The Secondary School Writing Database consists of 5,519 texts written by 662 students in the last four years of Brazilian elementary school. A cross-sectional text sample is available, comprising 2,759 texts produced by 470 students of the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth school years. In addition, there is a longitudinal sample with 2,616 texts which were produced by 182 students during the four years of secondary school preceding high school.
In 2008, when the Database building began, the Brazilian Elementary School System consisted of eight school years named by grade. Through Law No. 11.274, in 2009 an Elementary School System of nine years was introduced, whereby the second cycle, from fifth to eighth grade, now corresponds to the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth years of elementary school.
In the database system, the grades match as follows:
The database material has been produced by means of a university extension project called “Development of educational workshops of reading, interpretation and textual production in elementary school” developed by UNESP in partnership with a public school in São Paulo, Brazil. The project has been submitted to and approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of UNESP. A description of the activities carried out in the extension project, which refer to the collected handwritten texts, has been made by Tenani and Longhin (2014), available at: http://www.seer.ufu.br/index.php/revextensao/article/viewFile/27049/14678
The handwritten texts have been scanned (JPEG image files) and orthographically transcribed according to typing criteria and are available as text files (in DOC format).
Examples of texts are available as image files [Image1,Image2] and text files [Text1, Text2].
Access to the database texts is free for educators and researchers, but is subject to review via an access permission form. To submit a request for access to the database, fill in the Login form
Since its creation, several researchers have already used the texts of the Secondary School Writing Database.
Different aspects of the texts have been analyzed:
These researches can be accessed at: http://www.ibilce.unesp.br/#!/departamentos/estudos-ling-literarios/laboratorio-de-fonetica/banco-de-dados/pesquisas-e-publicacoes/.
The handwritten texts have been transcribed observing criteria in order to obtain a digitized version as similar as possible to the original version.
The configuration of the text file is:
| Criteria | Example |
|---|---|
| The text must be copied line by line. The line break (key |
Mas eles fugiam só de dia, porque de noite era muito perigoso a estrada, mas dessa ves, Roberto teve uma grandi ideia. (Z08_5A_06F_01) |
| Nonlinear excerpts or excerpts outside the main text, such as callouts, should be indicated by [ ], in case the WORD text editor features do not allow visual reproduction. | Será que eu posso acabar aqui? [tchau|] (Z08_5A_31F_01) |
| The paragraphs should be marked by pressing the Ignore larger spaces between paragraphs. The start of the paragraph should not be indented. The whole text should be positioned to the left. |
Amelia depois de ter caido do cavalo pensou que de tão rapido que o cavalo tava ela caiu. Quando papai chegou com 2 cavalos um dele e o dela ela pegou seu cavalo resolvendo voltar para Juvêncio.(Z08_5A_04F_01) |
| Flag inserted words or phrases using the feature: \ / If it is inserted above the line / \ If it is inserted below the line |
com raiva mas triste pelo amor que tinha \havia/ perdido, mas não se preucupou pois não adianta chorar pelo leite derra- mado. Nessa ora seu pai \chico/ entra no quarto (Z08_5A_28F_01) queria ser uma dona de uma loja que vende um (rasura)* /monte\ de coisas. (Z08_5B_27F_03) |
| Punctuation marks should follow the original, without making corrections | Eu Perguntava para eles como eles se chamavam, um deles falou: – Nos somos etes. – etes? – Isso mesmo. – Eu tenho uma cor linda não é? – É! (Z08_5A_27F_05) |
Texts with drawings should be marked in the bottom right corner by the symbol: ![]() |
E nois voutou a andar de oqui maxine, fomos para casa, e naquele dia foi o dia mais felis. [este é um oqui maxine] ![]() (Z08_5A_05M_03) |
| Spelling mistakes should be copied. Copy cases of hiposegmentation and hypersegmentation. Type dashes exactly as they appear (_ or -) | Eles iam fugir oge anoite, a noiteceu e Roberto foi arrumar o cavalo, enquanto isso leticia arumava suas roupas. (Z08_5A_06F_01) |
| The emphasis should match the original | A dor da mulher que o marido empurrou do cavalo (Z08_5A_16M_01) |
