O Gênero requerimento na perspectiva sociorretórica: análise da produção de graduandos no ambiente acadêmico-administrativo da UFRN

In administrative settings of public institutions, many activities are conducted through writing practices. Concerning this, writing is always connected to an activity we intend to perform. Among those practices, the genre request consists of an instrument through which the requirer addresses to an institution in order to request something under the support of legislation. Considering our work experience in a public institution of higher education, we elected - as object of our research - the genre request produced by undergraduates within the administrative domain of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) due to its importance in this context. For this, the theoretical framework adopted refers to the socio-rethorical conception of genre studies, which understands the genre as forms as rhetorically typified action (MILLER, 2009a; SWALES, 1990; BAZERMAN, 2009). Regarding methodology, it is a research associated to a qualitative approach (BODGAN; BIKLEN, 1994; CHIZZOTTI, 2010) whose discussion inserts into the field of Applied Linguistics. The data were generated from samples of requests and their users replies in questionnaires, interviews and verbal protocols of writing. The data analysis is based on the ethnographic methods of genre analysis postulated by Devitt, Reiff and Bawarshi (apud JOHNS et al., 2006). These analyses indicated that the requests are not always fully accomplished due to a lack of comprehension about the genre and its rhetorical situation on the part of the producers. It must probably happen - among other reasons - because these students may not have understood that several factors, such as: context, audience and purpose, affect the text production. We believe that one possibility to make the practice of this genre more efficient is to develop a more simple and practical way of elaborating requests, taking the needs imposed by the rhetorical situation as a basis

O latim, uma língua morta?: uma metáfora em análise: o olhar da lingüística aplicada e suas implicações para o ensino

The focus of this research is the teaching of the Latin language. Due to the fact that its teaching has been facing a growing crisis in the last four decades, which currently persists, we ponder about external and internal causes of its decline, aiming at pointing out an alternative that enable us to find a way out of this situation. So, our research questions mainly concern how the teaching of Latin is viewed amongst the academic society, also investigating if it has kept up with the development of the scientific reflection about human language and the new approaches on language teaching. Furthermore, we analyse the contribution that the study of Latin can provide to the academic formation of language teachers and try to identify the areas of knowledge that can contribute to a reshaping of its teaching. Based on these guidelines, we have established as the goals of this research: 1) to reflect about the current situation of the teaching of Latin and the causes of its decline; 2) to determine its social representation among teachers and students of the Language Courses, as a way of defining the role it fulfills in the academic formation of teachers; 3) to accomplish an exploratory study of some handbooks that show alternative proposals on how to teach Latin, in order to detect their adequacy to current times and to the goals of the academic study of languages; 4) to offer an alternative proposal on how to teach Latin that takes into account the principles of Applied Linguistics, considering the socio-historical and cultural aspects of the language, enabling it to meet the requirements set by modern times. This research is divided into two parts. The first part presents the theoretical framework. We map the studies about Latin teaching inside and outside Brazil and argue against the concept of Latin being a dead language, presenting arguments set on changing this view. Then we describe and comment the notions of literacy, genre and culture, which helped us understand the reasons for the decline of the teaching of Latin and to point out suitable ways to overcome the crisis. The second part is dedicated to reflecting on the literacy practices in Latin teaching. We began by examining the answers to the questionnaires given to students and teachers about the view of Latin in the Language Courses; then we reflect on the teaching-learning of Latin as an academic literacy practice followed by an analysis of the didactic material used in teaching Latin. Finally, we suggest an approach of the familiar letter genre in ancient Rome as a means of teaching Latin in a contextualized way

A escrita do texto acadêmico na graduação: modos de utilização de conceitos teóricos de uma área de conhecimento

