Guidelines for the Organization of

Initial Literacy Cycle

1
INITIAL CYCLE
OF LITERACY
Notebook

Belo Horizonte
2004
 STATE GOVERNMENT OF MINAS GERAIS Aécio Neves da Cunha
STATE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION Vanessa Guimarães Pinto
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF EDUCATION João Antônio Filocre Saraiva
Undersecretary of
DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION Maria Eliana Novaes
UNDERSECRETARY OF ADMINISTRATION
OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM Gilberto José Rezende dos Santos

TECHNICAL TEAM

SUPERINTENDENCE OF EDUCATION Raquel Elizabete de Souza Santos

DIRECTORATE OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
INFANT AND FUNDAMENTAL Bernardette Castro Salles
SUPERINTENDENCE OF DEVELOPMENT OF
HUMAN RESOURCES FOR EDUCATION Syene Maria Coelho de Toledo
DIRECTORATE OF TRAINING OF
HUMAN RESOURCES Maria Célia Basques Moura
SUPERINTENDENCE OF
EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION Maria Regina da Silva Moreira

U58c Federal University of Minas Gerais. Faculty of Education.

Literacy, Reading and Writing Center.

Initial Literacy Cycle/Literacy, Reading and Center

Writing. Belo Horizonte: State Department of Education of Minas
General, 2003.

26 p. (Collection: Guidelines for the Organization of the Initial Cycle

deAlfabetização;1)

1. Literacy Minas Gerais. I. Title. II. State Secretary

from the Education of Minas Gerais. III. Ceale/FaE/UFMG. IV. Teaching
Fundamentals of Nine Years. V. Title of the Collection.

isbn 85-86503-01-0 CDD 372.4

Cataloging of the Source: Library of FaE/UFMG

FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF MINAS GERAIS

CENTER FOR LITERACY, READING AND WRITING/CEALE

TECHNICAL DATA SHEET

Elaboration
Antônio Augusto Gomes Batista - Director
Aparecida Paiva
Ceris Ribas
Isabel Cristina Alves da Silva Frade
Maria da Graça Ferreira da Costa Val
Maria das Graças de Castro Bregunci
Maria Lúcia Castanheira
Sara Mourão Monteiro

Consultants
Carla Viana Coscarelli
Marco Antônio de Oliveira

Review
Luiz Carlos de Assis Rocha

Typesetting and Electronic Publishing

Vivien Gonzaga e Silva
 The collection Guidelines for the Organization of the Cycle
The Initial Literacy phase is part of the preparation strategy.
of teachers to act in elementary education that,
starting from 2004, it began to last nine years.

The implementation of the 9-year elementary education,

organized in cycles in the early years with an emphasis on
literacy and in literacy practices, in the state network and in most of the
municipalities of the State of Minas, constitute a powerful
a tool to enhance the quality of public education, as
it means the universalization of preschool education within the scope of teaching
fundamental. With more time to teach and more time to
learn, the school will be able to plan its work and
to promote pedagogical and cultural experiences for everyone
children in order to ensure meaningful learning.

I thank the Ceale team (Center for Literacy,

Reading and Writing) from the Education Faculty of UFMG that
she developed this collection. I am also grateful to the teachers
literacy teachers from the Public School Network who participated in
discussion groups, sharing their professional experiences
with the Ceale team.

Vanessa Guimarães Pinto

Secretary of Education

Ana Célia Costa Conrado, Ana Maria Prado Barbosa

Bernadete do Carmo Gomes Ferreira, Dirlene Aparecida Chagas Guimarães,
Maria Lúcia Nogueira Ribeiro, Maria Terezinha Pessoa Vieira de Aquino
Maura Lúcia de Almeida, Nancy Fernandes Rodrigues de Souza,
Rita de Cássia Pinheiro Quaresma, Rosa Maria Lacerda,
Rosângela Presoti Versieux, Rosângela Rodrigues de Araújo Prado
Soraya do Valle.
 This notebook is part of the Collection Guidelines for the Initial Literacy Cycle,
prepared to assist public school networks in the State of Minas Gerais in
organization of the Initial Cycle of Literacy.

The collection consists of the following notebooks:

! Initial Literacy Cycle

! Notebook2: Literacy

! Notebook 3: Preparing the School and the Classroom

! Notebook 4: Accompanying and Evaluating

So that the Collection can actually assist in the organization of the Initial Cycle of

Literacy, your collaboration is very important. Write, giving your suggestions and
making your criticisms.

Contact us:

Federal University of Minas Gerais

SEE/SD/SED/DEIF
College of Education/CEALE
Av. Amazonas, 5855 - Gameleira
Initial Literacy Cycle Project
Belo Horizonte/MG
Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627 - Pampulha Campus
Postal code: 30.510-000
Belo Horizonte / MG
31 3379-8658
31.270-901
sed.deif@educacao.mg.gov.br
31 3499 53 35
cicloinicial@fae.ufmg.br
SUMMARY

Presentation .........................................................................................7

How was the Collection developed?...........................................................8

Deborah..................................................................................................10

Illiteracy in school!? ...................................................................12

Literacy in Brazil

A problem of cycles? .....................................................................18

A problem of method?.......................................................22

What to do? .........................................................................................25

 Initial Cycle of Literacy

PRESENTATION
The education network of the State of Minas Gerais implemented nine years of Elementary Education.
years. They divided this teaching into two major cycles of learning. There is the Initial Cycle of
Literacy, lasting three years and aimed at serving children aged six and seven.
at eight years old. And there is the Complementary Literacy Cycle, which serves children aged nine and ten.
two years of hard work.

Many educators - teachers, supervisors, and principals - must be feeling

asking:
! How to work with this new system?
! What activities to propose for the different cycles?
! What skills or abilities should be sought to develop in each of these?
moments of elementary education?
! How to work with six-year-old children who will be entering the first grade
Initial Literacy Cycle?