| Erasures may be interpreted or not. If the erasures are legible, the understood word is typed and marked with superscript: If the erasures cannot be interpreted, the word erasure is typed inside brackets and an asterisk: (erasure)* In case punctuation (period, comma) is erased, the erasure is indicated after the punctuation mark by the word (erased) inside parentheses. If a junction or separation between words is erased, a sharp # is inserted |
O Juvêncio começou a bater no cavalo pra ele correr, poi ele tinha matado a esposa. (Z08_5A_11F_01) Logo ali na (rasura)* frente avia uma pequena cidade, ele desidil (rasura)* passar a noite lá naquela cidade. (Z08_5A_11F_01) O : lá primo João vamos mandar MSN,(rasurada) (Z08_5C_21F_04_1) No dia seguinte, o Pai dela que se chama Alexandre, con#seguiu pega#lo, (Z08_5A_19M_01) |
| Those words for which we cannot find a meaning - which are not erasures - should be replaced by an asterisk * | eu te encontro no MSN na segunda-feira as 15:00 hs o meu login é diegotomé.*@hotmail.com (Z08_5A_07M_04) |
| When your computer's line ends but the original text line continues, you should indicate the continuation on the line below by typing a paraghaph indented to the right | no futuro quero ser veterinaria e vazer vestibular
(Z08_5B_27F_03) |
The TEXTUS text management system was developed to provide quick and easy access to Secondary School Writing Database .
Each text in the database is identified by coding the following information: school/year_grade/class_student/gender_proposal
Example: Z08_5A_31F_01
Codification:
The text search parameters in the system are:
The organization of the written texts and the design of the text search system were made by PhD. Luciani Tenani, professor at the State University of São Paulo "Julio de Mesquita Filho", Campus of São José do Rio Preto, through project research assistance funded by the São Paulo State Foundation for Research Support, FAPESP (Process 2009/14848-6 and 2013/14546-5).
The system has security features designed to ensure that the data of the individuals who wrote the texts remains completely confidential, so that the students cannot be identified.
The text management system TEXTUS has been developed by GBD/UNESP.
The guide goal is to describe in detail the features of the Textus search system and to assist the user. To access the User Guide click here.
The school where the texts were collected is identified by the first letter of its name. E.g.: "Z" indicates a particular school where the texts were produced.
The academic year when the text was written at school is indicated by the last two digits. E.g.: 2008 is indicated by "08".
The grade or school year is shown by numbers from 1 to 9.
The text is also identified by the class to which the student belonged. Classes are identified with letters which have been established according to the school roll calls. E.g.: “A, B, C, D” and “E”.
The same student may have changed class during a given school year. In such cases, the same student is associated to texts produced in different classes.
Students are identified through codes randomly assigned by the text management system. E.g.: 5, 37, 246.
Following ethical confidentiality criteria to protect the identity of the students who wrote the handwritten texts, the students' names have been removed from the image files and are not included in the text file.
The students have been classified as “male" and “female", identified by the letters "M" and "F" respectively.
The proposal is identified by "P" followed by numbers from 1 to 7, indicating the chronological order of their assignment. E.g.: “P1”, “P2”.
The 44 proposals of the database are organized in Summary table and can be accessed exactly as they were presented to the students in class.
The proposal topics have been identified briefly in the system and the set of all topics covered is presented in a Summary table.
The Genre and text typology according to which each textual production can be classified have been set for each school year based on guidelines established by the São Paulo State Curriculum (2008), as presented in the Summary table .
The notions of genre and text typology which supported the development of written production proposals for the database are guided by the proposed São Paulo State Curriculum (2008).
The Curriculum Proposal expresses a great concern with the notion of text understood as an enunciation consisting of a fabric with values, tensions and desires of individuals inserted in various social contexts, in a particular historical context (cf. São Paulo State Curriculum Proposal, 2008, p. 46-47).
