The article presents the partial results of a research on the motive for the presence of Portuguese language as a discipline in the curriculum of different higher education carreers. To do so, a survey was carried out on the curriculum of different fields of knowledge found on institutional electronic sites. We identified three tendencies related to the conception of language and academic instruction implied by the disciplines programs: a) the first one, with a compensatory/ reparatory perspective, aims to overcome the deficiencies of secondary school learning, maintaining a normative conception of language, favoring the teaching of the formal language; b) the second, with a pragmatic bias, follows a technicist approach; its studies comprehend methods and language uses which are presumed necessary for the development of specific professional competencies; c) the third has a discursive character, emphasizing the academic formative perspective and intellectual development. Nevertheless, all three tendencies maintain the main belief that the knowledge of writing is a condition for the learning of other disciplines.
Portuguese; High education; Curriculum; Teaching methods