What does the Portuguese Language Textbook Propose When It Comes to the Genre Opinion Article?

Investigations on the Portuguese Work: Context, Interlocution and Meaning

Abstract

In this work, the didactization of the genre of opinion article is investigated in the textbook collection Português: contexto, interlocução e sentido, with the objective to identify the teaching strategies of the opinion article genre and to reflect on the proposal of the work for the teaching-learning process. The relevance of the object of reflection is emphasized because the article of opinion is a textual/discursive genre that, when didactized, can favor the development of communicative competence for collective interest decision-making, and for the collection having received prominence in the evaluation of the National Textbook Program (2015) as the only one that has the discursive perspective of approaching the various axes of Portuguese language teaching, as well as updating the theoretical principles that underpin its work. This is a qualitative and interpretive documentary research, whose data were treated using elements of the categorical content analysis technique defined by Bardin (2009). It is theoretically based on the dialogue with the theoretical assumptions of Sociodiscursive Interactionism, by Bronckart (2006, 1999) and Schneuwly and Dolz (2004), in the concept of an opinion article by Gonçalves and Higa (2012), and in the perspective of textual production in a school context, by Antunes (2009, 2003). It is evident that, although there are strategies that may favor the elaboration of the opinion article, some problems are identified in the analyzed material, among them the absence of final production articulated with the work experienced in the process of reflection on gender; fragmentation of texts that support the discussion; as well as lack of articulation between elements that make up the chapter.