Read text below and answer question accordingly.

English Language Teaching in Brazil: A Gap in Policy, Problems in Practice

Only three percent of Brazilians are estimated to speak English despite the status of this language as a mandatory subject. This fact relates to a gap in foreign language teaching policy documents: the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law (LDB), and the National Curriculum Parameters (PCN). These documents for many years did not prescribe the necessary conditions for English Language Teaching (ELT) to take place effectively, often focusing on reading due to a lack of resources or large classes.

LDB mandated the teaching of a foreign language chosen locally from grades 5 to 12. A recent reform in 2017 has added that English will be the foreign language taught in secondary school (from grade 6 up) throughout the country. Previous versions of LDB, however, did not mandate the teaching of English, leading to the perception that only in private language centers could students learn the language.

The effectiveness of ELT in basic education remains low because policies impact the quality of teacher education, the availability of pedagogical resources, and the number of students in the classroom. Most schools are equipped with basic materials like blackboards and chairs, but few have audiovisual equipment installed in every classroom. This reality shows why many teachers stick to the textbook most of the time.

Many English teachers in Brazil do not speak the language fluently because most undergraduate programs offer a dual major (English and Portuguese). Often, aspiring teachers enroll because they actually want to teach Portuguese. Consequently, these teachers reproduce in their classrooms the approaches in which they were taught as students, focusing on grammar-translation rather than modern communicative methods.

Misconceptions about the language also contribute to a lack of motivation. Some believe English is only from England or the USA. To correct this, BNCC (National Common Curriculum Base) suggests an intercultural approach to make the study of a foreign language more socially and culturally relevant. BNCC aims to raise awareness of the global web in which English is involved, and it is treating it as a tool for citizenship.

(Adapted from: BATISTA, F. C. A. English Language Teaching in Brazil: A Gap in Policy, Problems in Practice. English Language Teaching, v. 13, n. 8, p. 135- 145, 2020. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v13n8p135. Acesso em: 30 maio 2026.)