Institutional internationalisation through academic literacies in English: teaching and learning written genres in the Brazilian higher education context

Abstract

This contribution delves into the process of internationalisation of Brazilian higher education institutions by focusing on academic literacies in English. We highlight initiatives carried out at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil as to the teaching and learning of an array of written genres. We also assess its impact on graduate and undergraduate students' insertion in the various international academic/scientific communities. Drawing on references within the realm of English for Academic Purposes and Academic Literacies, this work also addresses course design and application of activities concerning academic writing. Students' personal accounts regarding their own experiences in producing written material have also been presented and discussed against the backdrop of an institutional internationalisation scenario. We concluded that the teaching and learning of written academic genres across various domains of knowledge does enhance the university's internationalisation process both at its "at home" and "abroad" strands.

Using speaking as a springboard to academic writing: a successful pedagogical experience

“…Courses on academic French, German, Italian and Spanish are also offered by UFMG. 7 For a more detailed description of IFA subjects offered by the Faculty of Languages at UFMG, especially related to the approach to written genres, one should check Dutra et al (2019) As knowledge about genre depends on analysis of authentic texts, we provide students with opportunities for examining representative text models to identify salient text features and the ways those texts are organized. The IFA subjects involve genre analysis and process approach, particularly for writing assignments, with the support of corpus linguistic tools 8 instruction.…”