A CASE STUDY IN GENRE PEDAGOGY: ACADEMIC WRITING FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Resumo

This is a case study that takes into account the four-month experience with the Academic Writing classes given to English major students. It is grounded on the perspective of genre pedagogy, which regards writing as a purposeful and situated social practice, intended for a specific audience. In addition to that, writing is seen as an ongoing process of thinking and rewriting, opposing the traditional view of writing as a final product. In relation to second language teaching, genre pedagogy is associated to Vygotskian thoughts, that consider the relevance of collaboration (peer interaction) and scaffolding (teacher-supported feedback). In order to facilitate collaborative interaction amongst the participants, Web resources such as e-mail messages, Facebook groups and Wikispaces were used. The results were positive in terms of learning and meaningful academic writing productions.