This paper focuses on Portuguese language classes, concentrating on the discourse genre approach applied to native language teaching and learning practices. This qualitative and ethnographic study is part of a larger project that also involves a database creation of Portuguese classes taught in public schools at Elementary Education level. The following research question is discussed: What are the methodological implications of the process of native language teaching and learning at Elementary School level, organized in terms of the concept of discourse genre as a tool for the development of reading and writing practices? Accordingly, this study stresses the work with discourse genres in Portuguese classes and takes (Portuguese) classes to be a discourse genre. The theoretical framework includes discourse studies by Mikhail Bakhtin and theories on literacy elaborated on Brian Street. The ethnographic approach findings suggest that teachers face difficulties to deal with didactic elaborations couched in discourse genres in their methodological actions, as well as conceiving of (Portuguese) classes as a discourse genre.
Portuguese classes; Discourse genres; Literacy practices
