Um estudo de relatos de pesquisa em análise de gênero

Abstract

Studies in Genre Analysis have been developed in order to explore the configuration of academic genres and to interpret their functions according to the discourse communities in which they operate. Some examples are the studies developed by Swales (1990; 2004) about the research article and the study developed by Motta-Roth (1995) about the book review. However, some studies have pointed out the need for better explanation of the methodology employed in the analysis of language as discourse (see, for example, Paltridge, 1994; Barton, 2002; Bazerman and Prior, 2004). In view of this, the theme of the present work is the research procedures adopted in Genre Analysis. The analysis is concentrated on the Methods section of Applied Linguistics research articles which focus on English for Academic Purposes (EAP). This work aims at identifying analytical categories and research procedures adopted in the analysis of research articles in order to elaborate a systematization of the research procedures in Genre Analysis. For that purpose, twelve research articles and interviews with four authors were analyzed in the light of the relevant literature. The analysis showed that the studies are concentrated on the investigation of the macrostructure or on the microstructure of research articles. Studies about the microstructure report exclusively the analysis of grammatical elements, what leads to conclude that they do not configure a genre analysis according to the current works developed in genre study (Bazerman, 1988; Swales 1998; 2004). These studies are related to the first phase of the Genre Analysis that investigates the textualization of lexico-grammatical elements in the sentence level (Bhatia, 2004, p. 3). Studies about the macrostructure are related to the second phase of genre studies that investigates the language with the purpose of identifying patterns of organization in written discourse. If the objective of these studies is in fact to develop a genre analysis in order to contribute to reading and writing teaching in EAP, these studies should include an ethnographic perspective that analyzes the genre based on its context.