Is dissertar the same as argumentar? An Analysis of Writing Textbooks

Preliminary results of the research project "Argumentacao na escola: da analise de manuais de redacao a uma proposta didatica de orientacao semiolinguistica" (Teaching Argumentation in School: From the Analysis of Writing Manuals to a Didactic Proposal of a Semiolinguistic Orientation), carried out at the U do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil, are reported. Patrick Charaudeau's (1992, 1998, & 2001) conception of argumentation, based on the premise that every linguistic act is determined by its enunciation conditions, is outlined & utilized as a theoretical framework in the survey of eight writing manuals used in Brazilian high schools to determine their didactic treatment of dissertation. It is found that they adhere to the traditional division of texts into descriptive, narrative, & expository & define dissertation exclusively in terms of the logical-formal properties of text organization. They do not account for the role of enunciation conditions in the production of argumentative speech acts. Argumentation is recognized as the central element of dissertative texts. Yet it is conceived in simplistic terms of defending a point of view in a persuasive exposition rather than taking into account the relationship between the interlocutors, their communicative intention, or situational specifics of the communicative act. Dissertate is more than only to argue: it is to assess the complexity of the enunciation context in which the "Other" will be engaged to construct an intersubjectivity affecting the outcome of the argumentation. Most of the manuals surveyed are plagued by conceptual incoherence & a contradiction between theoretical prescriptions & practical drills. 7 References. Z. Dubiel