Carlos A. M. Gouveia

Department of English Studies/Centre for English Studies, University of Lisbon

Language, literacy and cultural politics: the debate on the new language curriculum in Portugal

This paper sets out to discuss the cultural politics of a genre-based approach to language teaching in the context of secondary schooling in Portugal, where the implementation of a new language curriculum has drawn fierce criticism from public opinion leaders. With arguments that stress the fact that whoever is competent in reading the literary classics is also competent in producing all sorts of texts, the criticisms raised in the public arena of the newspapers aimed in fact at the reorganization of the cultural hegemony.

The paper will analyse the views on education, language and Portuguese presented in the arguments that were put forward during the discussion. It will be claimed that almost all the arguments were centred in the general perception of a degeneracy in standards of language learning and use, for which the need for standard models (standard language vs. non-standard forms; literary genres vs. non-literary genres, written language vs. spoken language, etc.), for absolute rules of correctness in grammar and pronunciation and the defence of formal grammar teaching and learning come to be presented as the right solutions.