Academic Discursive Gender in High Education

Abstract

In the teaching and learning of literacy at the university level from the disciplines, the teaching of the discursive genres of the specialty is proposed. In this framework, this research addresses the study of the discursive genre Final Research Report of the Professional School of Chemistry at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Perú. It is a qualitative, descriptive, and explanatory study of a corpus consisting of 10 final research reports of laboratory experiments. As a result, we propose that the characteristics of the FRR manifest the existing relationship between the language and society. Methodologically, we try to investigate the discursive practices where the relationships are established between the researcher and his object of study, man and nature, objectivity and truth, among other discursive axes, mediated by institutional norms and scientific practice norms, seen in the globalization view, and how these relationships are expressed in the text, as a product of those pedagogical and institutional discursive practices. Finally, some difficulties are presented in writing the FRR and it is suggested to give importance to the study of the discursive genres of the different disciplines to implement pedagogical projects according to the specificities of each of them.

1. Introduction

The rising of discursive genre studies is gaining importance due to the applications in different fields such as publicity, mass media, divulgation, etc. In this research, the study of discursive genre is related to pedagogy.

Education at the university level has among its objectives the development of the so-called general competencies and those specific to each specialty. Communicative competence is considered among the generic competencies, and it is common to all the programs of the different university faculties and in the first two semesters [1]. In pedagogical practices, teachers face a variety of problems related to the production and comprehension of oral and written texts. It implies adopting a pedagogical approach to language teaching and learning. Such an approach should consider theories of language learning, theories of language teaching, and theories of language [2]. We believe it is also important to consider the educational program that the institution decides to opt for. In this research, we do not address the processes of language teaching and learning, but specifically the area of language theory. The way language is understood influences the pedagogical approach to language teaching [2]. Currently, the traditional pedagogical approach based on the teaching of grammar has changed to others that contemplate the phenomenon of language and communication in its entire social spectrum.

The pedagogical approach adopted is Genre-based literacy Pedagogy. We will not address the history of such a perspective. We will only mention that as a pedagogical approach, it was initiated based on Systemic-Functional Linguistics at the Sydney School, Australia, chaired by Michael A. K. Halliday, with many replicas in Latin American countries [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. In this perspective, the theory of language studies how the social sphere determines choices that speakers make in both social and linguistic actions.

To understand language from this perspective is to consider the language-individual-society relationship. It is in the social fabric where the human being develops and fulfills his functions and goals, and where society as a whole walks toward a common destiny; the individual’s potential is part of the social potential that leads the whole human group to an incessant evolution. Social activities are made possible by the activities of language, that is, human beings, in addition to naming and referring to the world, organize their individual and social life, comment on it, regulate it, evaluate it, and project it with words [8]. Such a perspective of the study of language is approached by the analysis of discourse as a social practice, with the contextualized sign, which plays a central role in the construction and development of the individual and society. Approaching language from this perspective implies considering the diversity of discourse practices imbricated in the multiple spheres of society, where the discourse genres emerge in each of these spheres. These discursive genres fulfill their function insofar as they are composed of the specialized lexicon of the discursive practices, the stylistic resources used, and the textual organization that makes up the content.

In the pedagogical field and within the framework of the pedagogical approach based on discursive genres, the teaching of literacy from the disciplines is proposed [3]. The pedagogical hypothesis is that the greater the knowledge of discursive genres, the more resources teachers will have for pedagogical planning [9]. In this sense, it is necessary to determine which are the discursive genres of the different scientific disciplines, which are their functions, and which are their characteristics for a pedagogical implementation.

Within this framework, the study of the discursive genre of the final research report used at the Professional School of Chemistry of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru, is addressed. The question that arises is the following: what are the characteristics of the FRR discursive genre and what are the constraints of the social sphere that determine these characteristics?

As for the theoretical framework, there is a diversification of models that approach the study of language; therefore, it is necessary to specify which discursive, textual, and linguistic perspective will be applied in the analysis of the chosen discursive genre.

To begin with, I will present a discourse and text analysis perspective and then apply it to the analysis of the selected discourse genre.

2. Discourse analyses

To approach the definition of discourse, discursive genre, and textual analysis, we will first focus on some thematic axes from the perspective of Voloshinov, Bakhtin, Foucault, and Charaudeau.

The unit of discourse as a process is the dialog and as a result is the utterance [10]. Dialog is the meeting of at least two socially organized people who interact through speech in utterances. If we focus on the word, it is the product of two faces: one addressed to the speaker, the other to the listener. Between the two, they construct a reality to which they refer: intersubjectivity subject to many other parameters referred to the other elements included—theoretically—in the conception of communication (immediate to the most general circumstances). Famous is the author’s metaphor for the word: “A word is a bridge thrown between myself and another. If one end of the bridge depends on me, then the other depends on my addressee. A word is territory shared by both addresser and addressee, by the speaker and his interlocutor” [10].

In that “territory shared” (the n circumstances), the listener appropriates the word in comprehension and the speaker re-actualizes it in production. The word comes to life as it takes on meaning in the very act of social interaction and not outside of it. Word is ideological par excellence [10]. Ideological because meaning word expresses the person subjective world in relation to the other in conditions in which the community operates, and not outside of it. Difference of opinion, social, psychological, gender, cultural, etc. identity, all are manifested in the material word (phonetic and intonational) and their surrounding environment. For the author, meaning word is in constant re-actualization in the utterance issued and in the consequent response: language-generating characteristic.

