"Speaking properly": Language conceptions problematized in english lessons of an undergraduate teacher education course in Brazil

Abstract

This qualitative research was done in a class of English Oral Practice 2 in an undergraduate English teacher education course in Brazil. Grounded on the conception of language as social practice, the first author of this article developed a problematizing pedagogy focusing on race/racism and language as space of power. Resorting to class activities (a question in a written test, an oral test, and a feedback session) and the professor's diary, we analyzed the students' accounts about the subject and the meanings they constructed about language. h e i r accounts indicate that, when evaluating the subject, most of them highlighted the relevance of content, showing that they started conceptualizing language beyond form. h e i r accounts also suggest they were not using language, but making it.