Conceptualizations of English in the discourses of Brazilian language teachers: Issues of mobility, empowerment and international ownership

Abstract

An analysis of ideologies of English in Brazilian ELT IntroductionThe present study is an investigation of how English has been conceptualized in the discourses of ten Brazilian English language teachers with diverse language teaching experiences. Discourses of major agents in Brazilian English language teaching (ELT) -mainly the media, language schools, and the Ministry of Education through its national guidelines -usually associate English with notions of mobility, empowerment, and international ownership. The understanding of how English language educators conceptualize the language thus provides a valuable perspective on how these discourses may be taken on and reproduced by teachers. Such understanding is also relevant because educators have firsthand experience in what actually goes on inside schools, thus being able to provide important accounts that are based on real life examples of their practices.In view of such factors, the study was driven by the following research questions: 1) How is English conceptualized in the discourses of the participants? 2) What sociocultural and linguistic ideologies are revealed through such conceptualizations? 3) How do theories of globalization and/or the global spread of English apply to this particular case?As will be discussed later in the article, the analysis of semi-structured interviews with the participants shows a more complex picture than that presented by other types of discourse (i.e., of language institutes and of governmental guidelines). In the scenario that the teachers describe, mobility and empowerment are not enhanced through English but actually predetermine the possibility of learning it. Moreover, the language is still associated with native speaker ideologies, and policy and practice are in constant conflict with one another. My hope is that this examination can help advance understandings of ideologies of English in Brazil, which may also be of importance to scholars and practitioners in other contexts.

Writing back in humorous appropriations of English in Brazil

“…At the beginning of this century, Rajagopalan (2003) proposed that the relation Brazil had developed with English over time was one of ambivalence and tension between feelings of love – exemplified by the fast growth of private language schools – and hate, which was mainly characterized by distrust and fear that the language could have a negative impact upon Portuguese and consequently upon the supposed unity of the country. Other scholars have also addressed this ambivalence, conceptualizing it in a number of different ways: for example, the perception of English as a right versus the understanding that it is actually imposed upon Brazilians (Jordão, 2004); or the conflict between appropriation and ownership versus exclusion (Diniz de Figueiredo, 2017). Conceptualizations of English in Brazil have been transformed in a number of ways since Rajagopalan's (2003) article.…”