Cíntia Toth Gonçalves

According to the survey Demandas de aprendizagem de Inglês no Brasil [Demand for English Learning in Brazil, British Council, 2013], only 5.1 per cent of the population aged 16 or more claim to have some knowledge of English. This claim, however, is more a question of perception and does not necessarily translate into actual knowledge of the language. Among the younger people, aged from 18 to 24 — who have completed or are about to complete their secondary education — the number claiming to speak English doubles, to 10.3 per cent.

Even so, this is a low percentage if we consider that most Brazilian students spend at least seven years studying English at school – more specifically, from the sixth grade of lower secondary education to the third grade of upper secondary education, for an average of two hours a week. There are also students who take English lessons at private language institutions or on courses offered before or after class by the public networks themselves.

If we want to disrupt this situation and offer quality English teaching for all as part of the basic curriculum, we have to understand what it is during their time at school that determines whether or not they learn the language properly. Thinking about the system, how is policy made and implemented for teaching English in state-run schools? What are the basic elements that a state education department needs for an English teaching programme?

Finding answers to these questions is essential if we want to understand how English language teaching functions in our country. We need to recognise the good practices existing in parts of Brazil and other countries that improve English teaching and learning and that can help formulate new and more comprehensive public policies, through more informed discussion.

We must also acknowledge the Base Nacional Comum Curricular (BNCC) [Common National Curricular Base] progress towards teaching the language as a social practice, rather than just as a list of grammatical content. This change in the approach to English language teaching can and must have a prominent role in the personal, academic and professional training of students, helping make them into global citizens.

One of the challenges of my work at the British Council is to design and develop projects, in partnership with Brazilian public managers at national and subnational level, for improvements in English teaching. Brazil is a vast and diverse country, and with 85 per cent of Brazilian students in public schools, this is where change must be made, particularly in the state education network, which bears most responsibility for teaching foreign languages and, as from 2020, for teaching English.

Available in: Public Policies for English Teaching - An Overview of Brazilian Public Network Experience - British Council - 2019