Reflexões e desafios sobre o letramento em língua estrangeira no contexto do programa bilíngue português/inglês

Abstract

With the migratory movements and globalization, bi/multilingual education has gained prominence in research in countries like the United States and especially in the European continent, aiming to meet the educational demands of immigrants. Currently, in Brazil, a significant increase in the number of schools offering some kind of education involving the term "bilingual" can be noticed. However, the motivation seeks to meet the demand for learning English, generated possibility of social ascension in the Brazilian context. Among the many possibilities of discussions and problematizations is the formation of the bi/multilingual individual, immersed in the dynamics of reproduction of the last stage of global capitalism. In this scenario, where the English language is located as a patrimony of humanity, but also as an instrument of domination through coloniality (MIGNOLO, 2016) and a currency of social ascension, the importance of the role of Literacy as an instrument to unveil the ideological layers present in languages and languages emerges (SOARES, 2011). Therefore, it is questioned, "how does the process of English language literacy occur in the bilingual program?" Thus, this research seeks to analyze the concept that bilingual teachers of the second year of elementary school, from seven schools of the same private education network, distributed in six different states, have of Foreign Language Literacy in the bilingual program and to apprehend the intentionalities that permeate the practices of English language literacy proposed by teachers. First, the study brought a historical line going through the themes: Language, Power and Society, linked to the processes of colonization, hegemony and perpetuation of knowledge by coloniality based mainly on the studies of Pennycook (2017), Focault (1978), Garcia (2009), Fanon (2008), Mignolo (2016) and Walsh (2011). Next, we propose to analyze the concepts of Literacy from the perspective of Soares (2003, 2011, 2020) and Street (2017) issued by the teachers. To this end, the methodological approach was qualitative, anchored in the assumptions of Gatti (2005). As a research instrument, the focus group was used, and from the analysis of the discussions the categories were raised, revealing that part of the teachers understood that literacy and literacy were the same thing, while the others discussed Literacy based on social practices, however, observing the difficulties of its applicability due to factors related to the encapsulation of the curriculum, textbook, little exposure of students to the written and spoken English language beyond the classroom. Also, the category of the English language as an instrument of social segregation emerged strongly, but without relating it to an active attitude of Literacy towards this problem. We understand that, despite the knowledge pointed out by the teachers about Literacy and the social use of the language, there is still a way to go as to a deeper discussion about the hegemonic projects and the teaching of the English language focused on Literacy as an instrument to reveal these ideological layers.