Author: Mariana Oliveira Pinto
ESES – Polytechnic University of Setúbal
Life Quality Research Centre
Abstract
In the context of initial education, it becomes essential for students to read and write texts within the academic sphere, whose specificity implies a profound understanding of their defining characteristics and properties. As writing is a complex activity governed by norms, requiring rational and instrumented work, it is clear that any strategy to be implemented involves in-depth knowledge and focused attention on each of the intervening variables. This applies both to the definition of strategies involving students in the construction of knowledge and those directly related to the textualization of acquired knowledge.
The idea emerges, therefore, that writing in an academic context is shaped by two dimensions that, although related, demand knowledge of distinct construction and elaboration processes. Consequently, explicit teaching of differentiated strategies for information selection and text construction is necessary. It is in this context that the study initiated in the academic year 2022-2023 is situated. Its objective is to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a didactic path designed for the research report genre (a mandatory requirement for the completion of the study cycle) in an Academic Writing course, which is part of the first year of three teaching master’s degrees at ESE/IPS.
By the end of the course, it is intended that students will be able to (i) effectively locate and select information from different sources; (ii) understand and mobilize the specificities of academic discourse; (iii) produce texts used in an academic context, respecting their discursive and linguistic characteristics.
The didactic path unfolds over six modules, and the teaching-learning methodology comprises the following steps: (i) presentation of the writing situation for the initial peer production; (ii) revision, self-correction, and rewriting of initial versions; (iii) analysis of samples of the “research report” genre and identification of the characteristics of the “abstract,” “introduction,” data analysis, and conclusions; (iv) rewriting of initial productions to fit subgenres.
To reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of this path, the materials used in the didactic course, the textual productions throughout the process, and the final reflections of the students will be analyzed.