Plurilingual multiliteracies in basic education: anti-colonial and emancipatory contemporary perspectives

Abstract

This article aims to discuss language and its contemporary aspects in the globalized digital age, emphasizing bi/multi/plurilingual education in the Brazilian context. The starting point for our reflection is the implications of globalization in contemporary social relations in conjunction with a highly limited Brazilian language policy for foreign languages. Thus, we will highlight Brazilian official documents relevant to this scenario. We will raise some questions about the relevance of additional/foreign language teaching in public basic education in contrast to the private sector, which has taken a proactive position for bi/multi/plurilingual demands nowadays, although motivated by several economic reasons. We will discuss the concepts of Portuguese-English bilingualism and multiliteracy (NLG, 1996; Kalantzis; Cope; Pinheiro, 2020), as well as focus on a brief discussion on the historical colonial culture of knowledge in the teaching of English in our country. Subsequently, we will analyze and weave reflections on emancipatory approaches to learning English as an additional language, with an emphasis on local relevant topics to the engagement and agency of learners, as advocated by The New London Group, NLG (1996).