Argonautas. Journal of Education and Social Sciences

From paper to transmedia reading: A didactic proposal for EFL courses at university level

Lucía Zuppa — 2025-05-30

The courses of English for Specific Purposes in undergraduate programs of the School of Health at the National University of San Luis are oriented around the work around three fundamental points: 1) reading tasks; 2) linguistic contents; and 3) digital reading strategies. These are addressed simultaneously as spirally structured content, favoring a student-centered approach and focused on the development of multiple reading comprehension competencies. In this paper, we present a didactic proposal to approach digital disciplinary texts in English as Foreign Language from a multimodal reading perspective. Following institutional curricula, the focus of these ESP courses is on the development of reading comprehension, for which the research article has been selected as a prototypical genre to address the proposed objectives. Working with online texts implies the development of search, access and text selection skills, as well as hypertext reading skills, that is, the reading of interactive and dynamic texts as digital objects. This promotes a form of reading that is not linear but transmedia and which has potential for the development of cognitive and metacognitive skills for interaction in multidimensionality. As digital ecosystems of foreign language teaching and learning are increasingly more and more complex, so are teachers’ challenges as mediators between multimodal texts and learners, hence the need to promote reflection on new ways of reading.

Dialogue to build knowledge: the role of questions

Ana Lucía Rotti — 2025-05-30

It is widely accepted that dialogue is very important in classes for students’ participation, knowledge construction, collaboration, interaction and production. The objective of this paper is to present the results of the analysis of questions posed by a university teacher in terms of form and function so as to offer information about their role in higher education classes. To this end, we carried out an exploratory study on the teacher’s discourse in a class of the English Teaching and Reseach Training Tracks of the Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, which was taught synchronically online during the Covid19 pandemic. The data was obtained during an English Literature class taught in English as the medium of instruction. Using qualitative methodology, it is observed that as regards form, the most frequently used questions are WH, declarative/imperatives + tags and yes-no questions. As regards function, the most frequently used are audience-oriented questions of the type that requests a reply and solicits agreement. Although the frequent use of this resource may disclose certain asymmetry that is typically found in a teacher-student relationship, it also shows an explicit effort to promote active participation on the part of the students.

A proposal for the teaching of English with Academic Purposes based on the teaching-learning cycle within Systemic Functional Linguistics

Ana Claudia Páez — 2025-05-30

Reading texts can be a difficult task, especially in academic contexts in which knowledge of the discipline and conventions of scholarly communication becomes essential. Reading can be even more challenging if it is in a foreign language. For this reason, students of subjects such as English for Specific Purposes often attend Academic English courses in the early years of their programmes. This situation creates an even greater challenge given that students are still in the process of acquiring the technical vocabulary of their field of knowledge in their native language. Genre Pedagogy -a methodology grounded in Systemic Functional Linguistics and in the theoretical and pedagogical development proposed by the Sydney School (Martin & Rose, 2008; Rose & Martin, 2012)- becomes relevant for the teaching of genres. The aim of this paper is to present a pedagogical intervention that enables the acquisition of the reading skills to comprehend abstracts. This research proposal will be conducted in the context of the Human Sciences College, at the National University of La Pampa. Through qualitative methodology of multiple case studies, it is expected that students’ perceptions on the acquisition of English language in the context of English with specific Purposes may provide data to improve the teaching of this language in specific contexts. The research questions will focus on the students’ perceptions about the development of their own reading abilities in the genre abstract during the pedagogic intervention. These perceptions will be collected through questionnaires and interviews.

Cohesive labels as a rhetorical strategy in the discourse of natural sciences, social sciences and technological disciplines

Verónica Muñoz — 2025-06-10

This study focuses on the analysis of cohesive labels (CLs) (e.g., una gran ventaja, this problem), a rhetorical resource widely used in scientific discourse in English and Spanish. Structurally, CLs are noun phrases containing a labelling noun as head and optional elements in pre and post-head position, such as deictics and modifiers. Functionally, CLs are connective devices that encapsulate, label and connect, across sentence boundaries, text segments, these being three discursive processes carried out in the flow of the text. The purpose of this work is to analyse the use of cohesive labels in the scientific discourse of the natural sciences, the social sciences and technological disciplines. We carried out a descriptive study, analysing linguistic evidence from three specialised corpora representative of scientific discourse in English: chemistry semi-popularization articles, applied linguistics research articles, and agriculture research articles. We observed, first, the frequency of use of cohesive labels and, secondly, the variety of nouns functioning as heads of cohesive labels. The results indicate a high frequency of cohesive labels and a large variety of labelling nouns used as their heads. These findings confirm that CLs have a key role in the organization of scientific discourse in English in the three disciplines analysed, thus demonstrating their use as a rhetorical strategy to textualise information, facilitate cohesion and communicate evaluation of propositions.

