LITERACY AND LITERACY PRACTICES: BETWEEN THE WRITING SYSTEM AND SOCIAL PRACTICES OF READING AND WRITING

Abstract

This paper discusses how Brazilian reference literature conceptualizes the relationship between initial literacy instruction (alfabetização) and literacy practices (letramento), as well as the implications of this relationship for pedagogical practice in the early years of elementary education. This is a qualitative bibliographic review based on the works of Magda Soares, Emilia Ferreiro and Ana Teberosky, Artur Gomes de Morais, Maria do Rosário Longo Mortatti, Angela Kleiman, Paulo Freire, and Lev Vygotsky, as well as two official documents: the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) and the decree establishing the National Commitment to Literate Children. The analysis shows that, although the authors approach the subject from different theoretical perspectives, they converge on two main points: learning the alphabetic writing system is a specific task that cannot be accomplished merely through exposure to texts, and this learning only becomes meaningful when it takes place in authentic reading and writing situations. Their differences emerge in their approaches to teaching, particularly regarding the emphasis placed on the explicit instruction of sound-letter relationships. The study concludes that the question of which teaching method is best gives way to another: how to integrate systematic instruction in alphabetic notation, phonological awareness, text production, and the social practices of writing through carefully planned instructional sequences. Finally, the paper organizes this synthesis into principles to guide the planning of literacy teachers.