Discursive play in the appropriation of scientific language by undergraduate research chemistry students

Abstract

In this paper we analyze discourses that took place in chemistry research laboratories involving undergraduate research students of a university in the state of São Paulo. The discourses were classified based on the concept of discourse typology, proposed by Eni Orlandi, as: authoritarian (restrained polysemy), polemical (controlled polysemy) and ludic (open polysemy). The dialogues between two students and their advisors were taped, transcribed, and analyzed for a year. The analyses indicated that the authoritarian discourse, present in the beginning of the study, was gradatively substituted for the polemic and ludic discourses. This switch suggests the contribution of the undergraduate research in the development of important qualities such as students’ intellectual independence and criticism besides its importance to the learning of chemistry contents.