In this study we have developed a discussion about academic text production in the undergraduate course of Literature and Languages. Specifically, we are going to analyze the monographic text writing in order to verify the meaning effects created from the ways of showing other s discourses that constitute a written production. As a means to do that, we are going to answer the following question: How does a young researcher make use of a theory in order to be part of a particular scientific community? We aim to: 1) analyze the linguistic resources, like quotations and signs of cohesion that demonstrate the other s voice presence in academic writing; 2) observe the meaning effects produced through the ways that the one who writes shows the other s voice in the written text. Firstly, we have selected 23 (twentythree) monographs produced in the last five years by students from a Literature and Languages undergraduate course in a determined public university. However, in this study, we have analyzed just 02 (two) different monographic texts. To develop such an investigation, we have inquired Kuhn s concept of science, which shows the existence of different meanings of science production in the course of the centuries. It allows us to define academic writing as science production that develops and contributes to knowledge production. With the purpose of restricting the meaning of writing conception, we have relied on Coracini, who assumes that all writing production is the registration of the self, in other words, writing comes from the subject s intervention, it is to say that only an imposition of the self guarantees the subject as author of what he writes. We have as theoretical basis the following concepts: 1-) Authier-Revus s enunciative heterogeneity, that allowed us to analyze the written marks of the other in the monographic writing; 2-) Pêcheux s reformulation-paraphrase and Orlandi s polysemy and paraphrase, concepts that present notions of productivity and creativity as ways of meaning production, and allows us to observe how the process of language production in academic writing is established; 3-) Rossi-Landi s concept of exchange-value and use-value, which consider language as a linguistic work, allowing us to verify the differences between use and social functionality in a determined theory; and 4-) Possenti s notion of authorship indicia, with which we have identified attitudes that make the one who writes author of his own text. We have verified that writing characterized for repetition and reproduction may develop a meaning effect that constructs the idea that writing production promotes an author, a concept or a theory. We have also realized that a written text that restricts itself to reproduce other authors discourses and does not articulate a theory with data analysis or with work methodology, when evaluated is approved and legitimates itself as scientific production. That demonstrates the existence of academic productions that do not develop any functionality of the employed theory. The text works as a means to promote its theoretical concepts, and theory. It is to say that the theoretical foundantion, which usually is a way to argue and sustain scientific production, does not have any function. Thus, we consider that the way someone shows the other s discourse in academic writing may work as a way to underline what the other asserts to the detriment of the researcher s words. This fact allows us to comprehend that a way of writing may evidence a meaning effect of the author s, theory s or theoretical concepts promotion

Avaliação da usabilidade de um sistema informatizado de controle acadêmico: um estudo com coordenadores e secretários de cursos stricto sensu da UFRN

The aim of this study is to assess the usability of the Integrated Management System for Academic Activities (SIGAA) for the sensu stricto postgraduate programs at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. The study was based on ergonomic criteria proposed by Bastien and Scapin (1993) and the Federal Government s Handbook of Usability (2010). The methodology used was a descriptive data survey involving an online questionnaire, and a sample of 46 system users, composed of coordinators and secretaries from the sensu stricto postgraduate programs. In addition to this procedure, open interviews were held with the users as well as a documental analysis of calls registered by them at the SIGAA between May 2012 and June 2013. Data analysis showed that a number of additional usability criteria need to be implemented, primarily related to ergonomic problems of orientation, error management and workload. Based on the analyses, several changes were proposed that may streamline secretarial activities, as well as provide greater satisfaction and interaction between the SIGAA and its users

A formação graduada em psicologia no Brasil: reflexão sobre os principais dilemas em um contexto pos-DCN

