WHAT CAT ATE YOUR TONGUE: reflections on the condition of subalternity (Atena Editora)

Abstract

In times of implementation of the proposals for the Brazilian basic education standard, the National Common Curricular Base/2017 (the Base), and no less important, times of defining the new model of High School, my provocative question “What cat got your tongue ?” launches reflections on how certain practices in the English language (IL)/foreign languages (FL) classroom, promoted by a certain group of teachers with certain types of agency, serve to place certain groups of students in a subordinate position marked by silencing and erasure. Thus, focusing on the development of the skills covered in the Base, I seek to discuss some notions, presented in the online course offered by MEC on the AVAMEC platform, for teaching English language (IL) in the final years of elementary school. The theoretical contribution of this discussion encompasses the concepts of subalternity and agency treated in Monteiro (2021), with emphasis on the critical analyzes of Spivak (2010) and Andreotti (2007, 2014), added to those of Monte Mór (2013a) on the relevance of studies and problematizations of Brazilian language policies in LI/FL teacher training. Aiming for a responsible, egalitarian and fair educational project, I also rely on the critical perspective of bell hooks (2021), which argues that there is no justice without love. I therefore defend the idea that subalternities arise where there is no love. In my opinion, this project requires loving practices in the classroom with non-hierarchical approaches, seeking to populate the classroom space with student contexts and desires. This demands critical readings of ourselves (cf. Menezes de Souza, 2011), considering our implications for the continuity of the colonial logic that today permeates the digital universe, with interventions in data collection, development and learning of artificial intelligence.