This paper discusses an action-research project aimed at contributing to the linguistic and social inclusion in Portuguese Higher Education Institutions (HEI) of international African students who are fluent in non-dominant stigmatized norms of the Portuguese language. These fluent speakers of Portuguese face unexpected and/or ignored challenges of (in)comprehension and prejudice when they interact with the broad dominant norm community in Portugal, namely in academic context. Furthermore, not always has the schooling experience in their countries of origin developed all linguistic and communicative skills required by the host Portuguese HEI nor do host institutions acknowledge these different schooling experiences. Evidence shows significant drop off rates of this group of students in Portugal, the main foreign destination of international students from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome e Principe. The project Trovoada de Ideias – brainstorming in Angolan Portuguese – recalls the relations between language, society and power, and specifically the unequal social status attributed to different norms resulting from both past and present discriminatory processes. In addition, we will discuss the concept of language racism, and its subsequent impact on the racialization of practices of speakers of pluricentric languages. The project is rooted in three assumptions: 1) The need to acknowledge the diversity of Portuguese language norms; 2) The need to consider the students' previous school practices and trajectories; 3) The need to identify more effective responses in Portuguese HEIs. Trovoada de Ideias has been developed by three partner organizations, two university research centres and a NGO, and is currently funded also by the Portuguese Migration Commissariat. The expected outcomes are: a curricular unit of academic Portuguese; a handbook of learning materials for the unit; a brochure with guidelines for professors of non-linguistic subjects; a collection of students’ biographies; and a service of buddy-tutoring.

FCT/MCTES, FAMI/ACM

African International Students,Language Racism,Pluricentric Language,Portuguese Language Norms.