Conversation is the first instance of discourse: It is primary discourse [11]. In this social practice, the environment is friendly, associated with behaviors and free utterance: the discourse genre spontaneous conversation. It differs from secondary discourse because, in this one, dialog is adapted to the social conditions of production that give rise to scientific and academic discourse. For these are rarefactions, it means, procedures for control, selection, and distribution of discourse [12]. Definitively, utterances take concrete and stable forms according to the social place in which they are uttered: discursive genres.

2.1 Scientific discourse and academic discourse

According to these premises, I will focus on four thematic axes to define academic and scientific discourse and especially the discourse genre Final Research Report (FRR). These will be contrasted with the primary discourse to understand some of the students’ difficulties in writing.

2.1.1 Social constraints on discourse production: Differences between secondary and primary discourse

In academic discourse, the social roles that the participants mainly assume are, among others, that of teacher and student [13]. Classroom dialog is defined by the pedagogical partnership (government and private institutions) in general terms and the teacher according to the course in particular terms. Pedagogical dialogs revolve around teaching and learning (what, how to teach, what, how to learn, etc.) based on an asymmetrical and hierarchical relationship by knowledge (teacher is the bearer of knowledge). The most specific and salient feature in academic discourse is the evaluation involved in the various social practices that take place in the classroom and orally. Grades are products of a series of social forces among the teacher and student, which reflects the internal relationships between them in the verbal exchange: forces of authority, control, negotiations, transactions, etc. Evidently, teacher didactic and technical practices and previously mentioned social practices are associated; the same can be said of student learning styles. Bernstein’s perspective is social (sociology of language) and the author is interested in power and social control exercised by the teacher in pedagogical practices through language in English society.

Scientific discourse is a dialog between researchers, whose social and interactive practices are in writing and characterized by a tendency toward symmetry (asymmetries are cases of book burning or freedom denial of expression or restrictions on publishing by publishers, for example). These scientific dialogs take place in the various spheres of society where science is applied. Currently, one of the most predominant areas is economics. Relationships between scientific knowledge construction and the society’s needs are referred not only to the neediest sectors but also to the investment sectors [14]. The dialogs that emerge in this situation justify their scientific work, whether it refers to one sector of society or the other. Lander mentions that theoretical and applied science are biased by investors, specifically in countries where universities receive subsidies from the private sector; in this case, the pressure is much more imperative, therefore, the discourses manifest these constraints.

Discourse genres are different in both types of discourses. Evidently, academic discursive genres revolve around the teaching-learning process, especially evaluation: internships, notes, exams, monographs, reports, etc. Such is the case of the FRR. Its presentation is a requirement to pass the course. On the other hand, scientific discursive genres are published in the media. These can be essays, journals, newspaper articles, scientific articles, reviews, books, etc.

At the university, the aim of academic dialogs is for students to take on a voice of their own in the intellectual work. Thus, thesis is the “initiation” of the learner into the knowledge society and end of the academic stage. Meanwhile, the students’ oral discourses are progressively moving toward the ideal of a written scientific text. This is also the case of the FRR.

The FRR, therefore, has a dual purpose; for this reason, it is cataloged within the academic-scientific discourse and considered an academic-scientific discursive genre. Genres of disciplines are classified within a continuum between academic and scientific genres because there are no clear barriers but blurred boundaries between one genre and another [7]. There may then be intersections between prototypical genres. This is the case of FRR.

2.1.2 The truth conditions of utterance versus freedom of expression

For Foucault, in the sciences, there prevails a historical will to know that is evident in the opposition between true and false. The author proposes certain exclusion systems that avoid the indefinite proliferation of utterances that arise in spontaneous and oral conversations. These systems of exclusion are the beliefs, ideologies of the family, communal, cultural environment that shape thoughts from childhood: the child learns the truths about life, family, work, friendship, etc. in the verbal interactions that flow between experiences and that can become, in some cases, extreme prohibitions with untouchable parameters such as, for example, taboo. In societies, conversations cease to be spontaneous and free-thinking because of the exercise of power through exclusionary systems specific to each culture. As for scientific discourse, in one of his historical studies, he identifies the Greek era when the will to know turned its gaze to the utterances in relation to the referent. It was Plato who established the demarcation between true and false, that is to say, truth is not in the person (who can change his mind) but in what is enunciated with respect to what is referred to. It was Plato who established the demarcation between the true and the false, that is, the truth is not in the person (who can change his mind) but in what is enunciated with respect to what is referred to; in this way, Plato banished the sophist. It was the time of the emergence of the socialization of the new technology: writing, as a means to achieve the perpetuation of the true [12].

At present and from sociology, Lander questions the state of scientific advances in terms of truth values. The ideological bias is manifested in the cultural superiority, in the mercantile objective of research, in the separation between reason, body, subjectivity, “dimensiones constitutivas sin las cuales no puede dares la vida” [constitutive dimensions without which life cannot be accounted for] own translation [14]. In the case of scientific research, private investments are directed toward theoretical, methodological, and technological studies, both in the human sciences and in the natural sciences, without expanding into the consequences, such as the serious problems of pollution, unresolved poverty, etc.

