Abstract

The implications of the prestige and vitality of English as a foreign language in Brazil were investigated using both direct and indirect measures of attitudes and beliefs (a subjective vitality questionnaire and a classic matched‐guise instrument). Aspects of solidarity and status identi ?ed by factor analysis were investigated in a Brazilian adolescent population, and four statistically distinctive pro ?les were found. Approximately half of the subjects evaluated English‐speaking guises more favorably than those of the native Portuguese in terms of status,which is typical of the adult population, who tend to feel the prestige of English as an international language, but half also valued this guise in terms of solidarity, a totally unexpected result which was attributed to the symbolic use of English within the adolescent peer group.

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