Representations on writing and its teaching in high school Portuguese language textbooks in the 20th and 21st centuries

• Grant number: 20/03933-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2021
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Applied Linguistics
• Principal Investigator: Manoel Luiz Gonçalves Corrêa
• Grantee: Cristian Henrique Imbruniz
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/13328-3 - Writing, discourse and action in Portuguese language textbooks, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

We take as our theme the investigation of the filling of the characteristic gap of the secondary school, current high school, specifically, regarding representations about the teaching writing (and about writing) and conceptual aspects of the teaching Portuguese, as language and writing, as presented in Portuguese language textbooks for the high school, published by two hegemonic publishers in their periods of existence. This theme is justified, first, because high school is in constant dispute and, second, because the research on how writing and its teaching are represented in the Portuguese language textbooks in high school is little developed. The corpus consists of textbooks published by the Companhia Editora Nacional (1932-1980) and by Abril/Somos Educação (2004-2018). We selected 10 titles from each publishing company, making up 18 volumes from the 1st and 2nd years of high school. The theoretical framework articulates an applied perspective in a discursive basis with contributions from History and social sciences. The methodology consists in apprehending, for each publisher, regularities in terms of representations and conceptual aspects, which will be the basis for the historical-comparative work. To this end, we assume that the linguistic and graphic-material elements only assume a discursive form when they are combined with the effects of filling produced by editorial interventions. The hypothesis is that, in the action of inscribing these interventions in the textbook, the publishers, between their own interests and adaptations to historical conjunctions, commit themselves to expectations for the high school. The general objective is to translate these expectations in terms of projects for high school. As an expected contribution, we intend to shed light on projects supported by the Portuguese language textbook market, seeking answers, in the History of the country, on the role of writing representations and their teaching when seen from the perspective of social planning. (AU)