ACADEMIA Letters A representation of Brazilian identity in an EFL textbook Gustavo Haiden de Lacerda Introduction English has been regarded as a lingua franca, as well as an international, commercial, infor- mational language. In such perspective, there is a risk of reducing the linguistic and cultural depth of diferent peoples and their languages. Attached to the idea of globalization, English is made into a dominant language that is capable of overshadowing multiple linguistic identities. In view of that, a short analytical gesture is carried out, which aims at refecting upon how the other (here, the British) produces meaning to what it means to be a Brazilian – as national identity – by sustaining stereotypes or dismantling them. To do so, an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) textbook was selected, New Headway, elementary level, by Liz and John Soars (2011), and from it, two pictures and a text that mention Brazil and Brazilians (pp. 9). The general hypothesis was that the textbook would sustain an imaginary crystal- lized position towards Brazil, based on the previous works of Grigoletto (2003) e Coracini (2003; 2010). This analysis is grounded on the theoretical and methodological approaches of Discourse Analysis, enriched by the Lacanian notions of identity and otherness. Identity and otherness It is important to explain what is being designated as “identity” and its counterpart, “other- ness”, so that it is possible to comprehend how Brazilian identity is represented in the selected material. Coracini (2003; 2010) has been researching about the complex ties between frst language and foreign language, through Derridean lenses. According to the linguist, the event of lan- Academia Letters, July 2021 Corresponding Author: Gustavo Haiden de Lacerda, ra99299@uem.br Citation: Haiden de Lacerda, G. (2021). A representation of Brazilian identity in an EFL textbook. Academia Letters, Article 2072. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2072. 1 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0