The ICLP has as its mission to promote Portuguese culture and language to those who do not speak Portuguese as a mother tongue. It has vast experience in the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language (PFL) reaching as far back as 1934.
The ICLP’s mission also consists of developing PFL teacher-training programs as well as designing courses of Portuguese for specific purposes geared towards professionals who wish to work in Portuguese speaking countries.
It organizes Summer Courses during the months of July, August and September with an average attendance of more that 750 students as well as year-long courses divided in two semesters with approximately 500 students from all continents, mainly from Asia and Europe.
The ICLP’s mission further involves promoting research in the area of the acquisition and teaching of PFL and in the development of teaching material. Towards this aim, the ICLP is engaged in projects that focus on the development of linguistic resources (learner corpus) and on material for in-class as well as distance instruction.
The ICLP, as an interdepartmental and interdisciplinary unit possessing a cross-sectional scientific committee and a group of experienced professors, is a dynamic and innovative division that offers scientific and pedagogical support to institutions involved in promoting the Portuguese language.