Histórias de letramento em narrativas de professores universitários: da esfera escolar à acadêmica

Abstract

This doctoral thesis addresses university professors’ prior literacy histories, with an emphasis on the reading practices experienced throughout their educational trajectories. The study is justified, on the one hand, by the gap in research that places higher education teachers themselves at the center of investigation, particularly with regard to the reading experiences that shaped them as students, and, on the other hand, by the relevance of fostering spaces for reflection on these experiences as a means of encouraging critical questioning of their own pedagogical practices as teachers. The general objective is to analyze participants’ prior reading histories, seeking to understand the resonances, continuities, and ruptures between experiences lived in basic education and in higher education. The specific objectives are as follows: first, to identify the main challenges faced by participants regarding reading, as well as the strategies employed to comprehend texts shared within school and academic spheres; second, to understand how the teaching and learning processes of reading were conducted in these discursive spheres; and third, to interpret how participants evaluate the reading practices experienced in both contexts. To this end, the analysis considered different dimensions of reading practices, such as the genres engaged with, pedagogical approaches, challenges and strategies mobilized, as well as affective and epistemic stances grounded in participants’ experiences. The study is grounded in the assumptions of the New Literacy Studies, particularly the academic literacies perspective (Lea & Street, 2014; Street, 1984, 2014; Gee, 1999; Fiad, 2011; Fischer, 2007), and in the Bakhtinian theory of discourse genres (Bakhtin, 2016), mobilizing concepts such as literacy models (autonomous and ideological), mystery practices, hidden dimensions, power relations, and monologism/dialogism. Methodologically, this is a narrative inquiry (Cadilhe, 2020; De Fina, 2015; Galvão, 2005) with a qualitative, interpretive orientation (Paiva, 2019; Moita Lopes, 1994). Data were generated through interviews with professors from the fields of Psychology, Nursing, and Physical Education. The findings indicate that, in both school and academic contexts, reading practices are predominantly weakly mediated, guided by the autonomous literacy model and by a largely monologic mode of operation, which contributes to the naturalization of the difficulties faced by individuals. Although challenges are reconfigured in terms of complexity at the university level, there is strong continuity in the ways reading is taught and required, with only punctual and uneven ruptures. The study concludes that, in many cases, the university does not break away from school-based reading models but rather re-signifies them under new institutional demands, reinforcing the need for more dialogic pedagogical practices aligned with the academic literacies model.