Abstract
This paper analyzes the context of Spanish language teaching in Brazil. We examine the representations of and attitudes toward Rioplatense/Argentinean Spanish and Peninsular Spanish—and toward the speakers of each of these varieties—held by Brazilian learners of Spanish as a foreign language. To provide the context in which Spanish learning takes place in Brazil, we report on the changes that the teaching of Spanish language has undergone since the 1990s in that country. We used two complementary research methodologies—matched guise and open questionnaires—to measure the representations and attitudes of learners taking Spanish classes in the state of São Paulo. Findings suggest that attitudes were impacted primarily by the sounds characterizing each different language variety. From there the participants moved toward their representations of the people and their nationalities. Based on these findings, we propose changes in the treatment of linguistic varieties in the classroom.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acuña, L. (2002). El español como recurso económico: De Colón al Mercosur. Unidad en la Diversidad: Portal informativo sobre la lengua castellana. 17 April. http://www.unidadenladiversidad.com/historico/opinion/opinion_ant/2002/abril_2002/opinion_170402.htm.
Alvar, M. (1986). Hombre, etnia, Estado. Madrid: Gredos.
Bertol, R. (2005). Espanholas têm metas ambiciosas para liderar mercado editorial do país. O Globo [Rio de Janeiro], 11 June. Online version http://www.cbl.org.br/content.php?recid=2292.
Bertolotti, V. (2007). El Instituto Cervantes y las universidades latinoamericanas. In L. Martín-Estudillo, F. Ocampo, & N. Spadaccini (Eds.), Hispanic Issues On Line #2 Fall. Estudios Hispánicos: Perspectivas Internacionales.
Bugel, T. (1998). O espanhol na cidade de São Paulo: Quem ensina qual variante a quem? Unpublished M.A. thesis. Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Online version http://libdigi.unicamp.br/document/?code=vtls000132603.
Bugel, T. (2002). Español como lengua extranjera en Brasil: La política lingüística de España reflejada en la prensa nacional. In V. M. Sánchez Corrales (Ed.), Actas del XIII Congreso Internacional de ALFAL (pp. 1305–1311). San José, Costa Rica: Universidad de Costa Rica.
Bugel, T. (2006). A macro- and micro-sociolinguistic study of language attitudes and language contact: Mercosur and the teaching of Spanish in Brazil. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Calvet, L. J. (1999). Pour une écologie des langues du monde. Paris: Plon.
Castelano Rodrigues, F. (2007) El proyecto Oye! y la enseñanza del E/LE en São Paulo, Brasil. In P. Franzoni et al. (Org.), Formación e investigación en lenguas extranjeras y traducción: Actas del Congreso del Instituto de Enseñanza Superior en Lenguas Vivas Juan R. Fernández (pp. 75–79). Buenos Aires: Instituto de Enseñanza Superior en Lenguas Vivas Juan R. Fernández.
Coupland, N., & Bishop, H. (2007). Ideologised values for British accents. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 11, 74–93.
D’Anglejan, A., & Tucker, R. G. (1973). Sociolinguistic correlates of speech style. In R. W. Shuy & R. Fasold (Eds.), Language attitudes: Current trends and prospects (pp. 1–27). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
de Arnoux, E. N. (2008). ‘La lengua es la patria’, ‘Nuestra lengua es mestiza’ y ‘El español es americano’: Desplazamientos significativos en el III Congreso de la Lengua Española. In S. Hofmann (Ed.), Medios, espacios y nuevas comunidades imaginadas. Berlin: Edition Tranvía.
Del Valle, J., & Stheeman, G. (2002). The battle over Spanish between 1800 and 2000. London: Routledge.
Del Valle, J., & Villa, L. (2005). Lenguas, naciones y multinacionales: Las políticas de promoción del español en Brasil. Revista da ABRALIN, 4, 197–230.
Del Valle, J., & Villa, L. (2006). Spanish in Brazil: Language policy, business, and cultural propaganda. Language Policy, 5, 369–392.
Del Valle, J., & Villa, L. (2007). La lengua como recurso económico: Español S.A. y sus operaciones en Brasil. In J. Del Valle (Ed.), La lengua, ¿patria común? (pp. 97–128). Frankfurt: Vervuert Iberoamericana.
Del Valle, J., & Villa, L. (2008). Oye!: Lengua e negócio entre o Brasil e a Espanha. Calidoscópio, 6(1), 45–55.
Díaz Guerrero, R., & Salas, M. (1975). El diferencial semántico del idioma español. México: Trillas.
Dornyei, Z. (2003). Attitudes, orientations and motivations in language learning. London: Blackwell.
Farrell, T. S. C., & Kun, S. T. K. (2007). Language policy, language teachers’ beliefs, and classroom practices. Applied Linguistics, 29(3), 381–403.
Fernández, M. (2007). De la lengua del mestizaje al mestizaje de la lengua: Reflexiones sobre los límites de una nueva estrategia discursiva. In J. Del Valle (Ed.), La lengua, ¿patria común? (pp. 57–80). Frankfurt: Vervuert Iberoamericana.
Gabbiani, B. (2003) Las lenguas extranjeras en el Mercosur. Ministerio de Educación y Cultura del Paraguay, y Unión Latina: II Seminario Interamericano sobre la Gestión de Lenguas. Asunción, Paraguay, 4–6 June. http://dtil.unilat.org/segundo_seminario/gabbiani.htm.
Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.
Gardner, R., & Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second-language learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
González, N., & Celada, M. T. (2005). El español en Brasil: Un intento de captar el orden de la experiencia. In J. Sedycias (Ed.), O ensino do espanhol no Brasil (pp. 71–96). São Paulo, Brazil: Parábola.
