HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN BRAZIL: A DISCURSIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SUBJECT IN AUDIOVISUAL ADVERTISING OF LANGUAGE COURSES

ABSTRACT

Under the theoretical framework of discourse analysis, this paper aims at analyzing the constitution of the subject in the advertising discourse of English language courses in Brazil. In this sense, the analyses focus on how the subject represents learner and English language learning in these enunciative spaces. For this, we will bring to discussion, a priori, some historical aspects that permeate the teaching of English language in our country. We then address the methodological basis which constitutes the research, and then we will propose our analysis. We highlight, in the analysis, that the utterances, on an ongoing basis, demonstrate the paramount importance of oral skills. This is presented in the constant linguistic mobilization of the lexeme speak in its various inflections. Furthermore, the supremacy of the native speaker in relation to the Brazilian is identified and, finally, the requirement that lies on the Brazilian learner of the English language concerning the need for their “perfect” pronunciation.

Learner; Learning; Discourse; English language; Advertising

RESUMO

Inscrito sob o viés teórico da Análise do Discurso, este artigo apresenta como objetivo geral analisar a constituição do sujeito enunciador no discurso publicitário de cursos de idiomas no Brasil. Nesse sentido, buscaremos analisar como o sujeito significa aprendiz e aprendizagem de língua inglesa nesses espaços enunciativos. Para isso, traremos à discussão, a priori, alguns aspectos históricos que permeiam o ensino de língua inglesa em nosso país. Na sequência, trataremos da base metodológica que constitui a pesquisa ora arrolada nesta reflexão, para enfim, efetuarmos nossas análises. Destacamos, no batimento descrição-interpretação, que os enunciados, de modo regular, evidenciam a importância suprema da habilidade oral. Isso se apresenta na constante mobilização linguística do lexema falar em suas diversas flexões. Outrossim, verifica-se a supremacia do estrangeiro em relação ao brasileiro e, por fim, a exigência que recai sobre o aprendiz brasileiro de língua inglesa em possuir uma pronúncia “perfeita”.

Aprendiz; Aprendizagem; Discurso; Língua inglesa; Publicidade

If discourse is a place of memory, it is because it carries the vestige - inscribed in its forms - of the fluctuations and contingencies of a strategy; the sedimented imprint of a history, its continuities and its ruptures. To make the discourse analysis is to learn to delinearize the text to restore under the smooth surface of words the complex depth of the indices of a past.

Jean-Jacques Courtine (2006, p. 91-92)

The analysis of discourse thus understood does not reveal the universality of a meaning; it shows in the light of day the game of rarefaction imposed, with a fundamental power of affirmation. Rarefaction and affirmation, rarefaction, finally, of the affirmation and not continuous generosity of meaning, and not monarchy of the signifier.

Michel Foucault (1996 [1971], p. 66)

Introductory considerations

This article aims to analyze how the enunciative subject is constituted in discourses of language courses in Brazil, more specifically in audiovisual advertising. In this sense, we will try to show how the subject attributes meaning to learner and English language learning in these enunciative spaces.

In the first topic, entitled Historical Aspects of English Language Teaching in Brazil, we will carry out an overview of English language education in the country since its legal institution in the early 19th century to the present day. Every discourse presupposes a set of truths that support it, and because we are dealing with language in progress - definition of the discourse itself -, in order to better understand language courses discourse in today’s world, we will present an overview of English language teaching in the country. This is due to the nature of the object, that is, the advertising discourse which is imbricated to the institutional language course discourses.

Next, in Specificities of the enunciative subject: Brief characterization of the institute, we will provide a description of the institute in order to better know the one(s) who endorse(s) the advertising piece. This is because in Discourse Analysis it is necessary to consider the production conditions of the discourse analyzed.

The following section, Discourse Analysis and utterance, will serve to present the theoretical-methodological basis adopted, in particular, defining the concept of enunciation. The enunciative fragment is an event that neither language nor meaning can totally exhaust and its notion is thought in a perspective in which the analyst needs to observe its relations with other enunciative fragments in dispersion, and even in different and divergent orders and domains. Thus, the enunciative fragment is at the same time singular (in its moment of irruption) as belonging to a network – to a historical “network” – from which it cannot be disentangled (FOUCAULT, 1995 [1969]).

