Referential tessitures in the argumentative and thematic orientation: the (de)focus on the written production of a report

Abstract

In our conception, language and user maintain a close relationship with each other, insofar as they mobilize, in a given discursive genre, socio-cognitive and linguistic-discursive mechanisms in the production of a given text, motivated by their sociocultural practices. Thus, the text, from a socio-interactional, socio-cognitive and pragmatic perspectives, brings together subjects, at the same time, strategic/intentional and social/(inter)actional. We assume, in this article, that writing demands the construction of a referential textual permeated by the progression of discursive-objects, which implies, both in the material plane and in the discursive plane of the text, the presence of a conducting wire responsible for the joint construction of meanings and, therefore, argumentation (even if in lato sensu). In view of this set of presumptions, in the light of text linguistics, of a socio-interactional, socio-cognitive and pragmatic approach, we aim to evaluate the effects resulting from processes of defocusing discursive-objects, which composes the referential text, regarding thematic maintenance and argumentative orientation of a report produced by a 9^th grade student. In sight of the qualitative paradigm, our research, guided by ethnographic and discursive principles, consisted of the following steps: (i) choice of the field for data generation; (ii) negotiation with all social actors/actress to carry out the research; (iii) semi-structured interview with the teacher to discuss her perceptions regarding the performance of her classes and Portuguese lessons; and (iv) joint analysis (collaborator and researchers) of the student’s text. In the course of the research, we found that the student’s referential texts fully met demands of the textuality and the discursive genre. We hope that this work inspires new investigative paths through the referential texts, and that it instigates, above all, a teaching praxis that allows a user of the language to always be reflective about his/her linguistic-discursive choices.