Abstract
The aim of this paper is to discuss language policies in Brazil, especially in relation to the way they are implemented in the guidelines for the selection of textbooks for the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language (EFL). To subsidize the reflection herein proposed, the study analyzed the main principles and set of criteria used by the National Textbook Program (PNLD) to assess the textbooks designed for Brazilian secondary education. The results of the qualitative analysis carried out revealed a straightforward connection among modern foreign language learning policies in Brazil and the epistemology underlying the evaluation and choice of textbooks. The study concludes that a wider perspective on EFL teaching in Brazil is necessary, taking into account the need for the development of students' speaking skills required in the exercise of a global citizenship.
Highlights
We live in a flat (Friedman, 2005) and globalized world where the knowledge of additional languages (L2) has become key for the exercise of a global citizenship
Bearing in mind that the main aim of this paper is to discuss language policies in Brazil in relation to the way they are implemented in the Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD) guidelines for the selection of textbooks for the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language (EFL), a study was carried out whose aim was to analyze the main principles and set of criteria used by the PNLD to assess the textbooks designed for Brazilian secondary schools regarding the teaching and learning of English
In order to contextualize the analysis proposed in this paper, it is important to acknowledge the way Brazilian official documents conceptualize secondary school and students in this stage of basic education
Summary
We live in a flat (Friedman, 2005) and globalized world where the knowledge of additional languages (L2) has become key for the exercise of a global citizenship. In this paper we use the term additional language to refer to any language but the first or native language (L1) In this scenario, the teaching of L2s in general and of English in particular, plays an important role in the 1) maintenance of national cohesion (Finardi & Csillagh, 2016), 2) access to online information (Finardi, Prebianca & Momm, 2013) and education (Finardi & Tyler, 2015), and 3) social inclusion of diversity and in the fight against the commodification of education as seen, for example, in the abundant offer of private English courses in Brazil (Finardi, 2014; Ortiz & Finardi, 2015). There are three types of State policies: 1) policies that States want to make public as symbols of competence and work to guarantee votes, 2) policies that States do not want to make public such as some aspects of external affairs or defense and, 3) often invisible language policies defined by Calvet (2007) as those policies overtly or covertly proposed by the State to regulate relations between languages and society
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