Having made these considerations, after exposing the concept of enunciative fragment and closing this section, we will analyze the corpus from the theoretical proposal adopted.

Historical aspects of English language teaching in Brazil

Because of the numerous displacements of social order in the history in which the subject is inserted, new nuances certainly erupt in the discourses about Brazilian learners and English language learning in this second decade of the 21st century. For this reason, trying to describe and interpret why the given subject assumes certain positions in a specific social context implies a return to the historical-cultural conditions that affect this subject, as well as the political, economic and technological conjunctures that interfere with its constitution.

English-language education became official in the country in the early nineteenth century at a time when, together with French, had political, cultural and commercial strength and status both in Brazil and throughout Europe, especially considering that it is a period of American post-independence (1776) and French Revolution (1789). It was through the law of June 22, 1809 that the teaching of English and French languages was instituted in the Court of Brazil. The legal document cites:

And it is also so general and well-known that the use of the French and English languages is necessary, as well as those among which living languages have a more distinct place, and it is of great use to the state, for the increase and prosperity of public instruction, to be created in the Court a chair of French language and another one of English (MOACYR, 1936, p. 61, our translation).

At that time, the English language was not as important as the French language (the latter being the lingua franca of that period), thus as it was not required in the academies, its teaching was only considered necessary in secondary studies due to the increase of relations between Portugal and England.

Between 1808 and 1821, period of the reign of D. John VI, the English language was placed in third place behind Latin, considered the language of literature and religion, and of French, considered as universal and cultural language. English was a professional option for the “most advanced” students. In social terms, access to language education was exclusive to the latifundia and aristocratic minority of the Court. Moreover, it was not because of the establishment of the English language that its teaching expanded at that time. As we have pointed out, because its knowledge was not required for access into academies, there was reduced demand for students for many years.

The English language became part of the compulsory curriculum of certain schools and high schools (Liceus) only in 1837, whose programs and timetables were institutionalized. However, in the first regional survey of Brazilian education, dated 1852, Dr. Antônio Gonçalves Dias defined the state of the provincial institutions he visited as a “disgrace”, in a context where English was already part of most high schools, seminars, regular primary schools of that time (OLIVEIRA, 1999).

In the second half of the nineteenth century, English teaching “remained focused on exclusively practical purposes, demanding only the grammar knowledge required to read and translate written texts – skills that were necessary in the academy preparatory exams” (OLIVEIRA, 1999, p.166, our translation). Compared with other disciplines, the English language maintained the reduced number of classes and, in addition, according to the decree 2,857 of 1898, which divided the second half of elementary school (ginásio) into two distinct and concomitant courses - an introductory and more realistic course lasting 6 years and a more humanistic, lasting 7 years, foreign languages, including English, were elective in virtually every year of these two junior high school courses.

Therefore, nineteenth century saw, in general, the deficiency of English-language teaching in the provinces of the Empire, both in public and private institutions. This was due to the fact that the discipline had a relatively small number of classes, because it was established as an elective subject - based on some decrees - or even due to technical deficiencies, as described by Gonçalves Dias.

At the heart of this historical overview, it is necessary to point out that, in spite of the fact that we seek to analyze private languages institutes, when dealing with the teaching of English Language, it is insufficient to have a view just on “a history of the private English language teaching” in the country. In other terms, it is necessary to understand the history of learning in both private and public spaces, even because the expansion of language teaching in private institutes did not take place before the mid-twentieth century.

Thus, the study of languages at the turn of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century was incipient, a decree dated 1911 was, in our opinion, and also because of the reality, ambitious in its proposals. The text states (OLIVEIRA, 1999, p. 65, our translation): “The study of living languages will be given practical form; […] at the end of the course students should be able to speak and write two foreign languages and be familiarized with their literary development”. As known, theory and practice do not always go in tune. It is not because of the fact that proposals were made by means of legal documents that, in practice, results would be achieved. Also, it is necessary to take into account the rapid population growth and concomitant necessity of expansion of schools that certainly did not follow the quality of the first high schools taken as examples of this time, as is the case of the School Pedro II in Rio de Janeiro.

