Languages without Borders

Abstract

Language without Borders was initiated by the Brazilian Federal Government and has undergone a series of modifications until its discontinuation as a government-sponsored program, when it was taken up by the academic community as a free enterprise. Currently, it is linked to Andifes (National Association of Directors of Federal Institutions of Higher Education). One of the main actions of Language without Borders is to offer the academic community tuition-free language courses. This article presents an interpretive content analysis of one of Language without Borders´s popular features: the catalog with information about the courses offered by the program. We engage with decolonial critiques in the process of exploring Language without Borders legislative pieces, focusing particularly on the English courses in the catalog. Our analysis looks into the uphold of English after the program became an Andifes enterprise to reflect on how the language is approached, given its discursive construction as the language of science in internationalization. Throughout the analysis, we visualize complexities and contradictions in a process permeated both by the reinforcement and delinking from modernity/coloniality.