Meanings of Brazil and Brazilians in a Textbook of Portuguese as a Foreign Language

Abstract

This article aims to discuss and identify discursive representations about Brazil and Brazilians from a textbook of Portuguese as a Foreign Language. Based on trans/indisciplinary studies in Applied Linguistics and discursive theories of language, the hypothesis is that the analyzed textbook silences the multiple and possible identities of Brazilians; and, when depicted, they seem to be stagnant. In the analysis, the following representations were identified: (a) Brazilians are “nice people”; (b) Brazil: the country of beaches, football and fio dental bikinis; (c) Brazilians are funny; (d) Brazil, an exotic country; and (e) Brazilians are romantic. These representations are inscribed in discourses of coloniality that corroborate totalizing images about the Brazilian language, culture and identity. The analysis points, therefore, to the need to problematize, in the teaching-learning processes of languages, homogeneous and universalizing meanings that (re)produce prejudices, stereotypes and reinforce unequal power relations.

Keywords:
Language teaching; Pedagogical material; Portuguese as a Foreign Language