IDENTIDADE E PRÁTICAS DE LETRAMENTO EM UMA ESCOLA MULTISSERIADA

Abstract

The proposal of this work is to understand the development of the country identity in the students, in the context of a countryside multigraded school (4th and 5th grades), in the metropolitan area of Curitiba. The objectives which guided this research were: a) identify how the teacher feels about country identity; b) identify how the students feel regarding the country identity; c) identify, in the portuguese language classes, literacy practices related to the country; d) verify in what manner the students’ thoughts are considered and used in the context of the literacy practices of the teacher. The theoretical reference adopted in the discussion of identity is Hall (2011), Bauman (2005), Moita Lopes (2002) and Woodward (2011). In order to understand the literacy concept, it was assumed the ideological literacy model, in steady of the autonomous one (STREET, 2003; 2012; 2014), associated to Kleiman (2006; 2008) and Kleiman and Matêncio (2005), who produced important contributions for the school practices. The methodology was based on applied linguistics, according to Moita Lopes (2006b) and Pennycook (2006), and in the qualitative approach, allied with Denzin and Lincon (2006) and André (1995). Furthermore, the research was based on an ethnographic approach, which allowed creating intelligibility alternatives about language application on classrooms (MOITA LOPES, 2006b). Moreover, it was studied public documents, such as “Diretrizes Operacionais para Educação Básica nas Escolas do Campo” (BRASIL, 2002), which raises the diversity in the countryside, regarding the social, cultural and economic aspects. The research tools used were observation, questionnaires, interview with the teacher and focus group with the students and notes/recordings. The results suggest a country identity conception, which leads to a critic positioning from teacher and students against those who aims to depreciate their context. By the teacher’s answer to those who tried to undervalue the field school, it is evident there is a country identity which led her to a hard attitude regarding the “Secretaria de Educação Municipal”. The identity construction and autolegitimation is evident through the confrontation, when the teacher and students adopted strategies and claimed to a positive identity for the country and her situation. Concerning the literacy practices, it was observed that, although there were some difficulties in some grammar knowledge, she leaded the students to relate the classes with their country context. The discussion of identity in the country education context revealed that teacher and students have positive country identities, however there is still a long way to go, being necessary a guided development program for the teachers who work in this context.