English: Mediational (and possibly revolutionary) tool of knowledge construction in bilingual education

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present a study on the role of the English language as a mediating tool in bilingual education because there is a lack of research in the field in Brazil. Some Brazilian researchers such as Miaskovsky (2008), David (2007), Mello (2002) and Boleiz (2001) have discussed bilingualism and bilingual education, but there is no study or documentation on the role of the English language in their investigations. Others have dealt with bilingualism and bilingual education among indigenous groups and their specific contexts, which are quite distinct from the one dealt with in this investigation, usually defined as elite bilingualism (de Mejia, 2002), or the education received by middleand upper-class subjects in institutions that aim at generating cultural, social and economic advantages in the learning of a second or a foreign language. This concept will be further discussed in this article. We believe in the importance of the contribution of studies focused on English in this framework since elite bilingualism, which is closest to the type of bilingualism observed and defined later in this study, has grown considerably in large cities in Brazil and around the world.