Researching teaching/learning of languages – Any room for art in there? The case of brazilian applied linguistics today and its sources of knowledge: Borders, boundaries, barriers, barricades

Abstract

Based on a panoramic view of current debates regarding the ways of doing Applied Linguistics in Brazil, this article discusses the pertinence of the use of non-logocentric and/or non-scientific theories as reference for the description and formulation of research problems, as well as for the construction of research procedures in the field of (foreign) language teaching/learning. Relying on analyses of the epistemological bases of literacy theories consolidated in the pedagogical framework of the High School Curriculum Guidelines (BRASIL, 2006), seen here as a critical matrix for understanding languages in the country’s school system, the field of Art is suggested as being equipped with possible supporting theories that might aid in the constitution of a conceptual apparatus capable of highlighting the creative aspect inherent in the processes of research into the teaching/learning of a language.