Um estudo das práticas de letramento de técnicos e agentes de pesquisa da PNAD/IBGE

Abstract

In Applied Linguistics (AL), the investigation towards the use of language in institutional contexts, that one different from the educational field, had its starting point in the mid-1990s, especially through ethnographic researches. According to Moita Lopes (1998; 2011) these investigations are likely to take place within professional contexts such as the juridical system, hospitals and nursing institutions as well as the ones concerning public safety, setting forth the academic interest in the way one discursively behaves when using reading and writing in their work place. Having the scientific background of the AL field, defined and herein elucidated, together with its interface with the literacy studies, this investigation is a descriptive research with a qualitative approach and traits of ethnographic component (MOREIRA; CALEFFE 2006; BOGDAN; BIKLEN, 2006; CANÇADO, 1994). The broader objective of this master’s thesis is to discuss literacy practices in census activities carried by technicians and research agents of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), when carrying out the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD). Also, this study specifically attempts to identify and characterize literate routines related to the working context of these servants in order to contribute to the enhancement of the scope of researches on Literacy in this particular locus, thus, promoting a better understanding of their utterances as a means to legitimate the institutional discourse inherent within the census area. In terms of theoretical approach, this thesis is based on Literacy Studies (STREET, 2014 [1995]; 1993; 1984; HAMILTON, 2000; KLEIMAN, 1995; OLIVEIRA, 2008; 2010; ROJO, 2009), with emphasis on Labor Literacy (PAZ, 2008), as well as some contributions from the Socio-discursive Interactionism (BRONCKART, 1999; 2006; 2008; MACHADO, 2005; GUIMARÃES et al., 2007). In accordance with the categorizations proposed by Hamilton (2000) towards the visible and non-visible elements in Literacy events and practices, the analysis has pointed out the relevance of the continuum education offered by IBGE to its servants as well as the importance of guidance on oriented utterances in order to boost the skills of such servants to convince, once this is one of the key abilities within the job of the participants. Such discursive strategies are noticed especially in the work of research agents, whose group is directly linked to the context of the life of their informants when collecting their information at their houses, hence, these research agents also work as institutional spokesmen within the social conjuncture of the people they speak to.