In Brazil, the concept of genre is being largely used - even in official documents and pedagogical materials. Taking into consideration how wide the theoretical-practical framework known as genre has become, this paper addresses everyone who, in their teaching experiences and research, faces this reality and is willing to critically and constructively discuss the contemporary nuances of this concept as well as their consequences to academic, educational, or editorial institutions. To participate in this discussion, it is required to recognize that the concept of genre, in its multiple affiliations, involves different theoretical and methodological dimensions which consequences to the understanding of texts and discourses should not be ignored. Among the existing reflections on genre, we find the one developed by Bakhtin/Volochinov/Medvedev. Despite the fact that the essay "Speech genres" is the only widespread text being used in documents and research, it is not the only one to address the issue. Other works by the Circle contribute to the notion of genre based upon the idea that language is materialized in concrete utterances, articulating the "interior" and the "exterior" and making the notion of a historically and socially situated subject possible. This concept will be hereby presented both theoretically and practically.
Speech genre; Bakhtin and the circle; Concrete utterance; Text; Discourse; Dialogic discourse analysis; Teaching
