DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14483/udistrital.jour.calj.2013.1.a02Published:
2013-01-01Issue:
Vol 15, No 1 (2013) January-JuneSection:
Research ArticlesUndertaking the act of writing as a situated social practice: going beyond the Linguistic and the textual
La escritura situada como una práctica social: más allá de la lingüística y el texto
Keywords:
Escritura como práctica social situada, escritura de ensayos argumentativos, enseñanza basada en géneros (es).Keywords:
Writing as a situated social practice, argumentative essay writing, genre-based teaching. (en).Abstract (en)
With an interest to go beyond an emphasis on linguistic and textual features that seem to prevail in writing practices, this qualitative action research study looked at EFL argumentative essay writing within a genre-based approach, where writing was understood as a situated social practice. A group of undergraduate students from a B.Ed. program in Modern Languages participated in the study. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, class recordings, and students’ artifacts. Findings revealed that participants undertook the writing of argumentative essays by bonding with their audience, establishing personal involvement with their texts, and giving support to their arguments. The study suggests that it is important to encourage students to focus on their sociocultural and personal context so that EFL writing can be approached in a more purposeful and meaningful way.
Abstract (es)
Con el interés de ir más allá de un énfasis en las características lingüísticas y textuales que parecen prevalecer en las prácticas de escritura, el presente estudio de investigación-acción cualitativa analizó la escritura de ensayos argumentativos en inglés como lengua extranjera dentro de un enfoque basado en la enseñanza de géneros, donde la escritura se entiende como práctica social situada. Un grupo de estudiantes de un programa de Licenciatura en Lenguas Modernas participó en el estudio. Los datos fueron recogidos a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas, cuestionarios, grabaciones de clase, y artefactos producidos por los estudiantes. Los resultados revelan que los participantes emprendieron la escritura de ensayos argumentativos estableciendo vínculos con su audiencia, involucrándose con sus textos, y sustentando sus argumentos. El estudio sugiere que es importante animar a los estudiantes a enfocarse en su contexto sociocultural y personal de modo que la escritura en inglés como lengua extranjera pueda abordarse de una manera más útil y significativa.
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