Banca de DEFESA: LUCIANA MARTILIANO MILENA

Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : LUCIANA MARTILIANO MILENA
DATE: 26/03/2024
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: modo remoto
TITLE:

The production of written science texts in English and the participation of non-native English-speaking students in epistemic practices in Higher Education

 

PAGES: 250
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Educação
SUMMARY:

In this research, we investigated how university students, non-native English speakers, participate in epistemic practices (EPs) when writing scientific texts in English in an introductory general science course at a public, internationalized university, taught from the perspective of EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction). The research questions that guide this study are: (Question 1) How do university students – non-native speakers of English – in an introductory science course taught from an EMI perspective, participate in epistemic practices when producing a scientific text written in English, reporting on an investigative project they developed? Inserted in this first research question, there are two objectives: (i) to characterize the epistemic practices developed by students when preparing their scientific articles in English; (ii) characterize the relationships between the use of the English language and the process of participation in epistemic practices in the preparation of scientific articles; (Question 2) How do these students' scientific writing in English and their participation in epistemic practices reflect aspects of the internationalization perspectives of the university where the investigation will take place? Inserted in this second research question, there are two more objectives: (iii) characterize the university's institutional internationalization policy concerning subjects in English; (iv) contrast analysis of institutional policy with analysis of epistemic practices in which students participate when writing texts. Operating under the logic of Qualitative Research, we employ assumptions from Research in Writing to analyze students' scientific texts. To establish a dialogue between the analysis of scientific writing in English that occurs in the discipline under study and the internationalization of the curriculum at the university in question (UFABC), we examine its Institutional Internationalization Plan from the point of view of Jürgen Habermas' social theory, a theoretical lens that allows us to see (social) actions in the institutional document. The textual corpus corresponds to scientific articles prepared in English by students who took the subject Experimental Fundamentals of Natural Sciences (EFNS) in English in 2019 - mandatory for the Bachelor in Science and Technology (BC&T), one of UFABC's interdisciplinary programs - and the model texts in English contained in the course book. These texts, available on the course website, were analyzed regarding their rhetorical moves (RMs), epistemic levels (ELs), code-switching situations (CS), and, finally, epistemic practices (EP). As we did not have access to the classes in which the written productions were elaborated, the analyses of RMs, ELs, and CS helped us characterize the EPs developed by the student-authors when writing their texts. The present study also features the characterization of the research context, which includes a discussion about teaching in English at UFABC, a description of the history of the class based on the course documents, an interview with the teacher responsible for the classes in English, and a questionnaire administered to the students. As the main results of this investigation, the detailed characterization of EPs developed by students in the preparation of their scientific articles in English, which encompass practices of proposition, communication, evaluation, and legitimization of knowledge, shows that they are present in the texts as a whole, not restricted to specific sections of the articles. We found evidence of the concomitant occurrence of some EPs, which corroborates the complexity of the construct. The characterization of the EPs was enriched by the analysis of RMs, ELs, and CS, which helped us, respectively, to understand the educational context of the class, to make conjectures about how the students connected empirical and theoretical data to construct their explanations, and to reflect on the cultural practices adopted by the group, pointing to contextual characteristics, social roles and relationships between teachers and students. Regarding the characterization of the relationships between the use of the English language and the process of participation in epistemic practices in the elaboration of scientific articles, we verified that the use of English for writing did not compromise the participants' engagement in EPs. Scientific writing in English promoted at EFNS proved to be an epistemically dense activity, providing an opportunity to introduce students to ways of constructing and communicating knowledge in science. We can say that the character of the discipline, the texts that circulated in it, the teacher's attitude, and the students' response to all of this contributed to this context being fruitful for the engagement in EPs. Moving on to the characterization of UFABC's institutional internationalization policy in relation to courses in English, and subsequently contrasting this analysis with the examination of epistemic practices in scientific articles, we see that the EMI in EFNS has an essentially dramaturgical and communicative character, as it provides both an opportunity for “presentation of the subjects” and a “cooperative process of interpretation” of what it means to be a scientist in an internationalized educational environment. Our results indicate that the elaboration of scientific articles in English within the discipline was a significant milestone in establishing a scientific and international perspective in these students who were taking their first steps in Higher Education.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - Interno ao Programa - 1371962 - DANUSA MUNFORD
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - PAULA CRISTINA CARDOSO MENDONÇA - UFOP
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - MAÍRA BATISTONI E SILVA - USP
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - MARÍLIA MENDES FERREIRA - USP
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - LÚCIA HELENA SASSERON ROBERTO - USP
Membro Suplente - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - LUIZ GUSTAVO FRANCO SILVEIRA - UFMG
Membro Suplente - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - ANGELICA OLIVEIRA DE ARAUJO - UFVJM