(Being) 'Susanita' as a discursive construction: a semantic, pragmatic and cognitive study of its use in Argentine media

Carolina Mirallas — 2025-05-30

Discourses construct and sustain mental models that impose interpretive frameworks on social issues. Through language use, discursive subjects not only account for their processes of subjectivization, but also configure themselves in a specific context and permanently construct and redefine their social and cultural constructs. This paper proposes a semantic, pragmatic and cognitive description of the media occurrences of the segment “(being) Susanita” according to speakers’ use in Argentina. We resort to the postulates of the Cognitive Grammar (cognitive-prototypical approach) (Langacker, 1987), Frame Semantics (Fillmore, 1982), Idealized Cognitive Models (ICM) (Lakoff, 1987), and Grammaticalization and Lexicalization (Hopper and Traugott, 1993), as well as those related to discursive construction (Croft & Cruise, 2004; Goldberg, 1995). We collected 27 instances of the segment under study from Argentine media and analyzed them based on the ICMs of the character Susanita from Quino's comic strip. We found that while the character concentrates a multiplicity of traits that are constructed from her participation in the narrative of the strip and that are stereotypical of diverse social groups, speakers’ use of “(being) Susanita” in the media highlights the value of motherhood and the need for women to have many children. In conclusion, we observe that media use of “(being) Susanita” contributes to reinforcing and redefining social representations linked to gender stereotypes and ideal models of behavior.

Where did Milei's votes come from? The configuration of a disruptive enunciation device we did not see coming

Claudio Tomás Lobo — 2025-05-30

In this essay-like analysis, we propose to address the case of Javier Milei, as an enunciator who emerged in the political sphere, establishing his legitimacy as a non-politician. Milei's emergence disrupted the established order of politics, understood as the set of practices and institutions through which a given order is created (Mouffe, 2011). The proposed approach will begin with an eclectic anchor in the field of discourse analysis and will pay attention to the emergence of this "new" enunciator in the political sphere: Javier Milei. This concomitant implication is to investigate the configurations assumed by his enunciative device and the ways in which it is inscribed or differentiated from the exclusive (and standardized) enunciative models of political discourse. It is within this framework that we question the architectures that underpin Milei's discourses and whether these can be posited within the so-called "new" right, as political manifestations that have gained ground globally. However, these irruptions are strained at the thresholds of established logics and the postulations of faces that challenge these sediments. Traverso would define these processes as "skin changes" (2018) of the so-called ‘new right’, which, in this refurbishment of strategies, embrace (and co-opt) elements that are certainly dispersed in the social fabric but, which, at the same time, are contingently articulated with rather regressive elements.

“Becoming in the know-how”: A theoretical-methodological analysis of Social Work with Groups within the framework of an outreach project

M. Candela Manrique Gómez — 2025-05-30

The problem addressed arose from a request made by the women members of the “20 de Julio” Cooperative located in the city of Villa Mercedes (San Luis). They express the need for dialogue, reflection and training on gender issues: social organization of care, motherhood, roles and exercise of power, leadership, violence, inequality and discrimination. Given this, it is considered that intervention based on the methodological dimensions of Social Work with Groups could strengthen the bonding networks within the cooperative, improve the organization and cohesion of the group and work team, and positively enhance grouphood. It is worth mentioning that, in line with the methodological aspects of the intervention with groups, an effort is made to consider the emerging issues that may arise in the process regarding the problems addressed, thus prioritizing and promoting the group's autonomy in the planning of activities. For this reason, gender-specific training has been postponed, and the work carried out is now focused on support strategies, contributions, and social work interventions in response to conflicts arising from the eviction notice they received. This has led to a restructuring of the organization's operations and key decision-making in resistance strategies.

