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1st Int. Transborder Conf. of the Timor Island: Timor %u2013 Science without borderDili, 7-8 May 2025101Why Our Children Are Not Learning Portuguese?Karin N. R. IndartPPGP-UNTLAbstractThis paper brought together various studies conducted between 2010 and 2024 with students from the Department of Basic Education Teacher Training and the Department of Portuguese Language, focusing on general learning and, more specifically, the learning of Portuguese within the context of Basic Education in Timor-Leste. All of these studies were supervised and followed by me, and for this presentation, I draw upon their findings to examine more broadly the process of teaching this official%u2014yet non-native%u2014language. We infer that the limited success in Portuguese language acquisition over the past two decades of independence is due to a range of factors. Although school infrastructure has improved since the emergency years, it remains common to find overcrowded classrooms lacking adequate desks and chairs, with teachers often relying solely on a blackboard and textbook as instructional materials. However, these are not the primary challenges. The limited linguistic proficiency of teachers and the instability in language policy implementation%u2014despite legal regulation%u2014create widespread insecurity in Portuguese language instruction.Traditional teaching methods dominate, and the absence of communicative competence in classroom practices results in lecturebased, grammar-focused lessons that hinder students from using Portuguese in meaningful ways. In-service teacher training tends to emphasize technical content delivery and rote reproduction, rather than fostering educators' ability to reflect on their context and adapt teaching methods to their specific school realities. Overall, the research shows that many teachers still conceive of teaching as the transmission of theoretical knowledge. %u201cTeaching%u201d is often understood as copying content from textbooks onto the board, while %u201clearning%u201d is seen as students copying that content into their notebooks. While instructional materials are in Portuguese, explanations are most often delivered in Tetum, according to most observed cases. In the post-independence period, many teachers interviewed or observed tend to attribute students%u2019 poor academic performance to a lack of capacity or motivation. However, when students are asked about their teachers%u2019 methodologies%u2014regardless of subject or use of Portuguese%u2014the data suggest that teachers frequently do not take responsibility for effective teaching or for their central role in the learning process. This paper thus aims to demonstrate how blame for academic failure is often shifted onto students, while responsibility for education is deflected from teachers.Keywords: language teaching and learning %u2013 Portuguese language in Timor-Leste.