Especialização

Learning English as a foreign language in Brazilian elementary schools: Textbooks and their lessons about the world and about learning

Author: Mauricio Alves de Oliveira Júnior (You will find the true knowledge when you seek for it of all your soul)

Abstract
Textbooks are always value-laden and reflect worldviews particular to certain social groups. They are also effective tools in the reproduction and legitimization of these values and beliefs. An analysis of latent and manifest content of popular English as foreign language textbooks in Brazilian elementary schools was carried out. Three themes were identified in the analysis of text and images in these materials: representations of a world devoid of problems, representations of a fragmented world, and representations of learning as an individual process. These messages reinforce a conservative trend in the focused context. In addition, they suggest a simplistic and non-critical view of the subject matter, of learning, and of participation in society in general.

Introduction
Regardless of all the controversy involving textbooks, three related issues are widely accepted: (1) textbooks do not exist in a vacuum, and thus reflect particular worldviews; (2) textbook content is likely to orient curriculum in general; and (3) textbooks have a great impact on the learner’s understanding of the knowledge associated with the fields represented by these materials.
This study is framed by these assumptions, and follows the view that the examination of textbooks can provide information about the worldviews used in the settings in which these books are adopted, including definitions of knowledge, teaching, learning, and views of social order. Key to this discussion is the argument that, by projecting images of social practices, textbooks imply views considered legitimate within the