Percursos históricos sobre ensino de Língua Inglesa no Brasil

Abstract

In this article, we aim to produce an investigative exercise with the will of revealing historical, economic and political questions about teaching and learning English in Brazil and contributing to the (re)signification of the language teaching in the multiple contexts of the formal education in the country. Therefore, we produced a historiographical study that goes back to the first milestones of the nationalization of the language teaching and the professionalization of English language teachers in Brazil, which, as Santos (2022 a) points out, took place in the 18th century, when Sebastião José Carvalho e Melo, better known as the Marquis of Pombal, wrote the first guidelines for the institutionalization of education in the Portuguese colonies, and in the 19th century, when the first chair for English teaching was created in Brazilian territory. In light of historiographical studies (Jakobs, 2001; Pimentel, 2001; Swiggers, 2009) and anchored in the assumptions of Linguistic Studies, in particular those that are connect to Linguistic Historiography (Koerner, 1995; Nascimento, 2002), we hope that the research can contribute to future studies on the construction of public policies and linguistic policies for the teaching of English in Brazil, as well as help teachers and students in the process of (re)signification of premises and (re)elaboration of traditions that permeate the praxiologies of language teaching in the country.