Resumen

FUENMAYOR, Gloria; VILLASMIL, Yeriling  y  RINCON, María. Construction of semantic microstructure and macrostructure in expository texts produced by university students at LUZ. Letras [online]. 2008, vol.50, n.77, pp.159-187. ISSN 0459-1283.

The aim of this research work is to analyze the construction of semantic microstructure and macrostructure in expository texts produced by university students, on the basis of the use of grammatical procedures known as the pro-forms. The theory is supported on the concepts: semantic microstructure and macrostructure (van Dijk and Kintsch 1983, 1992); mechanism of cohesion and thematic progression (Calsamiglia and Tusón, 1999); expository text (Álvarez, 1996, 2001); and social and communicative character of the written text (Aguillón and Palencia, 2004). After applying and intervention plan on such procedures for written production, students were asked to write an expository text, where they could demonstrate the skills acquired for its production. The results indicate that students are capable to keep the theme without digressions, but they fail in the production of the textual microstructure: they ignore or inadequately employ cohesion mechanisms. Also, the subjects have shown skills for the production of expository texts without an appropriate macrostructure or a satisfactory textual organization

Palabras clave : expository text; semantic microstructure; macrostructure.