The curriculum proposal establishes the aim to present texts in diverse communicative situations and suggests a typology for each grade or school year. The definitions for genre and text typology adopted by the São Paulo State Curriculum underlay the development of the writing proposals.
"Text Genre" refers to texts found in everyday life which have social and communicative characteristics defined by content, functional properties, style and a typical rendering.
"Text Typology" means a type of sequence defined in theory by the linguistic nature of its rendering. The text types include: narration, argumentation, exposition, description, injunction.
Based on the guidelines of the São Paulo State Curriculum, textual productions with different types of proposals have been developed, as can be seen in the Summary table of writing proposals. The proposals in the database are possibilities for writing texts in class and do not exhaust all possible text developments.
| Year | Proposal | Topic | Genre | Typology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 - 6th | 01 | Breakup | Short story | Narrative |
| 02 | Personal story | Cordel | Report | |
| 03 | Wishing well | Experience report | Report | |
| 04 | Use of the Internet and MSN | Personal letter | Report | |
| 05 | Trip to another planet | Short story | Narrative | |
| 06 | Trip to Disneyland | Short story | Narrative | |
| 2008 - 7th | 01 | Breakup | Personal letter | Report |
| 02 | Dangerous or unpleasant experience | Experience report | Report | |
| 03 | Beijing Olympic Games | Personal letter | Report | |
| 04 | Use of the Internet and MSN | Personal letter | Report | |
| 05 | Trip to another planet | Personal letter | Report | |
| 06 | A trip to Miami | Experience report | Report | |
| 2008 - 8th | 01 | Breakup | Short story | Narrative |
| 02 | Cell phone advertisement and rules for its use at school | Advertisement | Prescriptive | |
| 03 | A great achievement | Short story | Narrative | |
| 04 | Is Internet slang Portuguese or not | Argumentative letter | Argumentative | |
| 05 | Planet Earth | Personal letter | Prescriptive/Report | |
| 06 | A cruise to Miami | Description | Description | |
| 2008 - 9th | 01 | Breakup | Short letter | Narrative |
| 02 | Internationalization of the Amazon | Opinion article | Argumentative | |
| 03 | Advantages and disadvantages of your school | Argumentative letter | Argumentative | |
| 04 | Is Internet slang Portuguese or not | Argumentative letter | Argumentative | |
| 05 | Earth's Destruction | Opinion article | Argumentative | |
| 06 | A trip with a friend to Miami | Short letter | Narrative | |
| 2009 - 7th | 01 | Unfulfilled promises | Experience report | Report |
| 02 | Perfection and personal defects | Experience report | Report | |
| 03 | Conflict between parents and children | Experience report | Report | |
| 04 | Friendship and suffering | Experience report | Report | |
| 05 | Teenage sufferings | Experience report | Report | |
| 06 | Childhood memories | Personal letter | Description/Report | |
| 07 | Fights between friends | Personal letter | Description/Report | |
| 2010 - 8th | 01 | Benefits of immortality | Report about life expectations | Description/Report |
| 02 | Becoming famous | Report about life changes | Description/Report | |
| 03 | Experiencing a misunderstanding | Experience report | Report | |
| 04 | Teenage tribes | Experience report | Report | |
| 05 | Uncommitted affective engagement | Experience report | Report | |
| 06 | Christmas gifts | Argumentative letter | Argumentative | |
| 2011 - 9º | 01 | Friendship and internet | Experience report | Report |
| 02 | Profile on social networks | Survey | Description | |
| 03 | Massacre in Realengo, Brazil | Opinion letter | Argumentative | |
| 04 | Adventures in far-off lands | Fictional narrative | Narrative | |
| 05 | Internationalization of the Amazon | Opinion article | Argumentative | |
| 06 | Smoking ban in public places | Opinion article | Argumentative | |
| 07 | Teenager’s concerns about the future | Opinion article | Argumentative |