ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL: REPRESENTATION AND EVALUATION IN STUDENTS' DISCOURSE

Abstract

The Federal Institute of the Southeast of Minas Gerais in Rio Pomba receives students from different municipalities in the Zona da Mata Mineira to attend high school integrated with technical courses, concurrent and subsequent technical courses, as well as higher and postgraduate courses. Public schools began to receive English language textbooks, through the National Textbook Program (PNLD), in 2011 and 2012 for elementary and high school, respectively (Brasil, 2008; Brasil, 2009). Considering these facts: students from different cities, the inclusion of the English language in PNLD, and the paradox of the importance attributed to this language in official documents and society versus the school environment, this study reflects on teaching/learning English through students' speech. The instruments used to collect the student discourse were two questionnaires. The analysis was conducted using Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday, 1994) and the Appraisal System (Martin and Rose, 2007). Despite some negative evaluations regarding teaching/learning English, the students pointed out preferences for some activities, allowing questions that lead to reflection and search for the valorization of the language in public schools.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56238/sevened2025.030-069