Pedagogical Modality in Texts Encouraging Action in the Digital Environment

Abstract

In the contemporary context of the digital age, there is an increasing space for texts that encourage the interlocutor to act or perform a specific task, due to the open nature of content production. Therefore, the analysis of argumentativity in digital spaces becomes essential to understand the different ways of arguing, as every speaker seeks to influence others, textualizing this intention in varied ways. Based on these considerations, the aim of this study is to analyze the functioning of the pedagogical modality in texts that incite action in the digital environment. To do this, we rely on the Theory of Argumentation in Discourse (TAD), proposed by Amossy (2008, 2011, 2017), to understand the functioning of the pedagogical modality, and on Textual Linguistics, with the concept of Texts of Incitement to Action by Adam (2019), as well as studies by Cavalcante et al. (2020, 2022) on the interface between TAD and the presupposition of argumentativity in texts. Regarding the methodology, this study adopts a qualitative approach to data analysis, also characterized as an explanatory and descriptive research, using the hypothetico-deductive method to fill gaps in the analysis of the pedagogical modality in texts of incitement to action, as previously indicated by Cavalcante and Brito (2019). Two digital texts were selected for analysis: the first, from the newspaper O Globo, on how to create a Disney image using Artificial Intelligence, and the second, a post from the Instagram profile @dermacareclinica on skin care. The results indicate that the tutorials guide the completion of a task by an authorized speaker, who uses the organization of incitement to action to pedagogically transmit a know-how, argumentatively guiding the interlocutor to perform a specific task.