ABSTRACT
The classroom was a space for regulated communication(s). It was characterized by routines and rituals within which the workers were silenced or found voices, through which their sense of competence or failure was reproduced. The regulation of communication first, then, was based on the imposition of a language. The language option for the national literacy programme was Portuguese. Rigid imposition of Portuguese in the literacy class was not in compliance with specific policy directives of the Ministry of Education. The assumption by literacy teachers and learners that the only language to be spoken in the classroom was Portuguese served to silence a number of students. The regulation of communication in the classroom was further consolidated by the use of a set of official textbooks for literacy and post-literacy. The classroom as a space for regulated communications included coded signs of authority and obedience.
