Portuguese scientific concepts learning and preparing dissertative-argumentative texts: a cultural-historical intervention in the interior of Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

This article reports on a master's degree research that aimed to plan, implement and evaluate a pedagogical intervention, aiming at improving the writing of Pedagogy students from a Higher Education Institution in Ariquemes, Rondônia, Brazil. The research, with a qualitative approach and of the pedagogical intervention type, was carried out between September 2018 and March 2019. It was based on the theoretical-methodological assumptions of Cultural-Historical Theory, focusing on Vygotskian concepts of mediation, consciousness and control, added to the assumptions of Brazilian Textual Linguistics. The participants were six 4th-semester Pedagogy students, selected according to a performance diagnosis regarding the writing of dissertative-argumentative texts. The organization and data analysis occurred through discursive textual analysis and, in this manuscript, we present the analysis subcategory “Appropriation and application of scientific concepts of the Portuguese language for writing” results. Among the main results, we highlight the increase in awareness among students about their writing difficulties; the perception of the need to review texts; and the recognition of the contribution that scientific knowledge provides to the writing quality. The findings also show that the pedagogical intervention carried out contributed to the improvement of the participants' written expression skills.