The invention of monolingualism in Brazil: Towards a translingual orientation in “language” classes

Abstract

Based on a linguistic-historical background, we aim at discussing some of the main language policies that contributed to the invention of the languages and paved the way for the monolingual ideology in Brazil. We will point the outcomes of those policies in the teaching of the so-called “Portuguese language” since the colonial endeavor until the current times and in the study of the “languages”. Supported by theoretical studies developed by the Critical Applied Linguistics and Sociolinguistics of Globalization fields, we will discuss the need of rethinking the language practices in the contemporary world grounded by orientations that not only acknowledge the fluidity and hybridism of human relations but also shift the conception of “language” to paradigms that conceive the meaning as multisemiotic. These discussions will lead to the debate on the role, in the language teaching process, of what has been called translingual practice, translanguaging or polylanguaging, that seek not only to question the monolingual orientation in language studies but also to deconstruct epistemologies that have still analyzed “language” as a set of separable and countable phenomena. In this regard, we will question if it is possible to teach “languages” in the contemporary world and suggest strategies that can make other learning processes and the reflection on the hybrid language practices happen in both teachers training courses and classrooms.

Keywords: monolingualism, translingual practice, language teaching.