Attitude and argumentation: an analysis of secondary school writing production

Abstract

This article aims at discussing argumentation in secondary school writing production considering resources of attitude, which may create writers’ authorial positioning (HYLAND, 2012). The study focuses on Systemic-Functional Linguistics (HALLIDAY; HASAN, 1989; HALLIDAY, 1994; HALLIDAY; MATTHIESSEN, 2004), in particular on the Appraisal System (MARTIN; WHITE, 2005), in interface with a social perspective of argumentation (BRETON, 2003). Two argumentative texts are analyzed through a qualitative approach and results suggest there are a great number of evaluations based on attitudinal resources of judgment, made by writer’s appraisals and opinions about human behavior, which illustrate authorial positioning is produced through social esteem and social sanction evaluations.