The situation of English teaching in the country would only change with the reform of Minister Francisco Campos - more precisely with the Ordinance of June 30, 1931, which specified the objectives, content and, for the first time, the teaching methodology of each discipline of the “elementary course”. With this regulation, the “foreign phonetic system” and the “reading of phonetic and orthographically written texts” began to be emphasized, which made the teaching of foreign living languages soon to have an official method: the “intuitive direct method” according to which the foreign language should be taught in the foreign language itself. (OLIVEIRA, 1999, p.168).

In this path of English-language teaching in Brazil one cannot forget the close relation of history, historical factors, with teaching, that is, the subjectivation processes of the subject occur in discursive practices, the subject is always historically constituted. This was pointed out by Foucault in several works, especially in his historical foray on the production of subjectivity exposed in Hermeneutics of the Subject ([1981-1982] FOUCAULT, 2010). With regard to the Brazilian English language learner, we perceive that “colonization” was and still is an important factor regulating the learner’s discourses.

In this sense, Brazil’s cultural and ideological “dependence” is historical. In fact, it was only after World War I, according to Pinto (1986), that there was a displacement of Brazil’s “dependence” from the Portugal-Europe axis to the United States of America. When dealing with this relationship of subservience, Paiva (1996, p.24, our translation) points out: “From 1921, dependence on the Americans increased with the coffee crisis, with Brazil having to resort to constant loans. Economic dependence generated a cultural dependency”. Thus, according to the author, domination is evident in several social facets: economic, cultural, social, political and linguistic. In the cultural context, Ianni (1976, p. 56, our translation) points out that “the people, groups and social classes reached by this [cultural] industry are led to think and express themselves mainly in terms and according to the objectives of those who control it. This process of massification is important for the perpetuation of the socioeconomic structures generated by the capitalist system”.

In the linguistic context, when dealing with the English language in Brazil, Paiva (1996, p.26, our translation) also highlights the foreign influence on the massive circulation of words in our country: “The importation of foreign words serves much more as a symbolic need for identification with a society of great political and economic power than the need to name new concepts and objects”. Unlike Paiva, which deals exclusively with linguistic domination, we also point to images (symbols, icons), sounds (music, movie soundtracks), and even cultural habits (food, clothing, fashion, and so on) adopted and practiced by Brazilian learners and which, to our understanding, function as a result of historical subjectivation processes, result of a strong foreign cultural influence and economic dependence of centuries.

In this way, it is not just about an imperialist culture dominating another, but also about how the “dominated” culture absorbs, or rather, suffers subjectivation before these discourses. As Moita Lopes (1996, p. 47, our translation, our highlight) has already said: “Transmitting culture means imposing the ideology of the ruling class [ruling country], which is, of course, going directly to their own interests”.

If, on the one hand, the subject of the globalized world in the postmodern age does not face difficulties in joining new identities, because as Bauman (2005, p. 91, our translation) states: “The freedom to alter any aspect and appearance of individual identity is something that most people today find readily accessible, or at least see as a realistic perspective for the near future”, on the other hand, it is interesting that the Brazilian learner of English remains affiliated with places which tend to maintain this utterer in a subaltern position.

Certainly, as we have pointed out, inherent aspects of these truths derive from a colonialist historical legacy and are undoubtedly reflected in foreign language learner practices: “People unconsciously internalize beliefs about language throughout life and thus beliefs about what language is, adequate language, and so on, vary from individual to individual and are profoundly maintained” (WOODS, 1996, p. 186, our highlight).

An analysis of the language institutes discourses allows us to recognize what truths are built about these utterers and how the enunciator seeks to highlight some or sanction others (truths) to the social body and also how these truths / beliefs, when assimilated by other subjects, become truthful and interfere in the process of identification and learning of the foreign language. It has to be emphasized that this paper does not carry out a direct analysis of a real learner, but a learner produced by advertising discourses.

As previously mentioned, according to Oliveira (1999), the situation in English-language teaching would only change in the country from 1931 onwards with an Ordinance that would specify the objectives, content and methodology in elementary education. Concomitant with these social changes, it was from this year that the private institutes began to be publicized as well, just as the one which is analyzed in this paper, one of the most traditional institutes to work in face-to-face mode, and inaugurated in 1934 in Rio de Janeiro.

