Representações de professor em discursos de paraninfos da área de letras: uma análise sistêmico-funcional

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the language used by professors to build representations of professors in eleven samples taken from commencement speakers speeches, which were analyzed as a textual genre, considering the situational context changes in which it is used and its Generic Structure Potential (GSP) according to Halliday and Hasan (1989). Such texts were produced by professors who acted as commencement speakers in Languages commencement ceremonies from two universities. After the description of the contextual configuration (CC), we identified the obligatory, optional and iterative elements compounding the GSP. In relation to the context, the Languages commencement speaker's speech consists of a thinking-advisory message. The social distance is maximum in relation to the authorities, but minimal in relation to the undergraduate students. Writing is the medium, and speaking is the channel. With respect to the GSP, the obligatory elements are protocol actions, such as greetings and farewells, reports on academic life, advice and congratulations. The optional elements are course or occupation description, reflection on the use of language and references to authors and texts. The advice and congratulations were also considered iterative since they appear in different places in the text. Besides them, acknowledgments were also considered as iterative elements. Sequentially, lexicogrammar and socio-semantic analyses were performed. For that purpose, presuppositions of the Systemic Functional Grammar of Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) were used, specifically on the transitivity system and the representation forms of social actors proposed by van Leeuwen (1997). Twelve representations for the professor were verified, which were performed through mental, relational, material and verbal processes, in the roles of Senser, Carrier, Actor and Sayer. From lexicogrammatical structures, the socio-semantic analysis showed that the professor is included in the commencement speaker's speech by activation and passivation, realized by participation, circumstantialization and possessivation. To organize the representations, we gathered them based on the three pedagogical dimensions according to Libâneo (1994). With respect to the human dimension, the professor is represented as: emotionally involved; pleased with teaching in the ceremony context; someone who faces challenges and is persistent; an example of ethics and respect to his/her cultural values; one who evaluates him/herself, opens room to criticism and learns from students. In regard to the technical dimension, the professor masters the language contents and knowledge and is capable of associating information from different areas; is continuously improving and updating his/her knowledge; is innovative. In relation to the social-political dimension, he/she transforms the reality by using language, but is not valued.