A IMPORTÂNCIA DO CONCEITO DE GÊNEROS DISCURSIVOS NO ENSINO DE REDAÇÃO ACADÊMICA

Abstract

Language for Academic Purposes (LAP) teaching has been receiving a growing attention in undergraduate and graduate university courses in Brazil as a result of the existing pressure to publish research results. In that respect, Genre Analysis offers a socio-constructivist approach to the teaching of academic writing in that is pressuposes the discussion of discursive issues inherent to the interactive process between (senior or junior) researchers as mediated by the text. This paper aims to offer a critical discussion on the validity of adopting a genrebased approach in LAP teaching. Firstly, some of the literature about the teaching of writing is reviewed, secondly the underlying tenets of a writing course adopted in graduate programs at UFSM are presented, and finally the results obtained from a questionnaire submitted to students taking part in this course are analyzed. These results indicate the importance of the concept of genre for LAP learners, as it promotes a more precise metaawareness of the role of reading and writing in academia.