Research on the web and text production: reflexions on the teaching of argumentative types of text at school

Abstract

The present paper discusses the use of the Internet within the context of classroom practices. Initially, the text highlights the existing gap between school literacy practices and community practices. ICT presence in daily life has made the distance between school and community even more evident. Following this discussion, the article presents the results of two empirical investigations. The first one aimed to understand how high school learners are exploring ICT in formal and non-formal activities. The second one aimed to understand how the Internet may benefit the teaching of writing argumentative types of text. Results show that on-line research may offer promising ways to improve classroom results. Teachers’ intervention may also be necessary to guide learners on how to make more profitable uses of ICT resources.