O inglês em tempos de globalização: uma crítica aos efeitos do discurso neoliberal no ensino/aprendizagem de ILE no Brasil.

Abstract

Learning a foreign language does not just mean to master its lexical knowledge, since the process of teaching/learning a language involves a sort of meaning conceptions which are constituted of movements of identification, conflicts and transformations in which the subjects resign themselves and produce new knowledge. The interest in learning a foreign language is often related to its representations. Due to globalization, English has been represented predominantly by a neoliberal discourse, which extends to school contexts and influences the process of English teaching/learning. Based on these considerations, this research seeks to analyze the effects of the neoliberal discourse of globalization in the English teaching/learning process in a third-grade class of a public high school in Campina Grande-PB. For this, notes of class observations, interviews and questionnaires applied to the teacher in charge of the group and the students were analyzed. This investigation is based on the French Discourse Analysis studies developed by Pêcheux (2010, 2014) who also adopts concepts about discourse, subject and ideology. Foucault (1995, 1999, 2005) enlarges these concepts as he considers the power relations that permeate discourse. For the debates related to teaching English in public schools, this investigation has its basis on Bianchetti (2001), Coelho (2005), Miranda (2005), British Council (2015), Ferraz (2015) and Jareta (2015); concerning the history of English as a foreign language in Brazil, Leffa (1999), Monte Mór (2006), and Lopes (2008). Regarding globalization, Le Breton (2005), Rajagopalan (2005), Ortiz (2000, 2006), Lacoste (2005) and Cox; Assis-Peterson (2007). On the impacts of globalization on English teaching/learning process, the theoretical contribution is based on Bauman (1999), Bianchetti (2001), Grigoletto (2003), Coracini (2007), Monte Mór (2010), Ferraz (2015) and Mattos (2015). On the concepts of identity and difference as part of the teaching/learning process, this investigation is based on Orlandi (1988), Silva (2000), Scherer; Morales; Leclerq (2003) e Hall (2000, 2005). In conclusion, the background of the research is anchored in the studies of Celada (2007) and Coracini (2003, 2007) as to discuss the relationship between the mother tongue and the foreign language. The analysis of data reveals the strong influence of the neoliberal discourse of globalization and its effects: a teaching/learning process based on the normalization of the language, the representation of the English language in an exclusive way and with emphasis on economic purposes, as well as the ambivalence of a teaching/ learning characterized on one hand by desire and enchantment, and on the other hand by resistance and intolerance.