Teaching and learning English language and media discourses

This study intends to analyze the discourse on the English teaching and learning process, from current advertisements of three major language centers of Brazil, from 2009 to 2012. Through this analysis, we aim to investigate the voices raised by the subjects who are the enunciators of the advertisements in order to justify the necessity of English learning. Considering the analysis of the selected advertisements, we realized, among other things, that the media discourses related to the English language teaching produce different meaning effects. One of them concerns the exposure to a discourse of quickness and proficiency in the process of learning the English language showing that the language schools ignore the long process of learning and the possible difficulties of the students. Furthermore, it was noticeable that the strong appeal of the language as a commodity contributes to the legitimization of English learning in language courses different from regular schools, for which statements related to failure and insufficiency are uttered.