However, the expansion of private courses did not take place before the second half of the twentieth century. In this context, the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s witnessed the emergence, expansion and consolidation of numerous English courses. In a survey of the most expressive language courses, we found that the private sector of language teaching plays a fundamental role in the training of English learners in our country. The twelve franchises listed by us add up to the impressive number of 5,102 units.

Thus, these franchises are responsible for the training of learners in a considerable number of Brazilian towns and their expansion did not happen at random. As we have seen in the historical exposition on English language learning in Brazil, public education, since its institution, has always faced deficiencies and serious problems, spreading the discourse, still very current, that it is not possible to learn a foreign language in public school. Expansion in the private sector was certainly driven by these factors¹. In such a way, the private institute “fills” a social gap, and becomes responsible and legitimized as the one offering effective teaching of the foreign language. Therefore, it would be the exclusive place where the learner would effectively develop oral ability efficiently, achieving the desired fluency.

These considerations on learners discourses have already been pointed out by Grigoletto (2000). Thus, in a general way, it is believed that the private school really teaches their students to have oral fluency while the public school is restricted to the teaching of grammar. On the other hand, online courses only came into existence after the advent of the Internet. In Brazil, this happened around the decade of 1990. The resurgence of this modality of education is, undoubtedly, incontestable in the last twenty years.

With these considerations in mind, before proceeding to the next topic in which we will deal with language institutes in order to have their specification, we point out some conclusions that we have reached on this topic: a) since the institution of English language teaching in Brazil, access to English language formal education was the exclusiveness of a few; b) although English language teaching has been instituted in Brazil for about two centuries and since then there has been a considerable number of laws and decrees guaranteeing its teaching in public schools, the teaching of oral production and reception skills is, to a large extent, exclusive to private language institutes. In other words, speaking English is still the privilege of a minority. c) Brazilian Linguistic dependence, already pointed out by other scholars (see, for example, PAIVA, 1996) is a reflection of foreign (European and American) dependence, especially economic dependence. Even so, most Brazilian learners of English tend to seek identification with the American culture, leading to a sort of “Yankee deification”.

Specificities of the Language institute: brief specification

Who is the endorser of the advertising piece taken for analysis in this paper? We will advance in this section aiming at describing the language institute, defining its main aspects as well as the discourse production conditions which are relevant to this research.

From this necessary question, we will advance, in this topic, with the intention of making a description of the advertising institute, delimiting the main aspects which are part of the interests of the work and in articulation with the discourse production conditions.

In this sense, we highlight the teaching modality used by the language institute, its social reach, (that is, the average number of branches it contains) and, also, the methodology used by the institute. We reiterate that our proposal is not, at any moment, to verify the quality of the institute’s methodology, nor if its method is more or less efficient than the others. An observation of the method used can be useful to demonstrate how the institute, in the heterogeneity of its discourses, produce subjects in general, and construct truths about the native speaker and foreign language learner process. It will also serve to demonstrate, even in the differences, the regularities which permeate the discursive formation on “English language learning”.

The Institute analyzed works exclusively with the teaching of English in face-to-face modality (not online), and was funded in July 20, 1934. According to information collected from the electronic website of a franchisee, it was the first education network of English language in Brazil.

In this way, it has been operating for about eight decades in the country. In 1940 the school became an official center for the application of the English language international examinations as a foreign language from the University of Cambridge. We verified in the different electronic sites visited (and this because there is no “headquarters” school, that is, there is no main electronic page common to all the units of the Institute)², that in all of them there is sufficient information about the “Cambridge Exams”. It is important to emphasize, about international certification, that CAE (Certificate in Advanced English) and CPE (Certificate of Proficiency in English) exams are both recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture, allowing the holder to fulfill the subjects requirements in official higher education institutions which offer English language in their curriculum, as is the case of English language and literature undergraduate courses.