In academic discourse, referred discourse prevails. This is understood as the discourse of the other, that is, the utterances are extracted from their social, local and temporal context in which they were produced and are inserted into a new dialog and within a new context [Volo…10]. At the university level, students must know the background of knowledge; in that sense, the value of truth lies in the discourses of others. Authorship is a system of exclusion in academic and scientific discourse [12] as is the rigor of the scientific method, the logical and argumentative system. Academic discourse also suffers from restrictions in terms of the truth conditions exposed in the influence of economies on the sciences. However, university students must be guided to the production of knowledge; it implies that they must detach themselves from the referred discourse to express their own voice in the thesis: end of the university career. As for the IFI, it is considered a preliminary step to obtaining the desired award.

2.1.3 The referred manifestation versus the subjectivity concealment

In scientific discourse, the referent, the knowledge about the world, is of greater value in the utterance than the coenunciators in the dialog. The utterance, then, must obviate them. This process of concealment of the person in the utterance is called depersonalization [15]. In this way, the objectivity of knowledge is constructed. The first and second person are omitted and, in opposition, the third person appears. Aristotle argued that the “subject” of the sentence is not always the person, it can be an object. Thus, the world, reality, is a maker entity that comes to life in the utterances with the grammatical procedure of predication. Is dialogicality lost? If the “world” dialogued, it would have responded in some way, or suddenly it already responded and our beliefs do not listen to it.

Let us return to Vološinov in the sense that every word, every utterance is ideological [10]. Lander’s criticisms demonstrate this when he describes the Western sciences as objectivist [14]. Utterances are constructed by socially organized people who imprint a point of view, a perspective that gives rise to a multiplicity of meanings; for that reason, language is polysemic par excellence [10]. The statements in scientific dialogs do not escape this reality. Rather, an intersubjectivity is posited that is closer to the premise that science is not infallible because knowledge changes according to the era, theoretical models, perspective of analysis, etc. Academic discourse is framed within this perspective.

2.1.4 Communicative contract

Social interactions are regulated by norms, rules, principles, or maxims that are established by social contract [16]. These change according to the social sphere, where speaker and listener meet. Verbal exchange is also regulated by a contract: the communicative contract [17, 18] that establishes the minimum conditions for what to say and how to say it. Speaking and listening is a communicative event with a beginning, a development, and a closing, inserted in another social event. The speech act is a doing with words [19], therefore, it is socially regulated by those who direct such an event.

Let us see some examples. A spontaneous conversation is a communicative event; the greeting is the beginning, and the farewell is the closing. Conversational turn taking, topics, and time are freely chosen. On the other hand, in an institutional event such as a conference, who takes the floor as speaker, who listens, the topic, the duration of the event are previously determined by certain conditions according to the social sphere (academic, political, etc.). The written text is another type of communicative event: it stipulates a beginning that contextualizes the event and a closing that can be a summary or conclusion. Likewise, the topic, length, material used, etc. is previously determined by agreements according to the social sphere. In these examples, we can observe that there are conditions that regulate the development of communicative events. For some, they are systems of exclusion that prevent the proliferation of utterances of different specificity [12]; for others, they are contracts that allow an agreement to be reached in order to carry out social life [17, 18].

3. Text structures

Text is a complex unit with a coherent conceptual organization. Conceptually, the text has a central theme, main and secondary themes that can be represented in graphical schemes (mind map, synoptic chart, concept map, flow chart, etc.). This conceptual organization is called macrostructure [20]. This global view of text is closely related to cognitive processes of generalization and memory. It is easier to remember, to make inferences and implications about a topic if one has been able to elaborate representational schemes of the text as a whole.

Text has an order in the sequence of contents whose regularities constitute the conventional formats, called superstructure [20], used in specific spheres of society. If we consider social place, where concrete and stable forms are used, we will speak of discursive genres [10, 21], of which text is a concrete realization. For example, letter is a discourse genre that has a specific format in administrative discourse; that format differs from newspaper article in media discourse and differs from a research article in the scientific discourse.

Text at the most elementary level is constituted by the sequence of propositions through semantic relations (without or with linguistic manifestation such as prepositions or conjunctions) in order to construct textual pieces called rhetorical structures. Links of propositions in a definition are different from links in an explication or in argumentation.

4. Methodology

The research is qualitative, descriptive explanatory in the sense that it has sought to find the semantic axes on which to carry out a study that relates the social and the linguistic. The starting point was the superstructure of the text, which is explained in the guide and corresponds to the parts of a research article. The introduction, objectives, the experimental part with the materials and equipment used in the experiment, the results and the conclusions were analyzed. The data were noted down using the fishing technique. The data recorded were the procedures of omission of persons in the statements, the enunciative modalities evidenced by the person in the statement, the logical connectors used, the logic performed with the logical connectors and what kind of rhetorical structures they form [22], how they use verb tenses, how is the lexical register of the specialty, the writing errors, etc. The study of the discursive genre was completed with the axes referring to enunciation, such as the identification of the enunciators, the social functions they fulfill, the relationships between them, the identification of the communication situation, the type of discourse, etc.

