Contemporary society is immersed in a huge contingent of cultural products susceptible toward questioning, which are openly offered for consumption worldwide. In this perspective, the publishing market of the design and commercialization of textbooks in foreign languages ​​is configured as a cultural ideological apparatus (ALTHUSSER, 1992).

Our purpose, now, is to verify, through the reading strategies of French Discourse Analysis (ORLANDI, 2006; FIORIN, 1995), the interdiscourse regions that permeate the discursive utterances in a corpus of twenty-five textbook titles designed for the teaching and learning of the English language.

They were published and/or distributed in Brazil between 2006 and 2011, by a traditional distributor and, and later, a textbook publisher. The analyses reveal that the interdiscourse voices permeated in the discourses in those titles encompass marks of the predominant ideologies from the cultural industry, the mass consumption society, and within the hegemonic position of the English language worldwide.

Therefore, analyzing textbook titles is relevant to be done by language teachers since they can unveil the ideologies that underpin the concepts of teaching and learning foreign languages in the current society.

We shall begin under the premisse that the discursive domains (ideological discursive utterances) in the titles of these textbooks are ideologically engaged in a process of identification of the Brazilian teacher and student with the social imaginary of the English language that it is a desired and necessary language given its world scenario as a global language or a global economic market language.

Acting as potential consumers of English, both those who teach and those who learn, is the homogeneously mobilized meaning in the ideological discursive utterances underpinning the twenty-two textbook titles, from the interdiscourse utterances permeated by the ideologies of the cultural industry, mass consumer society and the status of the English language as a global language, which will be briefly addressed in this article.

Corpus analysis

The corpus of analysis consists of twenty-two textbook titles designed for the English language teaching and learning by Brazilian teachers and students as interlocutors.

•  Real English
•  Inglês sem sotaque
•  Xeretando a linguagem em inglês
•  How do you say, in English?
•  Inglês para Modelos
•  Fale tudo em inglês [nos negócios!]
•  Fale inglês como um americano
•  Slang, gírias atuais do inglês
•  Essential Business Grammar and Practice
•  English pronunciation for Brazilians, the sounds of American  English
•  Como o americano diria isso?
•  Jogos divertidos como material para sua aula de inglês
•  Gramática fácil de inglês com respostas e CD de áudio
•  Phrasal Verbs – Como falar inglês como um americano
•  Como dizer tudo em inglês em viagens
•  Manual de sobrevivência para o professor particular
•  Criatividade no ensino de inglês
•  Grammar with laughter
• 101 American Customs
• O inglês na marca do pênalti
• Manual prático de expressões estrangeiras
• 1001 palavras que você precisa saber em inglês

Taking the twenty-two titles and their ideologies as the focus of analysis, it is possible to have three categories: a) the phenomenon of the Americanization of language and culture, b) the utilitarian and pragmatic purposes of the foreign language and, c) the trivialization of language teaching and learning.

A) The phenomenon of the Americanization of language and culture

 At first glance, we consider the recurring utterances that correspond to an ideological discourse in which the English language is eminently identified with the North American variant, for the Brazilians, given the lexical use of ‘Americano’ or American:

• Fale inglês como um americano
• Englishpronunciation for Brazilians, the sounds of American English
• Phrasal Verbs – Como falar inglês como um americano
• 101 American Customs (101 Costumes Americanos) (Tradução nossa)
• Como o americano diria isso?

B) The utilitarian and pragmatic purposes of the foreign language

Second, the ideological discursive utterances that show that the English language can be taught in a practical, creative, fun and easy way, according to the markedly present lexical highlights:

• Jogos divertidos como material para sua aula de inglês
• Gramática fácil de inglês com respostas e CD de áudio
• Manual de sobrevivência para o professor particular (de idiomas)
• Criatividade no ensino de inglês
• Grammar with laughter

C) The trivialization of language teaching and learning

Third, the discursive ideological utterances that the English language can be trivially learned autonomously, and with exiguity:

• Real English
•  Xeretando a linguagem em inglês
• How do you say, in English?
• Fale tudo em inglês
• Essential Business Grammar and Practice
• Como dizer tudo em inglês em viagens
• Manual de sobrevivência para o professor particular (de idiomas)
• O inglês na marca do pênalti
•  Manual prático de expressões estrangeiras
• 1001 palavras que você precisa saber em inglês
• Inglês sem sotaque

We can observe on the lexical level the use of the modifier ‘tudo’ in the utterances ‘Fale tudo em Inglês’ and ‘Como dizer tudo em Inglês em viagens’. These draw our attention to the meaning of totality conferred by this modifier. Language is attributed the possibility of being covered and apprehended entirely, as if an object were being trivially held in one’s hands. The other modifiers ‘real, xeretando, essential, manual, sobrevivência, precisa saber, marca do pênalti, practice, sem‘ give the utterances an idea that the English language can be surely learned autonomously, and with exiguity.

By carring out these few analyses, it was found that the meanings made in relation to the teaching and learning of English contribute to a reinforcement of the ideological effects that the English language, especially the North American variant, is highly desired and necessary by Brazilian teachers and students.

To this end, these titles appeal to a view of trivialization of teaching and learning processes, since they do not take into account the pedagogical assumptions of teaching and learning a language, but deal with an essentially utilitarian, pragmatist discourse, with an accelerated apprehension of vocabulary, culture, pronunciation, grammar rules to the detriment of language teaching and learning concepts and underlying theories/practices.

They also envision the discourse that in the purchase of these textbooks by the student, the process of learning English becomes easy and fun, showing a veiled idea that anyone is able to apprehend, and learn the foreign language on their own.

Final remarks

All in all, taking the assumptions from the Curriculum Guidelines for Modern Foreign Language Teaching (Diretrizes Curriculares para o Ensino de Língua Estrangeira Moderna, Paraná) (PARANÁ, 2008, p. 56) which purposes are addressed to ‘overcoming the utilitarian, pragmatic or instrumental aims that have been historically emphasized in teaching English as a school subject’, it is observed that the ideological discursive utterances referring to the teaching and learning of the English language, the twenty-two analyzed textbook titles, are opposed or brought as a counter discourse. Therefore, it is up to language professionals, teachers, researchers and language undergraduates to carry out a critical reading of the textbooks which they work or intend to work with in the future.

References:

ALTHUSSER, L. Aparelhos ideológicos do Estado. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Graal Ltda., 6ª. Ed., 1992.

DISAL Editora (A mega distribuidora). Acesso em 10 nov. 2010. Disponível em: http://www.disal.com.br.

FIORIN, J. Linguagem e ideologia. São Paulo: Ática, 4ª. ed., 1995.

ORLANDI, E. P.(Org) Análise do Discurso: introdução às ciências da linguagem. Discurso e textualidade. São Paulo: Pontes Editores, 2006.

PARANÁ. Diretrizes Curriculares da Educação Básica. Língua Estrangeira Moderna. SEED-RP: 2008.

Images:

Available at: http://www.maisaprendizagem.com.br/

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Available at: https://educacaopublica.cecierj.edu.br/artigos/20/42/elaborando-e-implementando-materiais-para-aulas-de-ingles