Oportunidades perdidas: uma análise da variação linguística em livros didáticos

Abstract

Based on Educational Sociolinguistics (BORTONI-RICARDO, 2004; BAGNO, 2007), the aim of this study is to verify how linguistic variation is approached in three textbook collections directed at the final grades of elementary school. The presence of keywords “linguistic variation(s)”, “linguistic variety(ies)” and “linguistic prejudice” was analysed, considering who they were directed to and to which linguistic subjects they were related. Results show that the approach to linguistic variation is concentrated in a specific grade, depending on the collection; the keywords show up more in fragments directed at the teacher; there is more emphasis on register and lexical variation. Moreover, we have selected three subjects that could favor an approach on linguistic variation: orality, agreement and pronominal placement. We observed how these subjects were presented and the proposed activities. We could see that the overall approach tends to be traditional, with variation facts being mainly sidelined and their treatment being heavily dependent on the teacher’s knowledge on the matter. The collections are incipient, since linguistic variation is, most of the times, disconnected from activities that would allow for the creation of hypotheses about the variable rules. There are glimpses of what could be a successful approach to linguistic variation, but lost opportunities are still the norm.