We found out that this institute is located in 70 Brazilian cities, including major centers. We also found out that there are several units spread in the main capital cities, for example, in Rio de Janeiro, there are 26 school units. In the capital of Minas Gerais state, Belo Horizonte, there are 15 units. In the city of Uberlândia, there are three. Thus, there are about 150 units of the institute scattered throughout the country.

Regarding the teaching method (in general English), the institution makes use of a communicative perspective focused on the four basic skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking, with an emphasis on oral production. The school does not produce any material at all; on the contrary, each institute uses imported materials acquired by publishers such as Oxford University Press, Longman or Cambridge University Press. Regarding the method, the language institute website states:

The method used at the Institute follows a communicative approach in which English is presented and practised in the same way as it is used in real life. The courses are complete because they develop all the skills necessary for English communication (writing, reading, speaking and listening). Classes are segmented by age group and level of language knowledge. The teaching material is of the highest international standard. Thus, with highly qualified teachers and dynamic classes emphasizing conversation, the success of the Institute has been repeated every decade, and proven by the high level of approval in the international examinations of the University of Cambridge.

After these considerations, we will advance to the next topic dealing with the theoretical-methodological specificities adopted in our analyses.

Discourse Analysis and statement

Our theoretical-methodological background is derived from Michel Foucault’s archegenealogy (1995 [1969]), especially taking the concepts of discursive practice, statement, subject, knowledge, truth and power, as well as the notion of subjectivity. This last notion (subjectivity) is relevant since the advertising discourse is taken, in this paper, as a device that acts forcefully towards the production of subjects.

Under the assumptions of Discourse Analysis, theory and methodology are intertwingled, so to better understand the process of producing meanings of discourses, these concepts will be taken as apparatuses of interpretation in the analytical procedures.

In order to analyze the statements extracted from the corpus, we selected the statements (verbal and non-verbal – images) present in it, as well as other possible devices that emerge and integrate these materialities (such as objects and subtitles). We seek to observe the meaningful effects of these statements, as well as the positions occupied and truths constructed and sustained by the enunciating subject in relation to the Brazilian learner of the English language. Moreover, in the description-interpretation process, we seek to understand the functioning of these discourses by emphasizing the issue of how certain substances in which the materialities are invested corroborate the production of meanings.

In addition, the methodology does not consist of a “horizontal reading”, that is, in extension, from the beginning to the end of each statement trying to find a completeness of meaning – due to the inherent primacy of incompleteness of language as Henry (1993) points out. It will be an in-depth analysis, following Orlandi’s “vertical exhaustivity procedure” (ORLANDI; GUIMARÃES; TARALLO, 1989), using the construction of truths, memory effects, knowledge-power relations, emphasizing the roles of sounds and expression substances in these discourses.

In order to carry out the analyzes, we use the notion of enunciate according to the postulates of Foucault (1995 [1969]). In face of the heterogeneity inherent in the discourses, the advertising piece is composed of a set of enunciates that intersect and disperse; each enunciate functions as a fragment of the discursive situation and the analysis undertaken is done by means of the selection of these units extracted from the corpus.

Although our methodological proposal is to analyze the statements separately, in each analytical gesture we take into account the meanings produced by the advertising considering all different elements (statements, sounds, voice substances – pitch, tone, music, objects, theirs positions etc.) giving due attention to the existing connections between them.

Foucault defines the statement as an “element susceptible of being isolated and able to enter into the game of relations with other elements similar to it” (FOUCAULT, (1995 [1969], p.90, our translation). For this author, the enunciate is a small fragment that needs a material support, has a date and place, and is produced by a subject, not being reduced or even confused with a word or phrase.

The enunciate analysis leads us to reflect on the rules that establish its conditions of irruption, its production in history, its correlations with other enunciates, its role played among others in the enunciative game, its limits, which memory is evocated and effects of meanings emanating from these practices. On this theoretical-methodological basis, the analysis does not take place in the search for a truthful sense, but of the “real meaning in its linguistic and historical materiality”, as Orlandi (2009 [1999], p. 59, our translation). We seek, in this process of interpretation, to apprehend the discursive margins, considering the opacity, the non-fixity of meanings, the inconsistencies as well as the discourse contradictions in these materialities.

With these considerations in mind, we will proceed, to the next topic, with the corpus analysis.