A Psychosocial Perspective on Career Choice: Vocational Calling from the Theory of Social Representations

Natalia Raquel Gontero — 2025-05-30

This article proposes a psychosocial approach to degree choice, specifically framed within the theory of social representations. It primarily considers the processes involved in the formation of students' representations about the degree programme they choose and the profession it entails. To this end, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with students from a private university in the city of Córdoba, and the sources of information were analysed from Denise Jodelet’s perspective. The findings reveal a continuum ranging from more personal sources, which generate greater involvement, such as the student's prior experience in school or a job, to more impersonal sources, which generate less involvement, such as advertising discourse. Analysing the sources of information highlights the impact not only of family expectations but also of prevailing social discourses in shaping representations (and, consequently, what is liked and disliked, what is or is not appealing) and in influencing students' choice.

Research of the perception of Geography in the context of secondary education. A study case at IES Jacaranda (Málaga)

Antonio Rico González — 2025-05-30

The present work focuses on the study of secondary school students' perception of Geography. To this end, a research process is conducted to explore the view of this “unknown subject,” delving primarily into the topics it covers, Geography teaching models in various countries, tools and methodologies used, as well as the importance of studying this subject in the world today. The search for information is complemented by analyzing the results obtained from a questionnaire. This questionnaire was completed by third-year Obligatory Secondary Education (ESO, for its acronym in Spanish) students at the Jacaranda High School (Churriana, Málaga). Results reveal that despite the use of new technologies and tools in the classroom, such as interactive maps, there is still a significant lack of awareness among students regarding the applicability of the subject, the role of a geographer, or its importance in a world where climate change, sustainable development, and the circular economy are key concepts in human life. This highlights the need to incorporate new methodologies and tools to help students recognize the importance of Geography.

An education model for sustainable development in tourism

Ailen Fonseca Martinez — 2025-05-30

Studies on education for sustainable development have become a necessity in tourism. This requires a new theoretical construction in order to promote a culture of sustainability oriented towards social transformation. This research study aims at generating an education model for sustainable development in tourism, an area in which it is essential to determine the contextual features for the institutionalization of the role of teachers as facilitators of learning, role models and agents of change in the systemic and procedural structure of education in formal, informal and non-formal settings. Qualitative methodology is used and the scientific methods and techniques include theoretical modeling, documentary literature review, content analysis, in-depth interview, meta-analysis and data triangulation. The preliminary results show a theoretical, practical and methodological construction that can be applied to other sectors of society.

The perceptions of young people located in the Sierra Central del Ecuador regarding the intercultural content generated by influencers John Valverde and Nancy Risol in their Instagram profiles

Darla Poleth Corrales Caiza — 2025-05-30

The purpose of this research is to examine the perceptions of young people from the centre of the country to the content generated by indigenous influencers on the social network Instagram. The main key performance indicators of eight self-identified indigenous content creators were measured in order to select the two most influential: Nancy Risol and John Valverde. The research was designed with a mixed exploratory and descriptive approach, applying surveys to young university students in the Central Highlands of Ecuador with probability sampling, complemented by a focus group. It is concluded that the content generated by this type of influencers is perceived by the audience as ‘entertainment’ and ‘cultural’. Despite this phenomenon, the respondents affirm that this type of messages helped them to ‘know’ and ‘learn’. In other words, they tacitly recognise an educational component in the communication products of these influencers. Some say that thanks to the videos broadcast they were able to learn about ancestral practices, habits, cooking recipes, ways of life, plant identification, among other knowledge that contributes to the dialogue of knowledge.

Presentation. Number 24

Carolina Mirallas — 2025-05-30

The Volume 15 Number 25 (2025) of Argonautas proposes a critical and situated perspective on the social, educational, and communication processes that shape our realities, and it is organized into two sections: a thematic dossier and articles. The thematic dossier proposes a multidisciplinary and multimodal perspective on discourse analysis. The articles present applied studies ranging from didactic proposals for teaching academic English to the analysis of political, media, and scientific discourse in specific contexts. The articles section offers research that engages with current issues in education and the social sciences, such as artistic professionalization, group intervention with a gender perspective, vocational decisions, and intercultural content on social media. With diverse methodological approaches and territorial anchoring, these works contribute to critical reflection on the processes that shape contemporary social life.