The pedagogical experience of teaching reading and writing at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos allowed me to gather information on the concern of teachers about the skills not only of writing, but also of oral expression and I was even invited to the dissertations of the students’ work in front of the jury of the Professional School of Chemistry. Subsequently, I carried out contrastive studies between research articles from the natural sciences and those from the social sciences and humanities, which allowed me to recognize the specific characteristics of the FRR and then look for the reasons why the differences are notorious (aspects that are not covered in this work). In this approach, we propose axes related to the differences between orality and writing with psychosocial implications; the construction of truth, culture, and ideology; economic trends related to technological development.

As for the corpus, they are reports submitted by students of the Chemistry B course of the last year of the professional career of the 2016-I academic semester. These have been kindly provided by the director of the Professional School of Chemistry, upon presentation of the research project. These are stored in the database of the Professional School of Chemistry for internal use by the teachers. The corpus consists of 10 FRRs (Table 1).

1	Absorción por perlas de alginato dopadas con dimetil glioxima
2	Determinación de Vitaminas E en germen de trigo por espectrofotometría Ultravioleta-Visible
3	Estudio de la remoción de trazas de plomo a partir de soluciones acuosas, usando como sorbente material particulado de neumáticos fuera de uso
4	Estudio de los componentes químicos y evaluación de la actividad antioxidante del fruto de lulo
5	Determinación y extracción del principio activo de la ambrosia arborescens (marco), para su aplicación como analgésico tópico
6	Microencapsulación de Luteina mediante el método “spray drying” utilizando quitosano y mucilago de chía como materiales encapsulantes
7	Estabilidad y sensibilidad de un electrodo de grafito y análogos modificado con nanopartículas y coloides de plata quitosano en reemplazo del grafeno para la cuantificación de dopamina
8	Estudio de los componentes de las pepas del camu camu, caracterización y utilización de los desechos como biosorbente de cobalto
9	Desarrollo de un método rápido de comparación de los vinos tintos comerciales y artesanales por técnicas instrumentales.
10	Síntesis y caracterización del complejo de cobre (II), [CuL2] [HL = O-etil [(3-nitrofenil)carbonil]carbamotioato]

Table 1.

The corpus.

5. Results

The FRR is characterized as a type of academic-scientific discourse product of the pedagogical practices of a university institution that fulfills the function of training professionals at the undergraduate level and researchers at the postgraduate level. Therefore, the target model of university education is taken from the sciences. The institution decides which model of science to follow, i.e., those who lead the institution—the teachers who are also researchers—are the ones who ultimately make decisions by agreements expressed in the statute, resolutions, directives, regulations, etc., including the criteria for pedagogical evaluation. We see that the university as an institution decides the philosophical, anthropological, sociological, theological, pedagogical, etc. foundations it requires for a social and cultural identity. From personal teaching experience, the issues in this regard are the subject of discussion among scientific teachers [14] with repercussions on institutional educational policies. The guide for the elaboration of the FRR contains criteria coming from the chosen model of science. They constitute sociocultural restrictions in discursive production.

As for language, academic-scientific discourse belongs to a closed social sphere because it does not have free entry, that is, there are only a number of permitted vacancies. For entering students, this implies facing new forms of interaction, conversation, expressive styles, lexis, thought, valuations [14], etc., in other words, it implies acquiring a new linguistic variety, new textual formats, new discursive genres, new belief systems. The FRR production guide fulfills this function of directing the student to the goal of acquiring new discursive forms. Therefore, the production and evaluation of the FRR are determined by the chosen model of science. The FRR is the product of the students’ newly acquired discourse.

5.1 FRR discursive genre characteristics

5.1.1 Situation of communication

The FRR is presented in writing in the last year of the degree program. In addition, students must present his/her report before a jury composed by the director of the Professional School of Chemistry and the course professor. It should be noted that students choose an unpublished theme and according to it the specialty professor. The course, then, has n themes and n teachers. In the course, the student must demonstrate, on the one hand, a know-know and a know-how to do by which the jury will make a judgment as to its investigative competence. On the other hand, students must prove to the jury that research results are true. Therefore, the jury must validate them. The FRR’s double intention, academic and scientific, is evident.

5.1.2 Situation of enunciation

Enunciator (student as a writer) establishes an intersubjective relationship of distancing with respect to himself and to the enunciator (professor as a reader). This distancing is realized through several mechanisms.

5.1.2.1 Construction of image

Enunciator constructs an image; it is as a semi-expert in the specialty, who seeks to establish himself as an expert by presenting the product of his experiment. To do so, he must comply with all the requirements of the investigation process. The professor is evoked as the subject matter expert who will evaluate and validate the results of student’s investigation. The director Professional School of Chemistry validates will secure this validation for institutional purposes.

5.1.2.2 Construction of objectivity

This intersubjective relationship of distancing of discursive subjects enhances the fact referred to (experiment) and what is stated about it (text) producing an effect of objectivity. The facts, the events of the world referred to, the object of study of the discipline, must be expressed in third-person grammatical form, or through lexical reference; it also requires neutral and impartial expressions. For example, in the following sentences, El procedimiento se realiza a una humedad del 90–-95% y a una temperatura del 22 ± 1°C. ([3], p. 9), the fact is focused as the agent of the action realiza, it is manifested in third-person grammatical form; however, we know that the experimenter is the one performing the procedure.

