Concepções de professores dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental sobre a relação entre a leitura e as funções psicológicas superiores

Abstract

This study, from the perspective of Historical-Cultural Theory, based on Vygotsky, Leontiev and Luria, aims to investigate the teachers of the early years about their conceptions concerning the relation between reading - element that composes written language - and the higher mental functions (HMF), on the understanding that there is a reciprocity between those processes. They were chosen as specific objectives: to emphasize the reading as social practice that associated with the writing allows the communication between the individuals; to present reading as an instrument that contributes to the development of HMF; highlight the role of reading as a necessary tool for the appropriation of scientific knowledge; to approach the HMF according to the assumptions of Historical-cultural Psychology; to analyze the functional processes pointing to interfacings with the reading; to verify how the continuous formation offered to the teachers of a municipal school network that works in the perspective of Historical-cultural Psychology occurs since more than 10 years. The research on the State of Knowledge, in the Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations involving the words: reading and higher mental functions, revealed the absence of research in this perspective, increasing the relevance of our research. In the field research, the Secretary of Education and 51% of the teachers of the initial years of Elementary School were interviewed. The data collected revealed four levels of teacher understanding: a) one level recognizes that there is a relationship between HMF and learning how to read, but does not spontaneously state it (44%); b) another group recognizes this relationship but puts the emphasis of the process on the development of HMF as a prerequisite for learning how to read (22%); c) the third group teachers investigated attribute an intimate and reciprocal link between reading learning and the development of HMF (6%); d) and finally 28% of the teachers consider that there is a reciprocity between the processes of reading learning and the development of HMF, however they understand that it is the learning of reading that will promote this development. Teachers recognize that from the moment the child learns to read, there are qualitative leaps that contribute to significant advances in their learning and development, as it allows them more autonomy to carry out the activities in the classroom. They pointed out that reading allows the expansion of children's higher functional processes, such as memory, abstraction, attention, reasoning, language and thought, favoring the increase of their capacities and potentialities. In this way, reading is a form of cultural appropriation that enables the child to develop his or her conscience in the pursuit of control of his or her conduct, and thereby humanize himself. Both the professors and the Department of Education affirm that continuing education is based on the recognition and valorization of teaching work in all its complexity, seeking to overcome the immediacy, the procedures disconnected from the theoretical foundations. However, the testimonies of the participants of the research reveal that there are still many barriers and difficulties to overcome, recognized by the SEMED representative, who understands the need to persist with the proposal of a training that enables an educational work that guarantees the integral formation of students and teachers, recognizing their historical, cultural and social characteristics.