Text production is considered from a constructive approach, which proposes the representation of mental constructs in a written text through the planning, translation, writing and revision processes, adapted to a scholarly communication context. The concept of academic literacy is taken from Carlino (2005: 13) and refers to the "set of concepts and strategies needed to participate in the discursive culture of disciplines ...". Some text type notions are also reviewed, particularly regarding the argumentative text, whose command is an important requirement in higher education today. The methodology corresponds to an action research model, based on thematic workshops and activities that were implemented with first-year students; also, regular workshops on the development and evaluation of reading comprehension and text production for first-year teachers were conducted. For the assessment of text comprehension and production, instruments available at the Chilean educational system, specifically the Comprehensive Assessment of Reading Strategies, published by Curriculum, was used to diagnose comprehension, whereas the Written Communication Test from UC was utilized to assess text production.