between Heritage Language and the development of Plurilingual Competence; ii) stereotyped representations towards languages and cultures; and iii) the building up of a “linguistic culture”, since the pupils have already developed attitudes, knowledge and aptitude to deal with linguistic and cultural diversity. The study emphasizes the need to develop a more consistent multilingual awareness in order to optimize attitudes, knowledge and aptitudes evinced, namely in Heritage Language classroom.