A historiographical analysis of the influence of the Grammar-Translation Method and the Direct Method on English language teaching in Brazil in the early 20th century

Abstract

Abstract: The objective of this article is to discuss the influence of the Grammar-Translation Method and the Direct Method on English language teaching in Brazil during the early 20th century. This is done through a historiographical analysis that examines the rhetoric employed by proponents of each method to advocate for their adoption. This study proposes an interpretation of the impact that these two foreign language teaching methods had within the Brazilian educational context. The materials analyzed include writings by Carneiro Leão (1932, 1935); the Francisco de Campos Reform of 1931; and the Instruction for the Implementation of Decree No. 20.833, which mandated the adoption of the Direct Method (1931). It is posited that an analysis of these methods and their supporting discourses illuminates the ideological dimension underlying educational practices—a dimension often overlooked yet inherent to the pedagogical and political choices that shaped language education in Brazil. Furthermore, it is argued that the lack of empirical grounding to justify the superiority of one method over the other reveals a tendency to replace methodologies based on ideological preferences. This is a rather than scientific criteria, a common practice in the Brazilian educational landscape.