Critical analysis of the construction of identities in school writing practice

Abstract

This research aims at analyzing authorial positioning in school writing practice considering how linguistic ideologies, and the consequent deletions of students’ sociohistorical realities, contribute to the construction of identities in the observed group. The theoretical architecture is based on Michael Halliday’s social semiotic perspective of language, with focus on Appraisal Theory as proposed by Martin and White, and in an interdisciplinary manner creates an interface with the critical discourse analysis paradigm, following Fairclough and Chouliaraki, as well as with social constructionist studies of identity according to Moita Lopes. Four compositions, whose topic dealt with the importance of writing to social inclusion, were written by third-year secondary public school students in Rio de Janeiro. The analysis was carried out according to a qualitative research methodology with focus on the evaluative elements that constitute the texts and illustrate linguistic ideologies and deletions in the reconstruction of social identities. The critical analysis of students’ writing production suggests that: (i) the creation and maintenance of hegemonic discourses regarding the value and use of language generate evaluative and ideological meanings as well as deletions of students’ sociohistorical realities, generally, without students’ questioning or debate and (ii) the process of identity reconstruction illustrated in the compositions is composed of evaluations that build students’ authorial positioning and guide the construction of multiple identities regarding the importance of writing to success in professional, personal and/or social terms.

Keywords: school writing practice, critical discourse analysis, social identity.