In addition, many teachers, supervisors, and principals must also be

asking:
! Why modify (once again) the organization of Primary Education?

Explain the reasons that guided this new form of organization of Education
The fundamental goal of this Notebook is to discuss with educators how to organize.
pedagogically the Initial Literacy Cycle, to ensure that every child has

ensuring your right to learn the written language is the goal

too many notebooks. Subsequently, another
the collection will address the Cycle
Each of these notebooks is part of the collection called Complement of
Guidelines for the Initial Literacy Cycle. Its central theme is Literacy.
the organization of work, in the school and in the classroom, for the
initial literacy of children. For this reason, it focuses its attention on the first cycle of
Elementary education. Its central objective is to discuss, with educators, instruments
pedagogical practices to be shared among schools for the preparation, implementation, and
evaluation of your projects for the initial education of written language, of literacy.

The collection was presented and discussed in its preliminary version at an event.
exclusively intended for this purpose, called Nine-Year Elementary Education:
State Congress of Literacy, organized by the State Department of Education, in
partnership with the Literacy, Reading and Writing Center of the Faculty of Education/UFMG
(CEALE). The Congress was held from December 2 to 5, 2003, in Belo

7...........
Initial Cycle of Literacy
Horizon, with the participation of 1800 educators from Minas. The dynamics of the event made it possible
the involvement of participants in conferences, lectures, group discussions, and in
plenary, resulting in numerous contributions to the expansion of this proposal, to be
shared with all educators involved in the Initial Literacy Cycle of
State of Minas Gerais.

This collection consists of four notebooks:

Initial Literacy Cycle

This Notebook presents and discusses the factors that justify the reorganization of
Elementary education in the state and the emphasis placed on literacy in this process. In
Notebook, you will examine and discuss answers to the questions about the why and the for what of
proposal for literacy cycles.

Notebook2: Literacy
At the different moments of the Initial Literacy Cycle, what to teach? What
Which skills or abilities should be developed? In this Notebook, you will analyze and
will debate these skills and abilities and their distribution over the three years of the Cycle.

Notebook3: Preparing the school and the classroom

The organization of the school for the difficult task of literacy is the theme of this
Notebook. It presents criteria and instruments related to the selection of teachers.
literacy instructors, to the planning of the classroom, its routine and the activities to be
There was a selection of literacy book methods.

Notebook 4: Accompanying and Evaluating

How to diagnose students' knowledge? How to evaluate them? How to assess the...
school? What answers can be given to the teaching and learning problems identified by the
diagnosis and evaluation? The Notebook presents tools to help answer the
ask questions.

So far, the purposes of this Collection and its structure have been presented. In the two
In the following sections, you will be able to understand and analyze how the Collection was developed.

How was the Collection created?

In response to the demand from SEE-MG, this Collection was prepared by a team of
teachers from the Center for Literacy, Reading, and Writing (CEALE). The Center is an organ of the
Faculty of Education of the Federal University of Minas Gerais The notion of literacy is
(UFMG), which develops research and educational action projects. discussed further ahead.
naárean literacy and schooling.

............8
 Initial Literacy Cycle

To elaborate it, the team based itself on three main assumptions:

! The Collection should have a predominantly practical character, in order to provide to the
educators instruments to assist them in planning, monitoring, and in
evaluation of literacy. Brazil and the State of Minas Gerais already have rich
curricular references. Wouldn't it be the case to propose another general document for
reference, but to make your most relevant operational contributions and capable of
to be implemented by educators.
! The Collection should take a balanced attitude towards The theoretical debate-
to the theoretical and methodological polarizations that characterize the methodological of the area of
literacy will be
current state of discussions on literacy. This means
presented in the sections
to avoid the defense of only one theoretical-methodological proposal,
following.
for example, one of which is based on methods
of phonetic basis or one of those that are guided by constructivist assumptions. More
Relevant would be the re-evaluation or resizing of the theoretical issues
methodological, in the current political-pedagogical context and in light of our current
needs, so that the main contributions of these different perspectives of
literacy can be incorporated.
! The Collection should be based on the experience and knowledge accumulated by the teachers.
alphabetizers, who face the challenges of literacy on a daily basis and give
positive responses to these challenges.

Considering these assumptions, the CEALE team used three major

source sets for the preparation of the Collection:

! The official documentation produced in recent years in Brazil, which includes, among
other documents, the National Curriculum Reference for Early Childhood Education (1998), which
define various axes of training and related capabilities, and the parameters
National Curricula (1997), which systematize objectives for language teaching,
defining content categories (conceptual, procedural and attitudinal) based on
various didactic axes.
! National and international studies and research on literacy, produced with
based on different theoretical perspectives.
! The experience of a group of literacy teachers from the public network of the State, who discussed their
teaching practice with the CEALE team, highlighting problems and difficulties, and
presenting the solutions given to these problems. The experience of this group was
expanded with participation in the aforementioned Congress, adding to it the contributions of
representatives of public schools in the State of Minas Gerais.

9
Initial Literacy Cycle
! After the Congress, the CEALE team restructured the Collection, which the State Secretariat
Education now presents the entire education network.

The implementation of the Initial Literacy Cycle will be monitored throughout the
years 2004, 2005 and 2006. Through this monitoring, new reforms may be implemented.
perfect in the collection, so that they become a reference and effectively in the work of the schools.
In addition to this Collection, the
We have presented, up to this point, the purposes and the structure of this
SEE-MG is preparing
Collection, the process of its preparation and final consolidation. It is
other subsidies for
I need to examine now:
implementation of the cycles
! Why is the reorganization of elementary education necessary? of literacy. They
! they concern dimensions
Why emphasize literacy?
how the formation of
! Why did I create this collection? literacy educator, your statute
professional, your conditions
A girl named Débora will help us answer the
of work and the evaluation
these questions.
of this proposal.

