ABSTRACT This paper presents four case studies guided by the research questions: how do doctoral students distribute their citation forms in the same literary practice, how do these distributions change across different versions of the text produced during a year and a half of doctoral training, and what reasons do they attribute to these choices and preferences of use? To answer them, we analyzed the style and integration of citations in three versions per writer, and contrasted with semi-structured interviews. This combined methodological approach contributes to the growing tradition of postgraduate writing studies interested in the relationships between the writer’s discursive choices and the construction of his or her academic identity.

RESUMEN Este artículo presenta cuatro casos de estudio orientados por las preguntas de investigación: ¿cómo los estudiantes doctorales distribuyen sus formas de citación en una misma práctica letrada?, ¿qué cambios tienen estas distribuciones a lo largo de diferentes versiones del texto producidas durante un año y medio de formación doctoral? y ¿qué razones atribuyen a estas elecciones y preferencias de uso? Para responderlas, se analizó el estilo e integración de las citas en tres versiones por escritor, y se contrastó con entrevistas semiestructuradas. Este doble abordaje metodológico contribuye a la tradición en crecimiento de estudios sobre escritura en posgrado interesados en las relaciones entre las elecciones discursivas del escritor y la construcción de su identidad académica.

Abstract The so-called knowledge societies are characterized by demands to participate in complex and dynamic forms of citizenship, administrative, and professional roles, which require expert writers and speakers. However, previous studies suggest that literacy is relegated to the hidden curriculum in higher education. This study aims to identify the presence of reading, writing, and speaking in curricular instruments central to higher education, in Chile. The research involved ten universities selected to represent a variety of institutional projects and five different majors, and 50 public graduate profiles and ten educational models were collected. Explicit and implicit allusions to literacy skills were qualitatively coded, together with underlying conceptions of literacy and occurrences were quantified. Results show that reading, writing, and speaking are either hidden or infrequent, and depicted as reproductive, basic skills in graduate profiles in Chilean higher education, particularly in majors such as Pedagogy in Primary Education. These findings suggest that competency-based educational innovation and accreditation processes in higher education need to be revised to include updated understandings of reading, writing, and speaking as complex, epistemic, and situated rhetorical skills that require explicit teaching and institutional commitment for future graduates.

Resumen La llamada “sociedad del conocimiento” requiere escritores y oradores expertos, que participen en contextos ciudadanos, administrativos y profesionales complejos y dinámicos. Sin embargo, estudios previos sugieren que esta formación se relega al currículum oculto en educación superior. Este artículo busca identificar la presencia de la lectura, la escritura y la oralidad en algunos instrumentos curriculares clave del sistema de educación superior chileno. Se seleccionaron diez universidades con rasgos institucionales diferenciados y cinco carreras diversas; se recolectaron 50 perfiles de egreso públicos y diez modelos educativos; y se codificaron cualitativamente las competencias letradas implícitas y explícitas, junto con las concepciones subyacentes, con cuantificación posterior. Los resultados muestran que la lectura, la escritura y la oralidad aparecen invisibilizadas o con baja frecuencia y con una visión reproductiva y generalista en los perfiles de egreso universitarios chilenos, en particular en carreras como Pedagogía en Educación Básica. A partir de estos hallazgos, se sugiere que los procesos de innovación por competencias y acreditación de carreras e instituciones estén informados por una concepción contemporánea de la lectura, la escritura y la oralidad como competencias complejas, retóricas, epistémicas y disciplinarmente situadas, que requieren un lugar explícito y un compromiso institucional en la formación de profesionales.

Abstract This paper aims to understand the initial milestones, causes, academic activities, theoretical foundations and disciplines involved in the scholarly development of Higher Education reading and writing studies in Latin America. Eight academic leaders from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and México were interviewed in order to learn their perspectives on this development. Findings reveal that the main founding milestones are conferences starting by the 2000's decade; the UNESCO Chair is the current main academic network that congregates scholars interested in this topic; the reasons for the field's emergence are related to the increasing growth in college enrolments. Overall, a growing interdisciplinary field can be observed, but its disciplinary identity is still diffuse, given the ongoing jurisdictional disputes.