Language policies for Spanish teaching in Brazil and power relationsIn this article, we aim to discuss how language policies and power relations can determine the hegemony of a foreign language in the educational context. For this brief reflection, we draw on Foucault's work (1995, 1996, 2004) and analyze the construction of Brazilian legislation regarding the teaching of foreign languages, particularly Spanish. We highlight changes in Law No. 9.394/1996 and the repeal of Law No. 11.161/2005, and the effects of the approval of Law No. 13.415/2017. Furthermore, the recent changes that have taken place in the state of Paraná will also be presented, specifically with the approval of Constitutional Amendment No. 52/2022, and at the national level, with the approval of CNE/CEB Resolution No. 5/2025, in an attempt to reintroduce Spanish into the curriculum of public schools. As a result of the discussions, it was possible to conclude that power relations (Foucault, 2004) and the will to truth (Foucault, 1996) found in Law No. 13.415/2017, which established English as the only possible foreign language in Brazilian school curricula, reinforced the idea of English hegemony and the irrelevance of other foreign languages, especially Spanish, in the Brazilian educational scenario.
Keywords:
foreign language
;
Spanish language
;
language policies
;
power relations