Analysis: learner and learning of the English language in Brazil

In this topic, we will analyze the advertisement, based on the theoretical construct of the French Discourse Analysis (PÊCHEUX, 1988 [1975], 1999 [1983], 2002 [1983]) and in constant dialogue with the historical-critical considerations about the subject and the discourse in Michel Foucault (1984 [1982], 1988, 1989 [1973], 1995 [1969]).

The selection of statements is made through the discursive regularities that underpin the analysis proposed. Analyses of two pieces broadcast on open television channels and also available on the websites of English courses will be presented.

The Institute’s advertisement, broadcast on its online channel, is an informal interview held in the center of a Brazilian city at night by a young woman (perhaps a teacher) linked to the language course (A) to two young Brazilian students (B, C). It is a little more extensive advertisement than the TV commercial, containing on average one minute and thirty seconds.

The advertisement has the following format: the “teacher”, from that institute, goes out to the streets interviewing people in English. In this way, the “teacher” highlights the unsuccessful attempts of her interlocutors when trying to express themselves in the English language. The purpose of the institute is also to highlight that their learner, unlike those interviewed, does not need to use “embromation³” (title of the series of advertisements) to communicate.

This advertising is interesting in the sense of presenting a “real” interview, done in the street with “real” individuals. In other words, this interview was not done in a studio with characters as most advertising pieces do. In fact, what happens in this “interview” is a kind of simulacrum of spontaneity, because if, on the one hand, the advertisement is not totally produced beforehand, on the other hand, it cannot be forgotten that there is some edition after the interview. Thus, the language institute certainly selects the fragments of the interview which best meet their political, ideological and pedagogical proposals as well as their advertising and commercial interests. The aim of the language institute is to highlight the mistakes of the Brazilian learners.

In relation to its composition (of the advertising piece), some image and sound features are used in its edition, such as subtitles and artificial sounds. In this respect, the advertisement begins with the interviewer approaching the two Brazilian students⁴ / learners and asking them:

A – Excuse me. Can I talk to you for a moment?

Can you help me? Do you speak English?⁵

In general, if we analyze the dialogue between the interviewer and the interviewees (Brazilian students / learners), we will notice that one of these (learners), in spite of the mistakes and linguistic deviations, is able to communicate. His pronunciation, by the way, is appropriate for a student who declares not being able to speak English well. “More or less” he says. What we mean by appropriate is that the phrase is well-structured, the lexical choice is pertinent, the answers are coherently answered, the learner understands what is asked to him, and does not hesitate before the interviewer’s questions. However, even if the student’s speech is intelligible only his pronunciation shows some deviations, caused by L1 (mother tongue) interference. For example, after the first question the dialogue follows:

A - Where are you guys gonna go dance tonight?

B - My house. We can go to my house.

C - I wanna go dance tonight.

A - Are you inviting me to go to your house?

B - Yeah, “May bee”, maybe.

A - Oh, my God!

All you guys are going to your house?

B - No. Just you and me.

A - Ah, I understand that. Well, ok.

But, you speak English?

Very well?

B - Not very well, but I can “uon”…⁶

It is noticed that the questions asked by the interviewer to the student / learner are adequately answered. When she asks where they are going to dance, he makes fun in English: At my house. We can go to my house. In that sense, he is flirting with the girl in the target language. Then, a little disconcerted, the one who asks the questions tries to confirm if she understood: Are you inviting me to go to your house?. And he promptly replies, at that moment, lessening the force of the invitation: Yes, perhaps. Then she confirms if all of his friends will also go to his house. And he declares, “No, just you and me”. As it is noticed, the dialogue flows naturally until the interviewer asks, “But, do you speak English? Very well?”- it is observed that the adversative conjunction is not translated, in the subtitles, despite being enunciated in English. This inquiry points out the position that the subject occupies in the discourse, that is to say, to maintain any dialogue, being able to emphasize that its interlocutor does not speak English as well as she. Therefore, it constructs a discourse of de-legitimation. In fact, at the beginning of the conversation, this assertion had already been made. However, it seems that the fact that the dialogue has flowed naturally has interfered with the goals of the enunciator.

