Academic writing in higher education: focusing on courses of graduate programs of a public Brazilian university

Abstract

In the last twenty years researchers have been concerned with the development of higher education students writing literacy (CRISTOVÃO; VIEIRA, 2016; BAZERMAN; MORITZ, 2016). Approaches based on the new literacy studies (LEA; STREET, 1998) recognize the need to learn specific forms of acting in the academic context to successfully participate in such sphere. Considering the importance of academic writing in higher education, this research aims at investigating how academic writing literacy is approached in sixteen graduate programs at a public Brazilian university. One quarter of the university graduate programs were explored as a manner to find courses dealing with academic writing and the content organization of their course plans. Results showed that only fifty percent of the programs investigated offer courses on academic writing and each graduate program approaches academic writing literacy differently. It seems that writing practices in the academic context investigated are still not considered a major issue.