5.1.2.3 Construction of interaction

Every utterance is issued by someone and addressed to someone. In the process of text production, the writer addresses his or her utterances to a virtual reader on a subject. In his/her text, the author may mention other enunciators. This is the case of bibliographic sources under the modality of direct or indirect citation in the scientific text [16]. This citation procedure is one of the forms of intertextuality and it manifests the interactions with others in the text. It also implies dialogicity and intersubjectivity because the statements are products of the interrelation between two psychosocially organized participants. Citations in the scientific text are an index that the author has had previous readings, has carried out bibliographic reviews, text analysis and, in addition, of how assiduous he/she is in reading. We have mentioned that authorship is an exclusion system in academic and scientific discourse in the sense that the statements take on the value of private property and, therefore, a repeated piece of information is not allowed as new. This ensures that the research is novel.

In the FRR, we have found few intertextuality, although there is a pertinent list of texts in the bibliography. The notations appear under the label of bibliography and indicate that students have made the reference with the ascending number according to the appearance in only the Introduction section; however, additional texts appear in the bibliography. This is the case of item 9 of Table 2, which in the bibliography registers 9 numbered authors, but within the text, there are only two numbered notations in the Introduction. These two ways of presenting the reference indicate ignorance of the management of the referred discourse. There is also an indirect quotation in the body of the article. The absence of citations produces a discursive effect of objectivity and also indicates that there is no intertextuality or dialogic practice, and that it is not a text with argumentative organization.

	Bibliography	Direct quotations	Indirect quotations	Annotations
1	9	0	0	0
2	10	0	0	9
3	8	0	0	8
4	8	0	0	0
5	4	0	0	0
6	7	0	0	0
7	14	0	0	8
8	6	0	1	0
9	9	0	0	2
10	12	0	0	12

Table 2.

Referred discourse: Relation between bibliography and quotations.

5.1.2.4 The depersonalization

Omission of enunciator in utterance is another discursive effect of objectivity, procedure called depersonalization [15]. In other words, enunciator expresses itself not using first grammar person but other procedures, e.g., first-person plural we; lexical reference as the investigator, lexical auto reference as the undersigned [16]. There are other person omission procedures in the utterance as following (highlighted by underlining):

Impersonal form with se

(1) El estudio de la capacidad de sorción del material particulado de los neumáticos fuera de uso (NFU), se realizó mediante una isoterma de sorción. ([3], p. 1)

Passive form with se

(2) De este modo se realizará la extracción de este, con el método respectivo, dependiendo de los resultados del screening fitoquímico… ([5], p. 3)

Passive voice

(3) Ha sido sintetizado el complejo de cobre(II) a partir de un derivado de aciltiourea. ([10], p. 1)

Impersonal verb hay

(4) Actualmente hay diferentes métodos para su determinación como los colorimétricos, que son usados para fines prácticos en la enseñanza universitaria… ([2], p. 3)

Infinitive verbs

(5) Para estudiar la capacidad de competencia del alginato y el DMG para la captación de cobre… ([1], p. 10)

Verbs in gerund form

(6) Las diversas formas de utilización de cobre y la contaminación que genera este metal conlleva a buscar soluciones considerando como una alternativa los absorbentes baratos y más eficaces como son los biopolímeros… ([1], p. 4)

Verbs in participle form

(7) Dejar reposar unos minutos luego separar la capa etérea en un vaso previamente pesado. ([4], p. 8)

Nominalization process

(8) Para el estudio de la cinética del proceso de adsorción… ([1], p. 10)

5.1.2.5 Modality as expression of subjectivity

Although the enunciator is omitted, the manifestation of the person’s subjectivity is manifested through other mechanisms such as modality. This consists of showing what perspective or point of view the enunciator has on what he/she is enunciating. Modality can be epistemic or evidential [22].

1. The epistemic modality. It refers to the extent to which the speaker is committed to the truth of his or her utterances. Two types are recognized: assertive and non-assertive.

   1. Assertive epistemic modality. Certainty is expressed not lexically but syntactically. The use of asseverative sentences with canonical syntactic order (SVO) indicates certainty.

      (9) El parámetro de polifenoles totales no tiene un valor mínimo ni uno máximo, pero presentan un valor promedio de polifenoles totales de los vinos tintos mundiales, el cual es de 2500 mg ácido gálico/L³. ([9], p. 7)

   2. Non-assertive epistemic modality. It is manifested in the following ways: probability, possibility, expectation, and obligation.

      • Probability. It is expressed by verbs.

        (10) teniendo como comparación el área superficial del carbón activado (500 m2/g), se podría esperar una baja capacidad de sorción del polvo de neumático fuera de uso. ([3], p. 15)

      • Possibility. It is expressed by adjectives and adverbs.

        (11) Es muy posible que los vinos artesanales contengan mayor contenido de polifenoles debido a que siguen un procedimiento no industrializado… ([9], p. 15)

        (12) Este posiblemente es el motivo por el que se encuentra mayor cantidad de etanol en los vinos artesanales. ([9], p. 16)

      • Expectation to be confirmed. It is expressed by verbs.

