Social function and epistemic value of reading comprehension in a foreign language – english in the university setting

Abstract

This paper focuses on “English for Specific Purposes” Courses at the Education, Psychology and Phonoaudiology degree courses at the National University of San Luis (Argentina). The aim is to share the social and epistemic conception underlying the insertion of Foreign Languages, particularly English in the Higher Education curricula. It also highlights the consequent didactic transposition supporting teaching and learning practices related to reading comprehension of academic-scientific discursive genres in English as part of the literacy acquisition. From the perspective of Socio-discursive Interactionism, reading is a social practice which refers to the uses of the written language comprehension in a given socio-historical and political-cultural context. Reading in a foreign language at university level becomes an object of knowledge acquisition because it is directly related to disciplinary reference practices. Due to the exolingual context, the courses on reading comprehension in a foreign language constitute socio-linguistic-cultural mediation spaces as they help internalize the language in order to develop competences arising from reading projects relevant to the academic setting. These courses play an epistemic role as they contribute to conceptual knowledge construction in a given disciplinary field.