Hamel, R. E. (2006). Language conflict and the micro-macro link in the Spanish speaking world. In C. Mar-Molinero and M. Stewart (Eds.), Globalization and language in the Spanish speaking world (pp. 47–75). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Heller, M. (2003). Globalization, the new economy and the commodification of language. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 7, 473–492.
Kachru, B. (1992). Models for non-native Englishes. In B. Kachru (Ed.), The other tongue: English across cultures (pp. 48–74). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Krashen, S. D. (1987). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall International.
Krashen, S. D. (1988). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall International.
Labov, W. (1966). The social stratification of English. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Lambert, W. E., Hodgson, R. C., Gardner, R. C., & Fillenbaum, S. (1960). Evaluational reactions to spoken languages. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60, 44–51.
Lapesa, R. (1981). Historia de la lengua española. Gredos: Madrid.
Lasagabaster, D. (2004). Using discussion groups to analyze attitudes towards English as a foreign language. Estudios de Linguística Aplicada, 22(40), 91–113.
Luján García, C. I. (2008). “Las acciones educativas de España en el exterior: Un reto sin fronteras.” Presented at the 4th International Conference of Hispanic Linguistics, 2nd Biennial Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Spanish in Society [SiS], Swansea, Wales, 28–30 March.
Marirrodriga, J. (2000). El viaje de los reyes a Brasil estimula la cooperación económica y el auge del castellano. El País [Madrid], 14 July. Online version www.elpais.es.
Mar-Molinero, C. (2009). Forces of globalization in the Spanish-speaking world: Linguistic imperialism or grassroots adaptation. In C. Mar-Molinero & M. Stewart (Eds.), Globalization and language in the Spanish-speaking world. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Martínez-Cachero Laseca, Á. (2008). La enseñanza del español en el sistema educativo brasileño/O ensino do espanhol no sistema educativo brasileiro. Brasilia: Embajada de España en Brasil, Consejería de Educación.
Moreno Fernández, F. (1995). La enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera. In M. de Tamarón (Ed.), El peso de la lengua española en el mundo (pp. 195–233). Madrid: Fundación Duques de Soria/INCIPE.
Moreno Fernández, F. (2000). Qué español enseñar? Madrid: Arco/Libros.
Penny, R. (2004). Variation and change in Spanish. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pennycook, A. (2001). Critical applied linguistics: An introduction. London: Routledge.
Rajagopalan, K. (2003). The ambivalent role of English in Brazilian politics. World Englishes, 22, 91–101.
Reinoso, S. (2005). “Brasil necesitará 230.000 docentes de español.” La Nación [Buenos Aires], 23 July. Online version. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=723852.
Rivarola, J. L. (1998). El discurso de la variación en el Diálogo de la lengua de Juan de Valdés. In Oesterreicher, W., Stoll, E., Welsh, A. (coords.), Competencia escrita, tradiciones discursivas y variedades linguísticas: Aspectos del español europeo y americano en los siglos XVI y XVII, 83–110. Tübingen: Narr.
Santos, H. S. (2005). Quem sou eu? Quem é você? Será que a gente pode se entender? As representações no ensino/aprendizagem do espanhol como língua estrangeira. Unpublished M.A. thesis. São Paulo, Brazil: FFLCH, USP. Online version http://www.teses.usp.br/.
Santos, H. S. (2006). As representações sobre o espanhol e o português na aprendizagem da língua estrangeira. Estudos Lingüísticos XXXV, 893–902. Brazil: Grupo de Estudos Lingüísticos (GEL). Online version http://gel.org.br/4publica-estudos-2006/sistema06/597.pdf.
Scales, J., Wennerstrom, A., Richard, D., & Wu, S. H. (2006). Language learners’ perceptions of accent. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 715–738.
Schiffman, H. F. (2005). Language policy and linguistic culture. In R. Thomas (Ed.), An introduction to language policy: Theory and method (pp. 111–127). London: Wiley-Blackwell.
Solís Obiels, M. (2002). The matched guise technique: A critical approximation to a classic test for formal measurement of language attitudes. Noves SL: Revista de Sociolingüística. http://www6.gencat.cat/llengcat/noves/hm02estiu/metodologia/a_solis.pdf.
Teitelbaum, H., Edwards, A., & Hudson, A. (1975). Ethnic attitudes and the acquisition of Spanish as a second language. Language Learning, 25, 255–266.
Vilá Barreto, J. (1982). Attitudes, motivation and achievement in the learning of Spanish as a second language. Unpublished M.A. thesis. Grand Rapids: Michigan State University.
Williams, F. (1973). Some research notes on dialect attitudes and stereotypes. In R. Shuy & R. Fasold (Eds.), Language attitudes: Current trends, prospects (pp. 113–128). Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.
Williams, F. (1974). The identification of linguistic attitudes. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 3, 21–32.
Yashima, T., Zenuk-Nishide, L., & Shimizu, K. (2004). The influence of attitudes and affect on willingness to communicate and second language communication. Language Learning, 54, 119–152.
Zamora Vicente, A. (2000). Dialectología española. Madrid: Gredos.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank all the participants in this study; without their help, our work would not have been possible. Special thanks to Ana Maria Carvalho and Antje Muntendam for their reading of a previous version of this paper; and to three anonymous reviewers for their extremely valuable contributions to our work. We also thank Susan Krusemark for her proofreading and Lesa Vartanian for her help with SPSS. The collection of part of the data presented in this paper was partially funded by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bugel, T., Santos, H.S. Attitudes and representations of Spanish and the spread of the language industries in Brazil. Lang Policy 9, 143–170 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-010-9166-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-010-9166-3