LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE: PLAYFULNESS AND PHONEMIC AWARENESS IN CONSTRUCTING THE ALPHABETIC SYSTEM

Abstract

Learning to read and write involves an interconnected set of linguistic, cognitive, and pedagogical knowledge that enables children to understand how the alphabetic writing system works. Among these areas of knowledge, phonological awareness, particularly at the phonemic level, plays an important role because it helps children perceive and manipulate the sound segments of speech and subsequently relate them to graphemes. At the same time, pedagogical work in the early years of schooling must take into account the ways in which children participate, experiment, formulate hypotheses, and construct meaning during learning experiences. Within this context, this chapter aims to analyze how playfulness and the development of phonemic awareness can be articulated in the construction of the alphabetic system, overcoming conceptions that place play and systematic instruction in opposing fields. Methodologically, this is a qualitative bibliographic study grounded in research on evidence-based literacy, phonological awareness, the alphabetic principle, phonics instruction, and playful pedagogical practices. The analysis is based on the understanding that activities such as language games, letter manipulation, rhyme exploration, word segmentation, and sound-based challenges can acquire considerable pedagogical value when organized around clear learning objectives and supported by intentional teacher mediation. It is therefore argued that playfulness does not replace explicit instruction in grapheme-phoneme correspondences, but can create favorable conditions for these relationships to be explored, understood, and consolidated. The chapter concludes that consistent literacy instruction requires the integration of scientific knowledge, pedagogical planning, meaningful experiences, and children's active participation in the progressive appropriation of written language.