FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING: CONCEPTIONS OF LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND IDENTITY IN THE TEACHING/ LEARNING CONTEXT

This article examines the following themes: foreign language teaching: conceptions of language, culture and identity in the teaching / learning context. In search of the subjects language, culture and identity, this study makes a link from these aspects with the objective to formulate a new meaning in foreign language teaching and learning. It is because, when a foreign language is being studied, it is also essential to pay attention to cultural aspects as well as to the identity of the language that has been studied. The view of language will be discussed, having as a basis the structuralist conception of Ferdinand de Saussure (2000) and the contemporary language conception of Mikhail Bakhtin (1986). In terms of culture, questions aimed at the importance of the work with cultural aspects in foreign language teaching will be presented, in order to be discussed not as something extrinsic to classes, but as their essential components. Finally, based on Rajagopalan (1998), Beato (2004) and others, conception of identity and its constant transformation will be discussed, in order to realize the importance of identity in foreign language teaching, as this identity may encourage the understanding of the surroundings of the self and the other in the space of junctions, called classroom.