        (13) Como era de esperarse, al no tener un control de los procesos artesanales de preparación de esta bebida era de suponer que el contenido de etano podría estar por encima del permitido y los resultados confirman dicha suposición. ([9], p. 16)

      • Obligation. It is expressed by verbs.

        (14) No es que sea perjudicial el contenido alcohólico encontrado en los vinos artesanales, pero sí es importante que cumplan ciertas normas… ([9], p. 16)

        (15) Se debe tener en cuenta que para la obtención del mucílago de chía debe ser muy diluido para evitar que precipite… ([6], p. 20)

2. Evidential modality. It refers to how we express the way in which we have acquired knowledge [22]. This can be in the following ways:

   1. Presentation of information. It is expressed by verbs.

      (16) Según muestra la gráfica 1 al realizar el análisis de los datos se observa una correlación de 0,9834… ([3], p. 11)

      (17) Por otro lado, según el espectro IR (ver apéndice) de los desechos de la pepa del camu camu, se puede observar según la tabla 2 que los grupos funcionales presentes es un OH, C = c Y C-O… ([8], p. 12)

      (18) Podemos ver que en la parte UV se ha distorcionado… ([6], p. 24)

      (19) Las medidas espectrocópicas inician con la obtención de los espectros de absorción, muy útiles pues nos permiten visualizar los picos máximos de absorción de las sustancias… ([6], p. 22)

   2. Evidential modality of induction and deduction

      (20) …la contaminación que genera este metal conlleva a buscar soluciones considerando como una alternativa los absorbentes baratos… ([1], p. 4)

      (21) El porcentaje de concentración remanente indica cuanto del contaminante queda en la solución muestra… ([3], p. 14)

      (22) Este resultado se obtiene aplicando la ecuación 2,… ([3], p. 14)

   3. Evidential modality of confirmation with adverbs

      (23) …efectivamente se observó una adsorción por parte del filtro sinterizado del orden de 0,212 mg/L… ([3], p. 12)

   4. Evidential modality of certainty with nouns

      (24) Esto permite tener la seguridad de producir la reducción del AgNO₃ y no la oxidación. ([7], p. 10)

6. Text analysis

Professional School of Chemistry provides a guide for writing final research report. All the rules are there, like book cover, space between lines, margins, font size, etc. The superstructural text is as follows: Spanish and English abstracts, introduction, objectives, experiment, results and discussion, conclusions, bibliography, annexes. FRR does not have a theoretical framework or hypothesis. The student should state the objectives, explain what methods and techniques were used, how they were applied and what results were obtained without discussion and text references. The following is the textual structure of the main parts of the FRR: the experimental part and the results.

6.1 The textual organization of FRR experimental part

The experiment is an event in which all activities are carried out in the laboratory with the required materials. The student’s task is to express all that experience in the text. In the FRR, we observe a semantic organization of the text of the following type: beginning and procedure.

The beginning of the experiment is to identify every one of the required elements: materials, equipment, and reagents used. In this regard, the information takes the form of a vertical list accompanied by a figure in some cases. In this type of organization, the lexicon is made up of the grammatical category of noun and establishes a semantic relationship determined by functionality. There is no use of linguistic connectors in the lexical links, but graphics such as bullets (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

An example of material identification with figure ([3], p. 6).

In the procedure, the student identifies each one of the processes followed. Information is organized in a sequence of steps. In some cases, they are detailed numerically, in other cases, the order of statements is followed. The semantic organization is based on predication, more specifically, the sequence of verbs that refers to the activities carried out in the event experiment with photos and figures that illustrate what was done (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Example of figure that illustrates the process followed ([2], p. 12).

The linguistic connectors used are those that allow for the temporal sequence of events, i.e., y luego, y, enseguida (25, 26). Verbs are expressed in present tense (27) or past tense (28). Verbs can be in infinitive (29) or they are conjugated (27).

(25) Para el extracto se pesa aproximadamente 3 g y se agrega 100 mL de agua desionizada. Se calienta hasta ebullición por 10 minutos y luego se filtra en papel Whatman. ([7], p. 7)

(26) Para la preparación de estándares, se tomaron 2 mL, 4 mL y 6 mL de etanol QP (Precaución: inflamable) y se colocaron en fiolas de 10 mL respectivamente. Enseguida, se agregó 1 mL de metiletilcetona QP (Precaución: inflamable y tóxico), como estándar interno, y se enrazaron con agua ultrapura. ([9], p. 10)

(27) Se adicionan 125 mL de solución acuosa de acetato de plomo al 4% para precipitar los compuestos más polares. Se filtra la solución a través de celita, el filtrado se concentra al vacío y luego se extrae 3 veces con 35 mL de cloroformo cada vez; los extractos clorofórmicos se reúnen, se secan sobre MgSO4 anhidro y se concentran. ([5], p. 9)

(28) Para el estudio de la cinética del proceso de adsorción, se preparó un litro de solución de 300 mg/L de Cu (II) ajustando a PH 5. La solución se colocó en un agitador magnético a 220 rpm y se agregó 10,0145 g de perlas. ([1], pg. 10)

(29) Pesar 3 g de muestra en un vaso de 100 mL, disolver con 10 mL de agua destilada tibia, sin agitar mucho. Luego agregar 1 mL de hidróxido de amonio concentrado, 10 mL adicionar alcohol de 96%. Enseguida agregar éter etílico, añadir éter de petróleo y agitar. ([4], p. 8)

In both cases, students must resort to a detailed and precise description of the materials used, of the handling of all the processes involved. It can be observed that the description fulfills the exposition function: students expose what he/she used and how.

