“Gente, eu já sei ler”: representações e concepções de alfabetização em livros de literatura infantil

Abstract

This research aims to understand how Brazilian children's literature books that address the teaching and learning processes of reading and writing present representations and conceptions of literacy. For this, eight children's literature books that present this theme were analyzed, namely: A menina que descobriu o mistério das palavras; Isa, você sabe ler?; Leitor desconfiado; Licinha: a menininha sem letras; Nina aprendeu a ler; O menino que aprendeu a ver; O menino que aprendeu os sons das letras; and O menino que não sabia ler. The methodology adopted in this work was organized into three main stages: bibliographic research, state-of-the-knowledge research and documentary research, aside from the data analysis based on Bardin (1977). The analysis of the children’s literature books that address the literacy process was organized into two categories: i) Representations and conceptions of the traditional methods and ii) Representations and conceptions of the constructivist perspective. The results of the analysis of the images and texts in the children's books reveal representations and conceptions of the traditional methods, specifically when it comes to the mechanistic approach adopted by the teachers characters, as well as their stance as transmitters of knowledge and by not considering children as the center of the planning process or taking into account their experiences prior to school. However, a predominance of representations and conceptions of the constructivist perspective of literacy was identified, since the books mention characteristics such as the social use of writing, meaningful learning, the children characters’ hypotheses about writing and their centrality in the planning process. In this sense, these books reveal different representations and conceptions of literacy in Brazilian children’s literature, contributing to the circulation of ideas and social imaginaries about the teaching and learning processes of reading and writing.