In this paper we analyze the practices of reading texts in Portuguese, built by deaf students and a hearing teacher, observing how these participants use Brazilian sign language (Libras) to read and refer to the written text. To achieve this, contributions from Literacy Studies and studies that focus on the social aspect of reading were explored, as well as field studies on the topic of deafness. From this perspective, an ethnographic research was developed in a class of deaf students in the 9th grade of elementary school in a public school of Belo Horizonte. The research identified interactional patterns related to the use of signed Portuguese and of Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), which has contributed to the understanding of the importance of teaching strategies that consider the differences between the two languages and the systematic use of techniques based on codeswitching.
deaf; reading; language mixing; Portuguese
