Oral Communication in Portuguese I 3305-WUP-1U

The course is practical and workshop-based. It aims to develop the ability to prepare and deliver oral communication in Portuguese in academic, scholarly, and science communication contexts. Students work with theoretical texts and examples of oral presentations, prepare short argumentative statements, participate in discussions, and develop a final academic presentation.

The course covers:
- the structure of academic oral discourse,
- oral genres in academic communication, including presentations, conference-style papers, discussion contributions, and responses to questions,
- principles of argumentation and counterargumentation,
- rhetorical resources in public speaking,
- relations between content, audience, communicative purpose, and language register,
- coherence in oral discourse and strategies for structuring content,
- paralinguistic elements, including intonation, pace, pauses, eye contact, and gesture,
- preparation of supporting materials, including visual presentations,
- strategies for responding to questions and participating in academic discussion,
analysis and self-assessment of one’s own oral performance, as well as constructive peer feedback.

Use of artificial intelligence tools: AI tools may be used only as support in planning, organizing material, preliminary language checking, preparing vocabulary, or practicing possible versions of an oral statement. Students must independently develop the structure, content, and final version of their oral work and must be able to explain all elements of the presentation. It is not acceptable to submit or present AI-generated text or presentation content as one's own work without indicating the scope of AI use. If AI tools are used in preparing the final presentation, the student must briefly state how they were used. During assessed oral presentations, real-time use of AI tools is not allowed unless explicitly permitted by the lecturer for a specific task.

Content note: the course does not systematically include materials containing violence, vulgar language, or explicit erotic content. If an individual material used for rhetorical or argumentative analysis contains potentially distressing content, the instructor will inform students before the class.

Course coordinators

Samuel Figueira Cardoso

Type of course

obligatory courses

Prerequisites (description)

Students are expected to know Portuguese, in either the European or Brazilian variety, at least at the B2+ level, with C1 recommended. They should be ready to speak regularly in Portuguese, prepare academic readings, participate in discussions, and gradually develop their own oral presentation.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, the student:

Knowledge
- identifies and explains basic concepts in rhetoric, argumentation, academic communication, and the analysis of oral discourse in Portuguese (K_W02, K_W04, K_W05; respectively S1_W02, S1_W04, S1_W05 or S2_W02, S2_W04, S2_W05).
- characterizes selected genres of academic oral communication, including presentations, conference-style papers, discussion contributions, and responses to questions, and identifies their linguistic, rhetorical, and pragmatic features (K_W04, K_W05; respectively S1_W04, S1_W05 or S2_W04, S2_W05).

Skills
- prepares a coherent and well-structured oral statement in Portuguese, adapted to the communicative purpose, audience, and academic register (K_U08, K_U09, K_U11; respectively S1_U08, S1_U09, S1_U11 or S2_U08, S2_U09, S2_U11).
- formulates and justifies their own position in Portuguese, using arguments, counterarguments, and rhetorical resources appropriate to academic communication (K_U07, K_U09, K_U11; respectively S1_U07, S1_U09, S1_U11 or S2_U07, S2_U09, S2_U11).
- analyzes their own and others’ oral presentations, identifying strengths and elements requiring improvement in structure, argumentation, linguistic accuracy, and paralinguistic resources (K_U04, K_U07, K_U13; respectively S1_U04, S1_U07, S1_U13 or S2_U04, S2_U07, S2_U13).

Social competences
- critically evaluates their own preparation for academic communication in Portuguese and uses feedback to improve oral performance. (K_K01, K_K02; respectively S1_K01, S1_K02 or S2_K01, S2_K02).
- cooperates with the group during exercises, discussions, and peer feedback, respecting the principles of academic ethics, responsibility for one’s words, and respect for different viewpoints (K_K04, K_K05; respectively S1_K04, S1_K05 or S2_K04, S2_K05).

Assessment criteria

The course uses the following methods:
- communicative language teaching,
- guided discussion,
- analysis of examples of oral communication,
- micro-presentations and workshop tasks,
- project work leading to the final academic presentation,
- elements of the flipped classroom, in which readings and materials are prepared before class and class time is devoted to practical language use.

Graded pass. The final grade consists of:
Active participation in class, preparation of readings, short oral contributions, participation in discussions and peer feedback: 40% of the final grade.

This component includes:
- preparation for class and knowledge of readings: 10%,
- short oral contributions and workshop tasks: 15%,
- participation in discussion and ability to respond to others’ contributions: 10%,
- constructive peer feedback: 5%.

Final oral presentation in Portuguese: 60% of the final grade.
The presentation is assessed according to the following criteria:
- relevance to the topic, academic quality and use of sources: 15%,
- structure, coherence and clarity of argumentation: 15%,
- accuracy, appropriateness and range of Portuguese: 15%,
- delivery, audience contact and paralinguistic resources: 10%,
- quality of supporting materials: 5%.

To pass the course, the student must obtain at least 60% overall and deliver the final oral presentation. Failure to deliver the final presentation means that the course cannot be passed in the regular mode.

Suggested grading scale:
60-67%: 3.0
68-75%: 3.5
76-83%: 4.0
84-91%: 4.5
92-100%: 5.0

Maximum number of unexcused absences: 2 meetings. If this limit is exceeded, the student must complete an additional oral or written-and-oral task assigned by the instructor. Failure to compensate for absences above the limit may result in a lower grade or failure to pass the course if the instructor cannot verify the achievement of the learning outcomes. Absence from more than half of the meetings makes it impossible to pass the course, unless the instructor, after considering documented reasons for absence, assigns an individual compensation procedure allowing the learning outcomes to be verified.

Practical placement

Bibliography

Required reading:
Albaladejo, Tomás. 1999. “Retórica y oralidad”. Oralia: Análisis del Discurso Oral 2: 7-25.
Cavalcante, Mônica Magalhães. 2016. “Abordagens da argumentação nos estudos de Linguística Textual”. Revista Virtual de Estudos da Linguagem, ReVEL, special issue, 14(12): 106-124.
Cavalcante, Mônica Magalhães et al. 2020. Linguística textual e argumentação. Campinas: Pontes Editores.
Gregório, Sérgio Biagi. 2009. Falar em público. Clube de Autores.
Marcuschi, Luiz Antônio. 2010. Da fala para a escrita: atividades de retextualização. São Paulo: Cortez.

Additional reading:
Hansen, João Adolfo. 2013. “Instituição retórica, técnica retórica, discurso”. Matraga, Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da UERJ 20(33).
Magalhães, Ana Lúcia. 2021. “Oratória grega e romana: algumas considerações”. In: Artimanhas do dizer: retórica, oratória e eloquência. Blucher Open Access.
Pacheco, Gustavo de Britto Freire. 1997. “Retórica e nova retórica: a tradição grega e a teoria da argumentação de Chaim Perelman”. Revista e-gov UFSC 5(12): 72-92.
Paulinelli, Maysa de Pádua Teixeira. 2014. “Retórica, argumentação e discurso em retrospectiva”. Linguagem em (Dis)curso 14: 381-409.