6.2 The textual organization of FRR results

FRR results show proposition sequences based on action-reaction structure, typical of chemical manipulations that generate reactive chains. Both the previous action and the reactive action must be identified and accurately described in order to explain the causal phenomenon. In some cases, focus is on cause (30) that requires to be identified, in other cases, focus is on reaction. After identification, they proceed to the explanation of the facts (31, 32).

(30) Se observa una coloración naranja, con el transcurrir del tiempo la coloración cambia a amarilla, disminuyendo de a pocos su intensidad; que nos indica la presencia de proteínas. ([6], p. 16)

(31) El reactivo de Folin-Ciocalteu es una mezcla de wolframato sódico y molibdato sódico en ácido fosfórico, los cuales reaccionan con los compuestos fenólicos. El ácido fosfomolibdotúngstico (formado por las dos sales en el medio ácido), de color amarillo, al ser reducido por los grupos fenólicos da lugar a un completo de color azul, cuya intensidad es la que se midió para evaluar el contenido de polifenoles totales. ([9], p. 14)

(32) Ya seco, se resalta a simple vista, que la coloración del quitosano es blanca, teniendo pequeñas partes de coloración pardas, lo que indica que posiblemente la desproteinización fue incompleta, ya que la quitina se encuentra ligada muy fuertemente con aminoácidos como el ácido aspártico y la histidina. Otra causa podría ser el tiempo de desacetilación, esto pudo haber originado el aumento del grado de desacetilación de lo normal o por no realizar bien el lavado hasta pH neutro en cada proceso. ([6], p. 17)

The experimental process is carried out in stages. The result of each stage leads to the next stage and requires readings and explanations (33). In some cases, these previous results are recorded in tables from which an explanation is made by causal inference (34). From the examples listed, description of the facts is the basis for the elaboration of explanatory inference.

(33) A partir de esto deducimos que mucílago de Chía es un componente de alta voluminosidad y además su carga negativa esta principalmente determinada por el ácido glucorónico (GlucpA) ([6], p. 19)

(34) Como se observa en la tabla 7 (ver apéndice), el n-hexano usado como blanco da una longitud máxima de 290 nm, mientras el aceite da una longitud máxima de 260 nm produciendo un efecto hypsocromico (disminución de la longitud de onda), dicho valor posiblemente nos indica la presencia del limoneno que es el componente principal del aceite de los cítricos (camu camu) y que da el olor característico a los mismos. ([8], p. 12)

The linguistic form of causal relations is varied. There are connectors, i.e., ya que (32), verb phrases, i.e., produciendo un efecto (34), otra causa podría ser (32).

7. Some difficulties in FRR writing

The texts in general follow the mentioned writing guide. The following cases were found in the order presentation of information.

1. Research objectives: it has been found that, in some cases, these are not separated but agglomerated.

   (35) Desarrollar un método espectrofotométrico para la determinación de vitamina E en germen de trigo, cuantificarlo de manera rápida, sencilla, confiable y posteriormente aplicarlo como control de calidad en productos a base de este alimento como también en productos con concentraciones detectables de vitamina E. ([2], p. 3)

   According to the content developed, three objectives can be distinguished, referring to three processes that follow one after the other.

2. In the experimental part of the report, numbered figured are generally presented to show how the experiment was carried out; however, some figures are not verbally inserted in the material presentation or in the explanation of employed procedures. It indicates unlinked information to the text.

3. The report guidelines request that the used experimental procedures should be presented, but it has been found that there is no continuity in the steps to be followed. It indicates confusion in the conceptual order of the procedures.

4. In the result part of the research, the findings are presented in statistical tables, charts, graphs, or figures. We note that these are not inserted verbally in the part corresponding to the explanation of results. The graphic information is disconnected from the text.

5. In the result part of the research, there is a description of the processes. We found some cases of lexical precision and logical breakings. In (36), the underlined word resultando refers to the actions of obtaining, so the more accurate term is se obtuvo, the conjugated verb. There is an inappropriate use of the Spanish connector sin embargo; in this context, there is no relationship of opposition between the preceding information and the one that follows. There is a logical breaking.

   (36) A los 15 minutos se midió la energía de la lámpara y resultando 25, el cual sigue siendo considerado bajo, para tener una buena eficiencia de detección de la lámpara; sin embargo, se observa que el valor no aumenta al dejarla más tiempo, por lo cual se inicia las corridas. ([3], p. 10)

6. Absence of subordinating connectors in the noun phrase, i.e., y así aumentar su estabilidad la molécula, ([8], p. 12). According to the Spanish syntactic rules, the sequence of nouns requires preposition de: “y así aumentar la estabilidad de la molécula”.