Criticism done to the undergraduate training process of the psychologist in Brazil raised debates known as "dilemmas of training". In recent years the classic training model, based on the Minimum Curriculum has undergone a series of changes after the National Curriculum Guidelines (DCN), modifying the context of courses. Thus, this paper aimed to investigate, in a post- DCN context how undergraduate courses in Psychology in Brazil have been dealing with the dilemmas of training. So, we decided to analyze the Course Pedagogical Projects (CPPs) of Psychology in the country. Forty CPPs, selected by region, academic organization and legal status were collected. The data was grouped into three blocks of discussions: theoretical, philosophical and pedagogical foundations; curriculum emphases and disciplines; and professional practices. The results were grouped into four sets of dilemmas: a) ethical and political; b) theoreticalepistemological; c) professional practice of the psychologist and d) academic-scientific. Courses claim a socially committed, generalist, pluralistic training, focusing on research, non-dissociation of teaching-research-extension, interdisciplinary training and defending a vision of man and of critical and reflective and non-individualistic psychology. The curriculum keeps the almost exclusive teaching of the classical areas of traditional fields of applied Psychology. Training is content based. The clinic is hegemonic, both in theory and in application fields. The historical debate is scarce and themes linked to the Brazilian reality are missing, despite having social policies present in the curricula. Currently, DCNs have a much greater impact on courses due to the influence of the control agencies, fruit of current educational policy, and the result is felt in the homogenization of curriculum discourses

Significado do Trabalho e Escolha Acadêmico-Profissional: um estudo com universitários primeiranistas

Relations between the meaning attributed to work by first year university students and their academic and professional choice were analyzed. The participants were 921 students, 17-52 years old (M = 22; SD = 4.9), enrolled in 16 courses common to two college level institutions of the city of Natal, RN, one public, the other private. A questionnaire was designed for collecting data about the academic-professional choice, with open-ended and multiple choice questions. Work meaning was obtained by means of two questions on centrality and two scales pertaining to the Inventory of Motivation and Work Meaning: value and descriptive attributes. A socio-demographic set of questions ended the questionnaire. Data was entered in a SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) database, allowing for the pertinent statistical analyses, such as frequency, t test, chi square, factor analysis, cluster analysis and ANOVA. Results indicated that the decision about academic-professional career was made by the majority of the participants (in first option, N = 921) without the adequate consideration of the socio-professional reality (80.7%) and personal internal resources (98.5%). When considering the second option (N = 654), only the first criterion was taken into account, but only by 12.5% of the sample. The main difficulties faced by students during the choosing process were, then, made apparent in the data. 46.8% of the participants were unsatisfied with the course they had started and were anticipating unpromising perspectives in relation to it. The first year students took work as the second most important aspect of their lives and demonstrated an idealized vision about it. Five patterns of work meaning were identified. In relation to centrality and the value and descriptive attributes, the university students displayed differentiation in the attribution of work meaning according to course and area of knowledge

Rendimento acadêmico e sua relação com os estilos de personalidade de estudantes universitários

One of the Psychology challenges, especially among the assessment and educational areas, is to understand and predict individual differences. In this context, this research aimed to verify the personality styles of students with high and low academic performance. The study included 236 university students from Petrolina-PE and Juazeiro-BA campus of the UNIVASF (Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco). They were uniformly distributed in four disciplines (medicine, psychology, administration and civil engineering), 10 students from each semester (five highest scores average students and five lowest scores average students) took place of the sample. The Millon Index Personality Styles (MIPS) was applied to analyze the personality/behavioral styles of the students. The MIPS is a 180 dichotomous (true/false) item scale. It was also developed and applied a questionnaire about the students characteristics and their academic information. Descriptive and central tendency statistics analysis (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage) were done to provide sample information. Then we performed a Mann-Whitney test in the overall sample and in each course and a factorial ANOVA. The results suggest that the university population is heterogeneous and there are significant differences (p <0.05) between the personality styles of students with high and low academic performance, when analyzing the overall sample and in courses of different areas of knowledge. Students of Medicine who have higher performance as personality styles prevalent the conformism and compliance, while students with lower income in this course, the styles are: innovation and discrepancy. Psychology students with higher income are more systematic and lower income students to score significantly on accommodation. The civil engineering students of the two groups differed only in personality style intuition, being such a style more characteristic of higher income students. Students of Management with higher yield stand out more in the style of the doubt and lower yields in these styles: individual, reflection and discrepancy. This study is correlational, but had an exploratory nature because there are no studies about this relationship in Brazil. Therefore, it provided a better understanding of the action characteristics of students with high and low academic performance. Further studies using the Big Five Personality Factors instruments are required because it is the most used model in understanding the influence of personality on students performance. This way, the relation between personality and academic performance will be better discussed. Otherwise, it will be possible to compare with the existing studies in the area

