Abstract

SAWAYA, Sandra Maria. Alfabetização e fracasso escolar: problematizando alguns pressupostos da concepção construtivista. Educ. Pesqui. [online]. 2000, vol.26, n.01, pp.67-81. ISSN 1517-9702.

This article aims at contributing to the debate surrounding questions relative to literacy education and school failure of children from low-income families. It builds upon the results of a research conducted in 1999 in which some proposals based on the works of Emília Ferreiro and Ana Teberosky were analyzed. The proposals analyzed have been shaping public policies on literacy education in Brazil since the eighties. Various data from past researches that show the presence of written material in lower-class culture are also considered here. Constructivist assumptions about the cognitive development of lower-class children and their relationship to the written text are analyzed from the point of view of socio-historical contributions which treat reading and writing as cultural practices - as one of many forms of self expression of individuals in society. The following conclusions are reached: cultural marginalization based on the lack of participation in the written culture does not exist in a literate society because the practices of writing take on varied shapes in different instances of social activity, defining social relations. The relationship that lower-class children have with the written word cannot be understood in all its complexity without considering the context and the diversity of the cultural forms that mold this relationship.

Keywords : School Failure; Literacy; Lower-Classes; Literate Culture.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )