The social practice of language as the basis for teaching literacy La práctica social del lenguaje como base para la enseñanza de la lectoescritura

Abstract

One of the purposes on the elementary levels of school is the teaching of literacy, a necessary skill for both the academic and social life of children. However, the learning of literacy is also one of the most common observed problems in the teaching practice, apparently related to the methods used to teach this skill which focus primarily on technical factors of literacy, on its symbolic setting, the semantics or the elements of grammar, etcetera. In this situation, the incorporation of the social function of language was proposed as a priority basis for teaching literacy, in children who had difficulty learning this skill. In this investigation the effect of a literacy program which was based on the function of language as a social practice, was analyzed, applied to children in the first elementary school year with learning difficulty to read and write, with the conventional institutional method. A quasi-experimental design was used in two groups with pretest and posttest. the literacy program based on the social function of language was applied to the experimental group which was formed by children who presented problems in literacy; meanwhile the control group continued with their regular classes. the results, subjected to statistical analysis, indicate a significant difference achieved after the application of the program in the experimental group of 35.5%, in comparison with the 14.6% of control group.