Changing writing conceptions in initial teacher education

Abstract

The partial results of a social and interactional approach research involving first year undergraduate students of the Language and Literature Course at the State University of Maringá, Maringá PR Brazil, are provided. Students' production consisted of scientific texts written in 2004. The discursive genre `scientific article` was chosen for the analysis of the process of changing writing concepts. Students received an exercise book during the writing construction process whose role was similar to a reflexive diary, where they jotted down notes on in different moments of the production. The main aim of the diary was to reflect on the personal writing process, creating an interaction atmosphere with it, and turning it into a mediation instrument with the nearest reader, the teacher. Thus, changes in the students' conception on writing started to happen as they interacted with their own writing, creating a bond that started to present it as work, and not as inspiration anymore. Therefore, this study analyses the versions of the investigated article, as well as the diaries that were produced meanwhile. The results show that the undergraduate students, at the end of the first year, already presented changes in the traditional conception of writing, conceiving it as a product of social interactions.