ABSTRACT
Genre analyses of academic or professional writing describe the differences of texts and examine the correlated uses of language. Several studies have also generated theoretical models for analyzing genres that serve as a basis for their description (Bakhtin, 1992/1986; Bhatia, 1993; Bazerman, 1988; Bronckart, 1999; Swales, 1990; Halliday & Hasan, 1989, among others). An increasing interest in the study of genres in Brazil both in Portuguese and foreign languages-mainly English-has contributed to the production of a significant number of dissertations and theses in graduate programs in the field of language studies, and the publication of research papers and books on genre and discourse. In addition, since 2001 a conference entitled SIGET (International Symposium of Studies on Genres) has been held every two years as a forum for researchers and teachers to discuss and publicize their research in the area. However, even with the growing interest in genre studies in Brazil, scholars do not have a precise idea of their extent and nature. This chapter aims to report preliminary outcomes of a research project on genre studies conducted in Brazil from 1980 to 2007. In this exploratory research, I set out (a) the identification of studied genres; (b) the focus of each study; (c) their underlying theoretical framework; and (d) the type of methodology adopted for analysis. For this overview, the information was collected mainly from dissertations and theses written for graduate programs in the fields of linguistics, applied linguistics, and language studies, as well as from scholarly journal articles and books in the area. It is worth mentioning that this is the first attempt to systematize studies related to text and genre in Brazil, and it is hoped the results can illuminate the agenda for future investigations into the topic.
