Ten years of foreign language PCNs without the evaluation of textbooks by the PNLD

Abstract

Ten years after the release of the National Curriculum Parameters (PCNs, 1998) to the teaching of foreign languages, English textbooks are still not assessed by the National Textbook Program. With the shift from the teaching about language to the teaching focused on promoting discursive practices, i.e., language as a social practice, it was hypothesized that, regardless of such an assessment, textbooks have been trying to adjust to the principles presented in the National Curriculum Parameters. The aim of this paper is to compare the official proposal with the proposal set forth by two textbook series - Great! and English In Formation. The corpus is limited to two texts and their respective tasks. The analysis reveals the notion of language as a code and of text as an excuse for teaching vocabulary and grammar, the de-characterization of genres, and, finally, and the inclusion of reading and language activities that clash with the National Curriculum Parameters.