Deborah
a
Débora is 12 years old. She is in a class equivalent to the 4th grade.
The case of Débora is based on
in different real cases of
fundamental education series. She failed twice. She reads and
children with difficulties
writes with such difficulty that she does not consider herself literate. in the learning of reading and
In an interview with her school supervisor, she said: "I don't know of writing. But the greatest
"writing right; when I do something, I do it wrong." In the same part of the information was
interview, when asked about the people who, in her home, extracted from reported cases
and analyzed by the teacher
we know how to read and write, she replied that everyone knew, except her and
Ana Maria Prado Barbosa.
Suairmã. Suairmã is in the third series. She works as a teacher and
Débora lives in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, in as a supervisor in the network

periphery of one of the several cities that make up the metropolis. Its of state education.

the family is poor and sometimes goes through difficult times. But their parents are literate and,
according to her, her mother "writes things down so she doesn’t owe anything" and her father "usually writes"
the accounts." From other people who, in the neighborhood, use writing, Débora remembers one
neighbor who writes to know 'what is needed for work and the things that she is needing at home'.

Débora already knows that writing represents sounds of the language, which is a very important step.

important in your literacy process. She writes and reads many words correctly:
some because it decorated its form; others because they are simpler. For example, in a dictation,
wrote correctly 'pen' and 'notebook', among other words.

But Débora also makes strange spelling mistakes that do not match her
corrections: she always swaps, for example, P for T, two letters that are very different graphically and

..........10
 Initial Literacy Cycle

that represent very different sounds, writing 'latis' instead of 'lápis'; 'latiseira' instead of
of 'mechanical pencil'. Débora also writes some other words in a rather unpredictable way: 'zir', in
vezde“giz”, “sena”, emvezde“semana”, “trino”, emvezde“tio”.

In reading, the slowness, the hesitation, and the need to break down each syllable show
how, for her, it is difficult to decode words. So difficult that, reading texts, the meaning of words
and passages get lost. Débora shows various difficulties in reading: she cannot read
globally the words; uncommon syllables (and, in general, more difficult for a learner)
they end up requiring a great expenditure of time and energy, as in "elephant", "tiger",
lion and rabbit.

Surely, Débora already knows many important things about written language. But
should have known much more at twelve, in 4aseries: due to your difficulties in
encoding and decoding of words, presents serious limitations for writing and reading
texts; presents serious limitations for using writing in school to learn new things
content separates to develop new skills.

Débora's school supervisor was doing a supplement of her

Pedagogy course. And Débora corresponded with one of the supervisors' professors. In
first letter, she wrote, with the help of the supervisor:

hi
brigade screen [for] the letter that you sent
In the first letter, the
For me[...] you must be cool. No need to despair. the professor told Débora
to apologize to him for the lyrics
don't worry
bad. That's why she
sorry for he/she replied that it was not supposed to
to worry about your
comaletre[letter] lyrics.
I liked the letter
a hug
written
Deborah again

In the same class as Débora, other children are experiencing similar difficulties: there is the
William, there is Jhonatan. William reads, but has a lot of difficulties writing. Jhonatan, how
Débora reads and writes with difficulty.

Like them, more than half of the 4th grade children show so many difficulties that
cannot be considered literate, or functionally literate. We discovered this in
2003.

11...........
Initial Literacy Cycle
Illiteracy at school!?
In 2003, newspapers and magazines reported on the failure of Brazilian schools in doing
so that your students become literate, learning to read and write.

The news was about the release of the results of two assessments of the
reading skills of Brazilian children and youth. The first is from the Assessment System
from Basic Education, the SAEB, developed by the National Institute of Studies and Research
Educational Anísio Teixeira (INEP). The second is the Program
32 countries participated in
International Student Assessment (PISA), developed by PISA, among them South Korea
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development South, Spain, USA,
(OECD) involving different countries. Russian Federation, France,
Mexico, Portugal and Brazil.
And the results are not good at all. According to the
PISA data, the reading proficiency of Brazilian students
fifteen years is significantly lower than that of all other countries
evaluation participants.

According to the data from SAEB, in the assessment carried out Quality of Education:
in 2001 (released in 2003), only 4.48% of 4th grade students series
a
a new reading of
do Fundamental Education have an adequate level of reading or student performance
from 4th grade of Elementary School
Superior education is required to continue your studies.
Fundamental. Brasília:
A part of them has a performance situated in MEC/INEP.April 2003.
intermediate level: 36.2%, according to SAEB, are "starting to"
to develop reading skills, but still below the level required for 4aseries" (p. 8). A
the vast majority focuses, in this way, on the most elementary stages of
development: 59% of 4th grade studentsaseries present significant limitations in their
reading and writing learning. In other words: about 37% of students are at
critical stage of building their reading skills (which means that they have
serious difficulties in reading) and 22% are below this level, in
I am in a very critical stage (which means they cannot read).
It is about work
According to SAEB, children in the critical stage... made by Alicia
are characterized by the fact that they are not 'competent readers', by Carla Coscarelli Bonamino
Creso Franco (Assessment
"in a truncated form, only simple sentences" (p. 8). The children
literacy: conceptions of
in the very critical stage, on their part, are those who "do not literate student underlying
they developed reading skills. They were not literate to SAEB and to PISA.
adequately. They cannot respond to the items of Education and Society
Campinas, vol. 23, n. 81, p.
test"(p. 8).
91-113, Dec. 2002). A
A comparison made by researchers between the the comparison was made with
the data from SAEB 1999.
results in SAEB of elementary school students (4aand 8
a

The quotes were extracted

series) and High School (3oit's also discouraging: the from page 103.
improvement in reading proficiency from one grade to another is

..........12
 Initial Literacy Cycle

quite modest, which means a still very limited acquisition of new skills and
competencies in the Portuguese language throughout basic education.

The conclusion is singular and frightening: a significant number of students do not

learn to read in the Brazilian school; this school produces a large contingent of illiterates or
of functional illiterates - that is, people who, although
Here you find a
master the basic skills of reading and writing, they are not
definition of the alphabet
capable of using writing in reading and text production in
functional. This definition is
daily life or at school, to meet the demands of resume further ahead.
learning.

It can be understood, then, why the State of Minas

Why extend the duration
The state of Gerais is extending the duration of Primary Education. One can of elementary education? By
to understand also why so much importance is given to literacy, that organize your first
denominating the two cycles of the first segment of this education segment in cycles of
literacy? Here you
like literacy cycles. This does not mean, of course, that
find an answer.
the other contents of the instruction are not important (the same
SAEB evaluation shows that the performance of 4th grade studentsaseries
in Mathematics also focuses on the very critical and critical stages. This neither
means that the formative character of the school is being abandoned. It only means that,
in view of the instrumental nature of literacy for the learning of others
school content, the mastery of reading and writing should, at this moment, be emphasized,
gain greater visibility and concentrate the efforts of managers and educators. It is necessary to do
how to make your school educate your children.

But why have many children not become literate? The finding that the school
(which has as one of its main functions to educate children) has been producing,
paradoxically, illiterates and functionally illiterates sparked an intense debate in schools,
in universities, in the education departments, in the press. In this debate, two main
The possibilities of explanation for this failure have been raised:
! for some, it is the system of cycles and the adoption of the continuous progression system that is the main focus

factor
! for others, the responsibility for failure lies in the choice and adoption of methods
inadequate literacy

Discussing these different possibilities of explanation can help us make

decisions regarding how to seek to change our failure in literacy. That is what we will do.
in the next sessions.

13...........
Initial Literacy Cycle
Stay precise:
! to still reflect on the phenomenon of illiteracy in Brazil and its relations with
school illiteracy
! make it clear that we do not believe that a single factor can explain this phenomenon
complex and multifaceted, but rather that discussing the two factors mentioned above is a
way to make our understanding of the phenomenon more complex and more suitable for
originate possibilities for intervention.

Literacy in Brazil
In the face of educational problems, we all tend to believe that, in
our time or in the time of our grandparents, things were better. Schools were literate.
successfully, the teachers were more qualified, the students were more willing to
learn more disciplined.
It is believed that - in the face of the difficult moments of the present - going back to the past would be
a good solution. But, in the case of literacy, it's not worth going back to the past. A good part
Two problems we face today are precisely connected to this past.
Just like Portugal, Brazil, its former colony, implemented a restricted mode or
gradual diffusion of literacy. Shortly before Independence, in 1820, only 0.20%
of the population, it is estimated, is literate. Thus, reading and writing
The estimate is made by
are the privilege of the elites who, after these first lessons, Lawrence Hallewell
continue your studies. (The book in Brazil: its
Throughout the century, however, new fractions of the population history. São Paulo: Edusp,
1985, p. 176.
literacy, but very gradually. In 1872, when it takes place the
the first national census, the literacy rate is only 17.7% among people aged five
years and more. Starting from the 20th century, this index will always progress, although it remains until
1960, lower than the illiteracy rate, which was 71.2% in 1920, 61.1% in 1940 and
57.1% in 1950. In 1960, for the first time, we managed to reverse the proportion: we counted,
So, with 46.7% of illiterates. From then on, the rates drop successively from 1970 to
2000, for 38.7%, 31.9%, 24.2% and 16.7%. Visualize the indices in the table below:

Census 1872
Literacy... 17.7% The data above is
46.7 1960 53.3
Illiterates.............. 82.3% found in the article
Census 1920 by Alceu Ravanello
Literates............ 28.8% 38.7 1970 61.3
Ferraro (Illiteracy
Illiterates.............. 71.2%
the levels of literacy
Census 1940 31.9 1980 68.1
Literacy 38.9% in Brazil: what they say
Illiterates.............. 61.1% the censuses?.Education and
24.2 1990 75.8
Census 1950 Society, Campinas,
Literacy............ 42.9% vol. 23, n. 81, p. 21-47,
57.1%
16.7 2000 83.3 Dec. 2002.
Illiterates..............

..........14
 Initial Literacy Cycle

The same inequalities are also manifested in terms of schooling: only

at the end of the last decade, the Country managed to universalize access to school, although in
Many states maintain significant percentages of children out of school.
We know which segments of the population are affected by illiteracy and failure.
school. We know which social groups do not have access to schooling. The data from SAEB
are exemplary: the failure in literacy is greater among children living in regions
that have worse social and economic indicators; among the children who work, among
black children. I mean, the problem of illiteracy, in school or outside of it, is part of
a larger problem, of a political nature: that of social inequality, that of social injustice, that of
social exclusion.
Thus, the difficulties we face in the present are not, to some extent,
new difficulties. They are part of an old and persistent difficulty in our country: that of
to ensure all Brazilians equal access to economic and cultural goods,
incomprehensible literacy and mastery of written language.
But the same data that show the difficult inheritance that has been left to us and the
the dimensions of our challenge also show that, albeit very slowly, we are making progress.
Throughout the entire last century, we were able to include new segments of the population in
world of writing. We were about 18% literate, almost at the end of the 19th century; in
At the beginning of the 21st century, we are almost 83%.
See,regardingtheMapof
We also managed, in the last decade, to reduce the
illiteracy in Brazil.
illiteracy rates among children and youth of age
Brasília: INEP, 2003.
school: the illiteracy rates in the age groups from ten to
nineteen years related to children and young people who are or have been in school present
a significant reduction in recent years: between 1996 and 2001, the percentages of illiterates
age given decreased, that is, from around 14% to around 7%.
Most importantly, we are advancing (even if slowly), at the same time as
we increased our expectations regarding literacy, that is, at the same time
that we gradually broaden our concept of literacy in response to new
problems, posed by the contemporary world.

The expansion of the concept of literacy

The Houaiss Dictionary of the Portuguese Language (2001) presents the strict definition of
literacy. It is the "act or effect of literacy, of teaching the first letters." Thus, a
An literate person is understood as one who masters the 'first letters', who masters the
basic or initial skills of reading and writing.
An example: you are able to read globally and instantly
(at once, without analyzing each element) the first word to HOUSE
side because he is literate. Another example: you are able to
decode, analyzing its elements (letter, syllable), the second
AVLATONPLAN
wordnextto(itdoesnotexist),becauseyouareliterate.

15...........
Initial Literacy Cycle
In summary: literacy, in its strict sense, refers to the ability to read.
decode graphic signals, transforming them into sounds, and, in writing, the ability to
to encode the sounds of the language, transforming them into graphic signs.

Throughout the last century, however, this concept of The definition in quotes
literacy was progressively expanded, due to it's by Magda Soares
Literacy: the
social and political needs, to the point of no longer being considered
redefinition of the concept.
literate is one who only masters the skills of
Literacy and Citizenship.
encoding and decoding, "but he who knows how to use reading and Education Magazine of
writing to engage in a social practice where writing is Youth and Adults. RaaB, no.
necessary. July 16, 2003, pp. 10-11.

This expansion is manifested, for example, in the Censuses (the data from which we use)
above). Read the text below by Magda Soares about how the Censuses were progressively
expanding your concept of literacy:

The redefinition of the concept of literacy in the Censuses

... until the 1940s of the last century, the Census questionnaires simply asked,
if the person could read and write, serving as proof of the affirmative response or
negative, the ability to sign one's own name. From the 1950s to the last
Census (2000), the questionnaires started to ask whether the person was able to "read and write"
a simple note," which already shows an expansion of the concept of literacy: it is no longer
considers literate one who merely claims to know how to read and write, generically, but
someone who knows how to use reading and writing to engage in a social practice in which writing is
necessary.

This expansion of the concept is more clearly revealed in census studies.

developed since the last decade, in which literacy rates are defined
functional (and the adoption of this terminology already indicates a new concept that is added to that of
literate, simply), taking as a criterion the level of education attained or the
conclusion of a certain number of years of study or of a certain grade (in
general, the fourth of elementary education), which implicitly brings the idea that access to the world
writing requires skills beyond just learning to read and
to write. That is: the definition of functional literacy rates The excerpt was extracted from
same article by the educator,
using years of schooling as a criterion, it highlights the
cited above.
recognition of the limits of a census-based assessment
Literacy: the
just in the concept of literacy as 'knowing how to read and write' or redefinition of the concept.
to know how to read a simple note, and the emergence of a new concept, Literacy and Citizenship.
that incorporates skills in reading and writing Education Magazine
Young People and Adults. RaaB, no.
developed over a few years of schooling.
July 16, 2003, pp. 10-11.

..........16
 Initial Literacy Cycle

The expansion of the concept of literacy is also evident in schools. Until very
Recently, it was believed that a child's entry into the world of writing occurred only
through literacy, through the learning of the 'first letters', through the development of
coding and decoding skills. The use of written language, in social practices of
reading and writing would be a stage after literacy, and should be developed in the
following series.

Since the mid-1980s, however, psychological, linguistic, and

Psycholinguistics of reading and writing have shown that if the learning of the relationships between
the "letters" and the "sounds" of the language are a condition of the use of written language, this use is also
a condition of literacy or the learning of the relationships between the 'letters' and the 'sounds' of the
language.
This idea manifests
Perhaps this idea manifested itself, first of all, in the also in many others
defense of creation, in the classroom, of a literacy environment. pedagogical practices

Methodologically, the creation of this environment is carried out before, during and
after literacy,
would focus on taking children in the literacy phase
such as the
to use written language, even before mastering the 'first ones reading aloud by
letters," organizing the classroom based on writing (record of professor, the writing of
routines, use of labels for organizing the material, employment of collective texts in which the

panels to control the frequency, for example). teacher serves as secretary

or write, the contact with
Conceivably, the defense of creating a literacy environment
texts that circulate in the
would be based on the finding that knowing what writing is for society and not just with
serve (its functions of registration, communication at a distance, by texts produced for the
) and know how it is used in social practices (organizing the room exploration of relationships

from the classroom, establish behavior rules at school, for example) between 'letters' and 'sounds'.

would help the child in their literacy. They would help by giving meaning and function to
literacy; would help by creating the need for literacy, would help, finally, by
will favor exploration, for the child, of the functioning of written language.

The need for this knowledge about the uses and functions of written language would be
particularly relevant for children from families with limited exposure to written culture and
of their various practices, that is, they would not have many opportunities to handle texts,
departicipation deconstituations of reading and text production.

Thus, literacy would not be reduced to the mastery of the 'first letters'. It would involve
also knowing how to use written language in situations where it is necessary, reading and
producing texts. It is for this new dimension of entering culture
writing that has coined a new word, literacy. It serves to
designate the set of knowledge, attitudes, and abilities Here the concept is addressed
necessary for using the language in social practices. of literacy.

17
Initial Literacy Cycle
Through this concept, the school expanded its notion of literacy.
what a large part of the SAEB data shows is that many children, although literate, do not
they are literate (or exhibit different degrees of functional illiteracy). In other words,
they are not able to use written language in social practices, particularly in those that
take place in the school itself, in the teaching and learning of different content and skills of
writing.

The difficulties we face today in literacy are aggravated both by

past (the legacy of illiteracy and social inequalities), as well as by the present (the
expansion of the concept of literacy and society's expectations regarding its
results).

What to do in response to these difficulties? We will solve the problem through

change of the cycle system and continuous promotion? We will resolve it by adopting a
only method?

A problem of cycles?
It has been claimed, quite often, that the learning cycle system,
implanted in the last decade in different public education networks, it would be the great
responsible for the disastrous results we face today. It has also been claimed
that the non-failure of students, as well as the different flow correction programs of
enrollment developed by the education networks would have contributed directly to the
school illiteracy.

Certainly, the cycle system brings new problems to the school and demands new solutions.
modes of action of both the education network managers and the professionals of
education, whether they are directors or supervisors. But the problem of reading learning and
it is not a description, it deforms something, new, despite the progress made in recent decades.

This becomes clear when we analyze data on enrollment.

The statistical data was
in the early years of Elementary School, in the mid-
extracted from the work of
80, that is, before the implementation of these different programs. The Magda Becker Soares
statistics from that time show that, for every thousand children that (Language and school: a
they began at 1 Series, less than half reached 2 less than one
a a social perspective.
Paulo: Attica, 1986).
third managed to reach 4aseries, and less than one in five managed to
to finish this level of education. It means: there were no illiterates in the school or their presence
it was not perceived because, due to the repetition, they concentrated on the 1a
series, or why, due to dropout, they left school (or, depending on the point
devista, delaeramexpulsos).

..........18
 Initial Literacy Cycle

The arguments against learning cycles, furthermore, are based on a

inadequate assumption: that most of the school network is organized based on this
system and not in the series. This is not what happens. According to the data from the 2002 School Census,

only 20.9% of enrollments in Elementary Education were

covered by schools so organized. In other words, about The data from the School Census
80% of the enrollments were offered by schools organized by are available on the site of
serial systems. INEP (www.inep.gov.br),
in the links Synopsis of
The ongoing progression and the different programs of Basic Education and
flow correction nor can they be held responsible. The evasion, EdudataBrazil.
firstly, it is a problem that continues to occur at school
fundamental: 10.4% of students dropped out of public school in 2002 (to put it in context
In comparison, in the private network, only 1% of students dropped out of school in 2002.

Retention, in second place, is far from being a resolved issue: out of every ten
elementary school students, two repeated the grade in 2001 and 2002. In the first grade
(the moment when literacy is carried out), the percentages are higher: 31.6%. As if
see, even at lower indexes than in the 80s, the Brazilian school is a school that
it disapproves of significant percentages of students and contributes, to some extent, to their
withdrawal.

All of this does not mean that the implementation of the learning cycles is not
problematic. Often, it is done without the necessary adherence of the teachers. With
frequency, it is not accompanied by measures that favor collective work of the
professor, which enable the development of supervision strategies and
monitoring of teachers, as well as support for their work. Often, the cycles
are implemented only as a solution to reduce dropout rates, without
an effective concern for learning.

In addition to these problems, the organization in cycles, by extending the time of

learnings can lead to a dilution or procrastination of goals and objectives.
will be gradually affected throughout the schooling process. In the same way, the
the principle of continuous progression can also, if poorly conceived and poorly applied, result
in the absence of commitment to the systematic development of skills and
knowledge.

Perhaps many of the problems we attribute to cycles reside there: in their

implementation, the mode of school organization changes, but mechanisms are not created to:
a) collectively diagnose the teaching-learning problems; b) face them by
means of dynamic regrouping processes; c) change teaching procedures that are
inadequate displays for students in difficulty. Most of the time, each
the professor continues doing his work alone, with his class, in his own way of teaching,
with your expectations regarding the skills to be mastered by your students.

19...........
Initial Literacy Cycle
The implementation problems, however, do not prevent From here, you
recognize the importance of organization in cycles for the find a justification
for the adoption of the cycles of
expansion of the learning possibilities of students.
literacy.
Regarding literacy, its positive consequences are pointed out by
teachers and educators. Regarding the implementation of the Basic Literacy Cycle in
Minas Gerais, a teacher and supervisor from São João Del Rey gives the following testimony,
arguing that the cycle system was a demand from the teachers themselves
Alphabetizers evidence the importance of the cycle for literacy:
The testimony of
the teacher was mentioned by
I participated in the Minas Gerais Education Congress in 1983 as
Cláudia Fernandes and Creso
literacy teacher. I remember that one of our Franco at work Series
claims was that one year... At that time it was the method or cycles? What happens
when the teachers
global [of literacy]. There wasn't enough time... A year was too short... The
choose?
the boy was held back... Then, at the beginning of the year, he would start everything over
Creso.Evaluation, cycles and
new. When the Basic Cycle was implemented in 1985 it was not promotion in education.
really something like this... imposed. Those who worked at the time. Porto Alegre: Artmed,
2001. p. 55-68.) The citation
remember that this was really a claim from the teachers
of the testimony of
literacy teachers.
the teacher is in the
page 58.

Thus, the cycle system is more suitable for development.

literacy and literacy, subjecting school time to the time of these
learning, affirming learning in opposition to retention.

Also for researchers, the cycles, if properly implemented, have

a set of positive implications
The passage about the
positive implications of
Positive implications of organization by cycles
cycles is authored by
1. It creates the need to rethink the meaning of school, Jefferson Mainardes (A
evaluative practices, curricular content, of work organization of education
pedagogical self-school organization; in cycles: still a challenge
for the education systems.
2. Streamlines the flow of a greater number of students, contributing
FRANCO, Creso.
to reduce financial resource waste. Evaluation, cycles and
It can also create the need to expand the supply. promotion in education.
final series of Elementary and High School; Porto Alegre: Artmed, 2001.
p. 35-54). The excerpt used
3. It unclogs the system, allowing access to
it's on page 48.
school-age population that is outside of school (...);

..........20
 Initial Cycle of Literacy

4. Ensures students a longer stay in school, thereby raising the averages of

education, in terms of years of study;

5. It demands the allocation of more resources for education, in order to ensure

adequate conditions;

6. Implies changes in pedagogical concepts and practices;

It also implies a change in attitude from the parents, who would stop worrying.
only with approval, also beginning to take an interest in knowledge
what your children would be acquiring at school, as well as the need to
assume responsibility for regular school attendance and during periods
intended for reinforcement or recovery. Because of the importance of
presence and participation
The organization in cycles therefore has different of the country at school, the
positive implications. It is because of these implications and the Notebook 3 presents
claims of literacy teachers in Minas Gerais suggestions to engage them

will return to adopt the cycle system for the first segment of in literacy.

Elementary Education.

In addition, by including in the Initial Literacy Cycle the As will be seen in us

age group of six years, the adopted system expands the right of this upcoming Notebooks, the
organization of the Initial Cycle
child to a more extensive schooling and literacy
Literacy is not done
redefined with the emphasis that has been assumed in this by age group, but rather
proposal. Historically, the milestone of a child's entry into school per year of schooling in
Elementary Education, being
basic - fixed around seven years - has always been regulated by
the first designated year
concept of readiness for writing and reading learning, as Introductory Phase and the
assessed by qualifying tests. The current requirements of two following as Phase I
democratization of access to quality public education and Phase II, respectively.

accompany quite complex demands: the permanence of children from layers

popular in this school and the expansion of their opportunities for access to written culture, because
Such opportunities are already experienced early by more privileged social classes.
This implies the right of those children to literacy and reading skills, in processes of
learning that ensures progressive abilities and skills, as sought
highlightNotebook2ofthisCollection.

For this, it is important not to submit learning exclusively to

maturation or development process, previously determined by tests,
believing that the experiences learned by children can produce
development processes and new possibilities for advancement in their capabilities.

21
Initial Literacy Cycle
A problem of method?
It has also been claimed that school illiteracy has
as the main basis for the "implementation" of teaching methodologies
based on constructivism and the concept of literacy. For this
reason, it is argued for the use of phonics-based methods,
Phonological awareness
organized around the systematic exploration of the relations between
presupposes understanding
"letter" and "sound", that is, between the phonological system of Portuguese and its
that writing is organized
orthographic system. as a sequence of sounds,

These phonetic-based methods whose use has been differentiated according to

position occupied by letters
recently defended do not identify with the already known
and syllables in words. The
phonics-based literacy method. The most phonics-based methods are rhymes, for example, can
recent proposals suggest teaching methodologies based on necessity to be perceived at this level
development of phonological awareness, in the analysis of the relationship of consciousness and facilitate

between 'letters' or graphemes and 'sounds' or phonemes of the language, as well as inference strategies and
generalizations for new ones
in the development of reading fluency, vocabulary, and the
word constructions.
understanding.

It would be great if the literacy problems in the country

could be solved by a safe and effective method. But the The main association
international literacy
teaching methodologies, by themselves, are not enough to
and literacy, the International
ensure positive results, as they always depend on the Reading Association (IRA)
professor, from your sensitivity to interpret the needs of defends the multiplicity of
students - particularly those who have difficulties in methods for initial teaching
learning process. They also depend on a from reading and writing (Using
multiple Methods of
collective organization of the school and the education networks, through the
beginning reading
what are the minimum learning levels defined in a
instruction, IRA, 1999.
series or cycle, established forms of diagnosis and developed
intervention processes.

Furthermore, the arguments of Brazilian defenders of

return to phonics-based methods are based on an assumption
inadequate: the fact that the curricular programs of states and
This data about the choice of
municipalities, as well as the National Curriculum Parameters
literacy books are
to adopt foundations linked to constructivist theories or to the analyzed in BATISTA,
the concept of literacy does not mean that the methodologies Antônio Augusto Gomes
derived from these foundations have been adopted (Org.) The teacher and the choice
effectively, in the classrooms. from the textbook (1998-2001).
Research report. Brasília:
A good indicator that these methodologies have not been SEF/MEC, 2002.
adopted are the patterns for choosing textbooks of

..........22
 Initial Literacy Cycle

literacy in the National Textbook Program (PNLD). As is known, it is the

teachers and the schools that choose, in this Program, the books they will use. Since the
In 1998, the most requested books by schools to the Ministry of Education (MEC) are precisely those that are

organize around the principles of the syllabic method, based on the exploration of the so-called families
syllabic, initially composed only of vowels, then by syllables considered
complex, passing, before, those considered simple. Even if the syllabic method is
distance, in different aspects, from the new phonetic conceptions, these are based on a
gradual and systematic exploration of the relationships between graphemes and phonemes. Thus, it is not about
to ask for a 'return' to the phonetic base methods. They are, in fact, those present in
schools.

But those who defend the method as an explanation for school illiteracy
they might be right about one thing (although they do not use this argument): the grassroots discourse
constructivist or grounded in the conception of literacy, having become hegemonic,
it has inhibited the development of other methodological perspectives and has contributed, in
certain measure, for the loss of specificity of literacy.

