Abstract

MARTINS, Isabel. Argumentation in texts from a teacher education journal: An exercise of analysis based upon the Bakhtinian concepts of genre and social language. Educ. quím [online]. 2009, vol.20, n.2, pp.126-136. ISSN 0187-893X.

Abstract In this paper we analyse argumentation patterns present in a set of texts that were published in an electronic Brazilian science teacher education journal (www.cienciaemtela.nutes.ufrj.br). As the texts submitted to the journal differ regarding to format and characteristics of authorship, our corpus involves research reports, essays and recounts of didactic experiences written by scientists, science education researchers, school teachers, popular science professionals and informal setting educators. Based upon a Bakhtinian theoretical framework that emphasises the historical and social character of discursive production, our analyses selected genre and social language as main analytical categories. Argumentation was characterized as in terms of relationships between utterance and features of the social activities and discursive practices they relate to. The analysis described the texts with respect to theme, compositional structure and style and identified discursive markers broadly related to the category of language such as (i) the way the author presents him/herself in the text, (ii) the ways the authors represent and relates to their readers (iii) references made about the conceptual domain discussed in the texts. Results show that several texts share thematic choices and adopt a stance in which teachers' autonomy is valued. Evidences of authors' different socio-conceptual perspectives are more clearly revealed by features in style and compositional structure of texts. For instance, issues of authority are revealed by the status given to methodological considerations, by the ways through which citations are incorporated in the literature reviews and by the description of what counts as a result. Finally, through the examination of the patterns of argumentation more typically present in the texts, we discuss obstacles to as well as possibilities of dialogue and mutual appreciation of contributions made by different author profiles.

Keywords : social language; argumentation; genre; scientific text; teacher education journal.

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