Técnicas baseadas em etnografia e prototipagem no Design de interface de aplicativo mobile para gerenciamento acadêmico

Baseado na metodologia de design participativo, este artigo relata o processo de pesquisa e desenvolvimento de uma versão mobile de um sistema já existente para desktop e amplamente utilizado para o compartilhamento de informações acadêmicas em uma universidade federal do Brasil. A pesquisa foi realizada em duas etapas. Na ‘Etapa I’ foram realizados estudos baseados em etnografia envolvendo docentes e discentes: Grupo de Foco, Análise Contextual, Avaliação Heurística Participativa e Avaliação Cooperativa. Por meio dos resultados foi possível identificar funcionalidades e requisitos desejáveis, problemas de usabilidade de uma versão mobile já em processo inicial de desenvolvimento, bem como e elaboração de uma nova interface gráfica. Na ‘Etapa II’ foram avaliados modelos de interação por meio de protótipos especificamente projetados para testes no mecanismo de lançamento de frequência do sistema mobile que, em seguida, foram avaliados através de testes de usabilidade e questionário de satisfação do usuário.

Conhecimento sobre ergonomia no âmbito acadêmico: um estudo com alunos e professores de odontologia

OBJETIVO: As doenças osteomusculares são as afecções ocupacionais mais prevalentes em cirurgiões-dentistas. Nosso propósito: 1) investigar os conhecimentos, aplicabilidades clínicas dos princípios ergonômicos em discentes e docentes em atividades clínicas de uma universidade pública 2) pesquisar a incidência de sintomatologias dolorosas no pescoço, ombros, parte superior e inferior das costas, cotovelos, quadris, coxas, joelhos, tornozelos e pés no universo de alunos em estágios clínicos. 3) incitar discussões de normas e diretrizes ergonômicas na universidade. MÉTODOS: Esse estudo investigou o universo de alunos matriculados em disciplinas clínicas (148) e respectivos professores (30) do curso de odontologia da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal-RN a respeito dos princípios ergonômicos utilizados na rotina clínica. Paralelamente foi pesquisada a incidência de sintomatologia dolorosa nos alunos por intermédio do questionário nórdico e a partir dos resultados foi mensurado o índice de severidade dos sintomas em alunos. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) é um instrumento de diagnóstico, proposto para padronizar a mensuração de relatos de sintomas osteomusculares. A análise dos dados foi através do programa SPSS-Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, versão 17.0 realizada analítica e descritivamente, com determinação das médias (x), desvio-padrão para variáveis quantitativas, freqüências simples e relativas para as variáveis categóricas, além da estatística de associação entre grupos (teste t) e a análise de associação do quiquadrado com nível de significância 5% entre as variáveis (Person). As respostas das questões abertas foram codificadas e transformadas em freqüências, descritas posteriormente. RESULTADOS: A aplicabilidade de medidas ergonômicas nas clínicas universitárias não foi evidenciada pelo universo de discentes e docentes. Quanto ao relato de sintomas osteomusculares o sexo feminino foi o mais acometido qualquer que seja o nível acadêmico cursado. As regiões anatômicas de maior grau de severidade de relatos dos sintomas foram: pescoço, parte inferior das costas, punhos, mãos e ombros, com significância etatística p<0,001. CONCLUSÃO: Em função dos achados os autores apresentam um protocolo de intervenção clínica baseado nos determinantes ergonômicos da Associação internacional de ergonomia (EAI) como medida de prevenção da saúde ocupacional dos futuros cirurgiões-dentistas ainda em processo de formação nas clínicas odontológicas das universidades.