7. Redundant use of connectors is found, i.e., y, que (underlined to highlight them).

   (37) Se pesa 0,5; 1,0; 1,5 y 2,0 g aproximadamente del molido de los desechos y se coloca en vasos de 1000 ML y se adiciona 100 mL de solución de CoCl2 y se lleva a 300 mL con agua destilada. ([8], p. 9).

   (38) Al agregar HCI 2 N, se observó que algunos burbujeos, que nos indica la liberación de CO2 producto de la reacción del CaCO3 y HCI. ([6], p. 15)

8. Important figures, tables, charts, and tables for testing the experiment are added in the annexes, but there is no reference to them in the explanation of the results.

8. Conclusion

1. This research arose from the experiences in teaching reading and writing with a pedagogical approach based on discursive genres that allow addressing the problems from the disciplines. The FRR was selected because it is a university text with peculiar characteristics in relation to other texts from other disciplines.

2. It is qualitative research, which proposes analysis axes of the discursive dimension and establishes relationships between society and language. The FRR is the product of the pedagogical and scientific practices of the university community. It is a pedagogical discursive genre because it is part of the evaluation of a course of the academic curriculum. It is also a product of scientific practices because it follows the rigor of scientific research. Since the boundaries between the two discursive practices are blurred, the FRR discursive genre is academic-scientific.

3. In terms of pedagogical practices, the FRR is the result of an individual research plan that is developed throughout the academic semester. It involves advisory meetings and reporting according to plan. At the end of the semester, the student presents his or her work and presents it to a jury composed of professors from the Professional School of Chemistry.

4. As for scientific practices, the contents and procedures followed correspond to the scientific rigor explicit in the guide in which teachers determine the conditions of acceptability of an investigation that they surpass the pedagogical practices in the classroom.

5. The guide is the result of the agreements reached to consider the requirements for acceptance of a research work, agreements that cannot ignore, in turn, the regulations and directives of the university institution as an entity that is part of the scientific society. The agreements of the university institution, in turn, consider government policies, scientific currents of the historical moment, inter-university agreements, private and state subsidies for research projects.

6. The different agreements constitute sociocultural restrictions in the pedagogical enunciative practices because they can be conditioning factors in the selection of the research topics and the selected scientific aspects, as well as in the selection of how to organize the text and the linguistic resources. We observe how the sociocultural aspect influences discursive practices, in this case, pedagogical.

7. As for the organization of the text, the experimental section is a list of instruments, materials such as reagents, necessary inputs, and a procedural sequence of the experiment as such. The results are the measurements obtained expressed in tables. The conclusions refer to the procedures performed.

8. As for linguistic resources, the statements highlight the referent as subject, the enunciator is omitted through depersonalization procedures such as impersonal forms, the passive se, the passive voice, verbs in infinitive, verbs in gerund, nominalization. However, there are manifestations of the person with enunciative modalization procedures such as certainty, confirmation, probability, possibility, obligation.

9. These strategies of highlighting the referent and omitting the person produce an effect of objectivity. The basic assumption is that the lesser the expression of the person in the statement, the greater its objectivity and veracity. In this regard, we have argued that this is a perspective of a type of science that ignores the dialogical essence of scientific practices that gives rise to a multiplicity of theoretical models and because science is not infallible with respect to the concept of truth.

10. This focus on the fact without considering the people who carried out the action also omits the interaction within the text, which is reflected in the omission of quotations throughout the experimental process and even in the conclusions. Only in the Introduction section, students refer to the bibliography. As mentioned above, the organization of the text is not argumentative. We observe that writing becomes a highly monologic discursive practice.

11. Although the FRR is not a thesis, it requires the student to prove his competence expressly in experimental methodology and thus shows an influence of the requirements of the present time such as technological progress. The emphasis on procedural teaching excludes one of the purposes of the university campus: theoretical and methodological discussions and even the social purposes that translate into an argumentative organization of scientific texts.

12. The links between the propositions are of the procedural type that explains the development of the experiment, and of the causal type that explains the results of the experiment. Therefore, the rhetorical structures constructed are of the expository and explanatory type.

13. This tendency to pure objectivity contrasts with the intersubjectivity of the daily and social practices from which the students come from, which leads the student to adapt to changes in interactive practices in the classroom; habits and customs in study; ways of thinking and reasoning, even linguistic and textual variety. We would then be facing a new literacy process.

14. Difficulties are found in the connection of graphic information with the propositional development of the text. Likewise, at the microstructural level, logical breaks, some omissions, and inadequate use of connectors in noun phrases and sentences have been found.

15. The teaching of reading and writing requires not only linguistic and textual criteria. At the university level, it is essential to consider those characteristics of the discursive genre with the fulfillment of its function in the social sphere where it is framed. For this reason, teaching in the disciplines for the disciplines is proposed, which leads to further studies of discursive genres in their specificity.

Acknowledgments

I wish to express my appreciation to Dr. Mario Ceroni Galloso, ex director of Professional School of Chemistry, National University of San Marcos, for his gracious support in providing the students’ final research reports.

My extensive thanks to Professor Dr. Heinrich Helberg Chávez for his comments on the exploratory study of this academic discursive genre.