Abstract

VARGAS FRANCO, Alfonso. From Academic Literacy to Academic Writing: Theories and Methods in Dispute?. Folios [online]. 2020, n.51, pp.63-77.  Epub July 03, 2020. ISSN 0123-4870.  https://doi.org/10.17227/folios.51-8429.

This reflection article intends to examine the theories and methods of two representative approaches to academic writing at Colombian universities. These are the movements known as Academic Literacy and the New Studies of Academic Writing, whose borders are sometimes not so clear or transparent, despite their deep epistemological differences. By reviewing their main theories and methods, it is evidenced the way academic writing conceives the paradigms of Academic Literacy and the New Studies of Academic Writing. The former, deeply rooted in the Anglo-Saxon movements of writing through the curriculum and writing in the disciplines, is supported by a strong cognitive component, and the latter, inspired by the New Literacy Studies (NEL), the critical theory, critical analysis of discourse and critical pedagogy, as well as postcolonial and decolonial epistemologies, has a strong inspiration in social and cultural and critical approaches of written culture. In the first part of the text, the epistemological assumptions of these two approaches are presented, and in the second part their implications for academic literacy in higher education are analyzed. Finally, it is emphasized that, despite their profound differences, synergies can be established between them.

Keywords : academic literacy; new studies of academic writing; new literacy studies; epistemology; academic written composition.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )