Internationalization and Language Policies in Brazil: What is the Relationship?

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article reflects on the relationship between the internationalization of higher education and language policies in Brazil. The study provides a review of language policy literature and internationalization policies materialized in national programs, such as the Science without Borders (SwB) and the Languages without Borders (LwB). The analysis of internationalization policies suggests that language policies are at the core of the internationalization agenda, concerning the role of English in this process; however, the role of other foreign/additional languages (L2s) still seems to be disconnected, whereby other languages lack funding and alignment with solid language policies at all educational levels. The analysis of language policies reveals the need to think about the role of L2s at different educational levels as well as in multilingualism in Brazil and in the internationalization of higher education.

Keywords

• internationalization
• language policies
• foreign languages
• multilingualism