The construction and development of literacy practices in the education of youth and adult education (EJA)

Abstract

The issue of adult literacy in Brazil is a complex one and has attracted much attention from different parts of society. Adult literacy work is different from literacy with children, as working with adults has its own particular problems, thus requiring special attention from those who teach adults or do research in the area. Lack of schooling of young people and adults who have been outside the school system complicates their participation in social events but this does not keep them from developing strategies which facilitate their involvement with various technologies of learning to read. Taking this into account, methodological and instructional practices have undergone many changes. The issue of literacy, as opposed to mere reading instruction, has become the principal aim of EJA proposals, whether they are in official documents or in classroom materials. The goal of the present research was to analyze the literacy practices of EJA teachers in a project called “Brasil Alfabetizado”, developed by the municipal administration of the city of Recife (Northeast Brazil), in partnership with the Center for Studies in Education and Language (CEEL) at the Federal University of Pernambuco. This article presents data relating to the practice of two teachers who work in the same place (a community school in the area where they live) but at different time of the day. In the results, it was clear that there were differences in the practices of the two teachers: one was teaching reading techniques while the other was working with the construction of identity of the EJA student and without developing systematic activities for the Appropriation of the system of the Written Alphabet