Demands of Postgraduate Courses in Relation to Academic Literacies

Abstract

Considering the importance of academic literacies2 as a set of social practices through which cultural meanings, power relations and relations of social identities have a central role in the social and human development, this work aims to present actions and demands of the postgraduate courses from two public universities in Paraná State (UEL and Unespar) regarding to both actions developed and the needs related to academic literacies. Therefore, we base our studies in the perspective of academic literacies, as proposed by Lea and Street (1998). The data were obtained through questionnaires addressed to coordinators and managers of postgraduate programs of higher education institutions participating in the project. The initial results show that there are more actions in favor of academic literacies in a foreign language than in Portuguese language. In addition, the respondents pointed out the need to develop actions related to language teaching as well as the understanding and production of academic genres (Abstracts, Articles, Oral Presentations) in both foreign and mother tongues.

Keywords

• academic literacies
• paraná state universities
• postgraduate courses