A Teaching Experience with Personal Introductions in an Online Course

Authors

  • Maria Paula Salvador Wadt
  • Kátia Martins Pereira

Keywords:

production of texts, personal introductions, virtual contexts, genre awareness

Abstract

This article reports on a classroom activity related to the production of texts of personal introductions in the context of a course on the Internet. The activity relies on the theoretical concepts proposed on Genre Theory, particularly those by Swales’ (1990). The classroom tasks aimed at offering students an opportunity to become more aware of the genre of personal introductions and of the specific elements that this genre requires when it is performed in virtual contexts. Students’ production reveals that genre awareness improves performance because it makes it more adequate to the social context.