Concerning the substances of expression (seriouness, smile, etc.) in articulation with the sound substances (intensity, pitch), after the interviewer’s question if the learner speaks English very well, the learner responds: Not very well, but I… I can .... the interviewer asks immediately: Can what? And he says: I can talk to you. Immediately she retorts: Speak what? In fact, her question, “What?”, quickly performed with a slight increase in vocal intensity, with an inquiry tone, and followed by a brief pause indicates a certain disbelief on the part of the interviewer. Disbelief in the sense that the she (the interviewer) does not want to believe that the speaker is able to communicate with her in English efficiently. In fact, what rules the discourse, rather than the linguistic or semiological content, are the historical determinations of the subjects. In other words, the linguistic and the semiological are an effect of the positions that these same subjects occupy within the discursive practice.

Regarding the mobilization of substances in the visual field, the use of subtitles in advertising is relevant – since the dialogue takes place in English (to a Portuguese language audience. However, if the phrases formed by the interviewer always appear in white color, when the interviewee enunciates an expression with some type of deviation (they are few, which do not interfere in the communication)it always appears in red.

Thus, the substances function in the materiality to enhance the error. If the chromatic enhancement is not enough, there is also the use of quotation marks in the phrases as a way to highlight these deviations. For example, when the student responds: Yeah, “May bee”, maybe…, It is noted that although the enunciation is made with a long vowel sound [i:] – bee and not be – in the first attempt of enunciation of the adverbial particle, instead of the short vowel [i], the student immediately does the self-correction and enunciates without any mistake. In other words, the emphasis on a deviation, already corrected by the speaker himself, points to a demand, on the part of the subject, of a linguistic production close to perfection.

A - But, you speak English?

Very well?’

B - Not very well, but I can…

A - Can what?

B - I can talk “with” you.

A - What?

B - All the things you “want’s” talk.

C - Ah, muito engraçado.

A - Ah, I understand.⁷

Still in response to the interviewer’s question, the learner / student states with intelligible pronunciation: I can talk “wif” you. The problem of the sound [θ] is much discussed by Brazilian teachers of English because it is an unknown phoneme by Portuguese speakers. Therefore, it is a phoneme that generates difficulties to be produced, because the sound [θ], in this case, is confused with [f], since they are similar (both are voiceless). However, the phrase, in general, is completely intelligible, so much so that the dialogue follows normally. The Brazilian student / learner can actually hold a conversation with the character who assumes the position of the language institute. However, the subject who enunciates seeks to make explicit, at all times – we would not say the poor quality of the English of his interlocutor, since in this dialogue the Brazilian student manages to keep the conversation, but rather the few deviations committed by him.

The search or “hunt” for errors/mistakes permeates the discourse of the enunciating subject and shows the exercise of power. In the sound field, for example, at the beginning of the advertisement, there is a song that is very reminiscent of a detective film. As an opening, the music prepares the viewers for what goes through the commercial. By the intersonority, it is understood that some “investigation” is being carried out. This investigation is not about a “crime”, but about “the linguistic errors” committed by the interlocutor. Thus, a discourse of de-legitimization of the interviewee is instigated, as a form of legitimation of self. A mobilized procedure which integrates the exercises of power of the subject, and consequently leading to the production of subjects.

Thus, the meanings produced in the course of the advertising lead us to conclude that the discourse of the institute analyzed here is exclusive, and the subject sends a message to society that communication is not at all important, on the contrary, it is absolutely necessary to speak like a native speaker. Different from what Pennington (1996) highlights, the most relevant is communication itself (if it is intelligible), regardless of the “failures” in the process; in these discourses, mistakes and errors (we reiterate, not impediment of understanding between the participants of the dialogue) are considered as a great defect. Therefore, using lexis with mispronunciations or poorly formed phrases is inconceivable for the enunciator. Thus, a truth that is constructed is that linguistic precision (especially phonetic and grammatical) is far more important than communication itself.

Final considerations

Taking discursive practice as a set of historical rules, “[…] historical, always determined in time and space, which define, in a given epoch and for a given social, economic, geographical or linguistic area, the conditions of exercise of the enunciative function” (FOUCAULT, 1995 [1969], p.136, our translation), we perceive some regularities which define the conditions of the enunciative function in the discursive formation concerning the Brazilian learning and the learning of English language.

