Abstract

Writing may seem as natural as speech, easily acquired by children in any culture. However, this is not the case. Writing is a recent technology in human history, limited to some languages, developed through formal instruction and, until recently, restricted to elites. Today, by contrast, the knowledge society is permeated by writing practices in multiple domains, and to fully participate, one must be an experienced writer. In higher education, academic writing constitutes a complex technology of mediated communication, essential for processes of teaching, learning, communication, and assessment. With the expansion of higher education in Latin America, the question of what kind of writing to teach and how to teach it has become urgent. In this context, concepts such as alfabetizaci & oacute;n acad & eacute;mica in the Spanish-speaking world and letramentos acad & ecirc;micos in Brazil have gained ground over the past twenty-five years. Although different theoretical traditions and teaching approaches have highlighted certain functions of academic writing, few have offered an integrated perspective that captures its complexity. Writing has an epistemic function, as it creates and transforms disciplinary knowledge; a rhetorical function, as it communicates according to specific discourse conventions; an enabling function, as it assesses performance and validates students' trajectories; a critical function, as it fosters agency and independent positioning; and an expressive function, as it builds identities, connects with vernacular writings, and offers creative perspectives on reality. These five functions maintain complex relationships, sometimes complementary, sometimes tense, but any writing pedagogy in higher education must be able to address them all.