The debate as a social practice in books approved by the PNLD 2020
Portuguese language teaching; debate; social practice.
Debating, respecting ethics, and exchanging ideas have been a practice of continuous civility development throughout human history. In contemporary times, as a public demonstration (in-person or mediated by social media) of ideological polarization, it has become increasingly common. Engaging in debates has become a repeated practice, and learning how to debate has become even more relevant. This implies that it is necessary to think of debate apart from the concept of an oral discursive genre or as a teaching object in Portuguese language classes; in other words, it is necessary to think of it as a social practice. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on it as a literacy event conducive to argumentation for the exercise of citizenship. In this sense, debating is understood as a social practice involving oral, written, and multimodal argumentation, emphasizing the interaction between individuals. The individuals’ interest is to listen to their interlocutors, understand their positions, and open themselves to productive dialogue and negotiation of ideas, possibly leading to polarization minimization. Hence, by being aware of the integration of the genre debate into the field of public life by the National Curricular Common Base (BNCC), this research seeks to ascertain in which Portuguese language textbooks, approved by the 2020-2022 PNLD triennium, this type of work with debate is performed. Methodologically, this documentary research has a qualitative and interpretive nature, and it analyzes didactic activities that deal with debate in two textbooks from the eighth grade. To do so, three guiding questions are the starting point: (i) How is "debate" addressed in the National Curricular Common Base (BNCC)?; (ii) How is "debate" approached as a social practice in the two volumes of Portuguese language textbooks, approved by the 2020-2022 PNLD triennium, in the eighth grade?; (iii) How can this work with "debate" encompass the skills in the field of public life, listed by the BNCC? The analysis is grounded in the dialogical conception of language, sociocultural literacy studies, interactional argumentation studies, and critical pedagogy. The results indicate that the work with debate in the two analyzed volumes comprises: (i) events that have indeed occurred in Brazilian social reality; (ii) controversial topics relevant to culture and the economy; (iii) a social practice that goes beyond the school sphere. Thereby, although the books still focus on some purely structural elements, they do not limit themselves to teaching debate merely as an oral genre, nor do they turn it into just an object of instruction, as they provide resources for the teacher and students to analyze it as a social practice in public life. Finally, as an educational product, a literacy workshop is presented to contribute to this perspective of the debate, guiding the work with this genre as a social practice.