Thus, in the part relating to the sound substance, pronunciation is an aspect of language learning that the enunciating subject puts into evidence. Regarding the truths in the enunciative relations between the Brazilian with the English language, it is evident that the enunciator demands a perfect pronunciation from the Brazilian speaker – equivalent to that of a native speaker. The pronunciation mistakes are synonymous of incompetency, thus resulting in the complete de-legitimation of the learner.

Therefore, the deviation / error is highlighted, and its author is consequently ironized. In addition, the subject demonstrates in his discourses that communication is not as important as phonetic accuracy. In other words, the subject that demands only systemic and decontextualized knowledge follows a perspective that sees language as a reflection of thought, or as a vehicle for transmitting information, both disconnected from the social context. Thus, the analysis of the advertising piece of this article allows us to understand, to a certain extent, what the conception of language that constitutes the enunciator is.

From the analysis, we also find a deletion of the other three basic communicative skills, that is, written reception, written production and oral reception in detriment of oral production. Thus, the enunciates show the supreme importance of this ability, in addition to the constant linguistic mobilization of the lexeme speak in its various inflections. In the advertisement, the learner can understand the language spoken in North America very well, so much so that he answers the questions appropriately without hesitation, demonstrating his oral comprehension. However, this is not the skill that counts. Moreover, reading and writing, also as basic skills, are not even mentioned within this discursive formation. Therefore, what matters for the enunciator analyzed and what receives prominence in his discourse is not the fact that the Brazilian learner knows English, but notably that he is able to speak English. By the way, he must speak extremely well.

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• 1
  Portuguese version: Assim, essas franquias são responsáveis pela formação de aprendizes em um considerável número de municípios brasileiros e sua expansão não se deu ao acaso. Como verificamos na exposição histórica sobre aprendizagem de língua inglesa no Brasil, o ensino público, desde sua instituição, sempre enfrentou deficiências e problemas gravíssimos, gerindo o discurso, ainda muito atual, de que não é possível aprender uma língua estrangeira na escola pública. A expansão no setor privado certamente foi impulsionada por esses fatores
• 2
  What we mean is that each branch of the school has its own electronic page (website).
• 3
  Note of the translator: “embromation” is an expression used in Brazil which refers to a Brazilian learner/speaker who does not know English and tries to communicate in the foreign language using gestures, mimes, very bad English and even changing Portuguese words into English in a very unsuccessful way. This word has a negative connotation.
• 4
  The Portuguese version is: “Em relação à sua composição (da peça publicitária), são utilizados alguns recursos de imagem e som em sua edição, tais como legendas e sons artificiais. Neste ínterim, a propaganda inicia-se com a referida entrevistadora que, ao se aproximar dos dois estudantes/aprendizes brasileiros, pergunta-lhes:”.
• 5
  Com licença, posso falar com você um instante?
  Pode me ajudar? Você fala inglês? (translation).
• 6
  Quando não houver tradução nas legendas da propaganda, a tradução é nossa (negrito):
  A – Onde é que vocês vão dançar hoje à noite?
  B – Minha casa. Nós podemos ir para minha casa.
  C - Eu quero ir dançar hoje à noite.
  A – Você está me convidando para ir para sua casa?
  B – Sim, “May bee”, talvez.
  A – Oh, meu Deus!
  Todos vocês vão para sua casa?
  B – Não. Só você e eu.
  A – Ah, saquei. Está certo.
  Você fala inglês?
  Muito bem?
  B – Não muito bem, mas eu posso...
• 7
  A – Você fala inglês?
  Muito bem?
  B – Não muito bem, mas eu posso...
  A – Pode o quê?
  B – Eu posso falar com você.
  A – Falar o quê?
  B – Todas as coisas que você quiser falar.
  C – Ah, muito engraçado.
  A – Ah, saquei.
  (Em negrito, tradução nossa)

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  17 May 2021
• Date of issue
  2021

History

• Received
  21 Dec 2015
• Accepted
  27 Feb 2016