Held at the 2nd Annual ELINET Conference - Global Voices, Local Impact: Education, Language and Diversity, Bragança, Pará, Brazil; 24 Oct 2024
It may be a challenge to discuss the role of English in Brazilian (higher) education considering the diversity in the country related to its territorial extension and rich cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity. It is also challenging because of Brazil’s socioeconomic disparities, which directly influences inequalities in access to education and may present barriers to establishing language policies.
Considering the above-mentioned points, English teaching in Brazil should not be addressed in isolation. The country’s history of educational issues, the roles of languages in education, and cultural aspects must be taken into account, with the aim of making the English language learning process a means of inclusion and empowerment, rather than a way of perpetuating social and economic barriers.
Themes
Kyria Finardi (Federal University of Espírito Santo – UFES) presented the topic Multilingualism in higher education and academic production in languages other than English: Possibility or wishful thinking?, where she explored the implications of a hegemonic language in relation to the many other languages spoken in a multilingual country like Brazil. Her presentation discussed tensions between linguistic dominance and diversity. She highlighted the challenges of balancing the use of a global language with the need to preserve and value local and indigenous languages.
Telma Gimenez (Federal University of Londrina – UEL), with the topic In the trenches, with the enemy? The case of English as a lingua franca, used a war metaphor to discuss the challenges and possibilities of using English as a lingua franca in Brazilian basic education. The discussion considered the National Curriculum, which adopts this approach for teaching English in schools, and also delved into the perspectives of professionals in the field regarding the effectiveness and implications of teaching based on this perspective. The metaphor served to emphasize the complexities, tensions, and potential conflicts inherent in implementing such an approach while simultaneously highlighting its possibilities for fostering linguistic and cultural inclusion within the educational landscape.
Simone Sarmento (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS) addressed the topic Linguistic inequality in Brazil: Access to English as a reflection of social disparities, when she discussed Brazil’s socioeconomic disparities and their impact on access to English education. She emphasized that students/individuals from economically privileged backgrounds are more likely to benefit from quality education and contact with the language, while those from economically disadvantaged communities struggle and have their access limited. This reinforces existing social inequalities but also perpetuates linguistic English proficiency as a marker of privilege and an obstacle to equitable participation in global and academic contexts.
The perspectives shared by researchers Finardi, Gimenez, and Sarmento emphasize the role(s) of English in Brazil: simultaneously a tool for empowerment and a marker of inequality. To address this dichotomy requires shaping English not as an elitist privilege but as a means of global and local engagement. As stated, English should be accessible to all learners, regardless of socioeconomic background.