Evidently, the constructivist perspective brought different and important

contributions to literacy. Some of these contributions are pointed out in a
article, by Magda Soares. According to her, constructivism

... profoundly changed the conception of the construction process

from the representation of written language, by the child, which ceases to be This excerpt was taken from
same article by Magda
considered dependent on external stimuli for
Soares: Literacy and
learning the writing system, concept present in the methods
literacy: the many
from the literacy that was in use until then, today referred to as 'traditional' facets, presented at the 26th
and becomes an active subject capable of progressively (re)constructing Annual Meeting of ANPED.
this system of representation, interacting with written language GT Literacy, Reading and
Writing. Poços de Caldas, 7
in their uses and social practices, that is, interacting with material
of October 2003.
to read
"learning to read"; the so-called prerequisites for learning
of writing, which would characterize the child as 'ready' or 'mature' to be literate -
the assumptions of the 'traditional' methods of literacy are denied by a view
interactionist, who rejects a hierarchical order of skills, stating that the
learning occurs through a progressive construction of knowledge, in relation to
child with the object "written language"; the child's difficulties in the process of
construction of the system of representation that is written language - considered
"deficiencies" or "dysfunctions", from the perspective of "traditional" methods - become
viewed as "constructive errors", resulting from constant restructuring.

23...........
Initial Literacy Cycle
Despite these contributions, it is necessary to recognize that the perspective
Constructivism and literacy-based studies led to different misconceptions. Read,
In the following text, another excerpt from the article by Magda Soares about these misconceptions:

First of all, focusing on the process of building the system

written by the child, the nature of the object of knowledge began to be underestimated in
construction, which is, fundamentally, a linguistic object constituted, whether it wants

consider the alphabetical system what the orthographic system, of conventional relations and
frequently arbitrary between phonemes and graphemes. In other words, favoring the
the psychological aspect of literacy has obscured its linguistic aspect – phonetic and
phonological.

Secondly, a constructivist conception of literacy was derived from a

false inference, that it would be incompatible with the psychogenetic conceptual paradigm
proposal of literacy methods. In a way, the fact that the problem of
learning to read and write has been considered within the framework of paradigms
conceptual "traditional" issues, as a problem primarily methodological contaminated the
the concept of literacy method, attributing a negative connotation to it: is that,
when one speaks of the 'method' of literacy, one immediately identifies 'method' with
the 'traditional' types of synthetic and analytic methods (phonic, syllabic, global, etc.)
as these types exhausted all methodological alternatives for the
learning of reading and writing. Perhaps it can be said that, for the practice of
literacy, there was previously a method, and no theory; with the change of
conception of the process of learning written language, it came to have a
theory, isn't it a method.

Add to these mistakes and false inferences the also false

assumption, arising from them, that only through intense coexistence with the
written material that circulates in social practices, that is, from the coexistence with written culture,
the child learns to read and write. Literacy, as a process of acquiring the system
conventional of an alphabetical and orthographic writing was, thus, in a way
darkened by literacy, because it often ended up prevailing over
that, as a consequence, loses its specificity. This excerpt was taken from
articleLiteracy and
The need to articulate the processes of literacy and secondary literacy literacy: the many
will be resumed in Notebook 2. It is important to emphasize that such processes facets, presented in
must be developed simultaneously and inseparably. Literacy 26th Annual Meeting of
should not be understood as a 'preparatory' process or stage ANPED. GT
what precedes literacy or as a set of relevant activities Literacy, Reading and
only to a beginner literacy class. Writing. Poços de Caldas,
October 7, 2003.

..........24
 Initial Literacy Cycle

The methodological issue of literacy thus has, in fact, an important weight.

in our failure to educate. This failure, however, lies, to some extent, in the
absence of a balance between these different theoretical-methodological perspectives. As if
previously defended, literacy is a condition for education, for mastery of
correspondences between graphemes and phonemes; but literacy and systematic exploration
These graphophonic relations are also a condition for literacy.

In the same way, the knowledge of the hypotheses made by children in learning
the written language is a fundamental condition for its learning; but the analysis and the
gradual and systematic exploration of the formal characteristics of written language are also a
fundamental condition of literacy.

What to do?
The Brazilian public school changed after the implementation of the cycle system. And in it, not
it is possible to continue working as if it were the same school as before. The problem of
initial literacy must be resolved in the first cycle of learning. But it will not be the
choice of a method, by itself, that will solve the problem.
First of all, the education networks and schools must
The other Notebooks of this
define what the minimum capabilities to be achieved are
collection provides
different moments of this first cycle; it is extremely instruments for this
it is counterproductive to expect that only at the end of the third or the second set of tasks.
In the year of the cycle, the student should be literate and that's final. It is necessary.

to discriminate which knowledge and skills must be mastered by the child in different
stages of the cycle. For this, it is also essential that schools have tools
shared to diagnose and evaluate the students and the work they do; it is essential,
finally, that, collectively, schools develop mechanisms to regroup, even if,
provisionally, students who do not achieve the knowledge and skills at each stage
of the process, using new methodological procedures and different teaching materials
based or not on phonics methods, inspired or not by constructivist principles,
shoes are not even visual or global ideologies.

But all of this is only possible if we pay attention to two sets of factors.
analyzed here that also condition our failure in literacy.
It is necessary for educational networks to confront three problems that they have avoided facing:
the literacy teacher must be one of the most qualified in the school (he needs, therefore,
of an adequate education); it also needs to be one of the most valued in the school (he
it needs, therefore, a differentiated status); it is necessary to reorganize the school and the times
intended for collective work, in teams of teachers and coordinators (the teacher is not
the owner of your room, but someone who is responsible, along with the school, for literacy of
their children).

25...........
Initial Literacy Cycle
It is necessary for literacy teachers to be aware that the children of
public schools, mostly exposed to processes of social exclusion, are capable of
learn: they do not have cognitive disabilities, they do not have linguistic disabilities,
cultural, behavioral.
It is our individual responsibility, it is our political responsibility, to ensure the
these children dominate the written language.

..........26