Educational implications of the concept of Emergent Literacy: adaptation of the program Speaking, Reading and Writing in Kindergarten (Viana et al., in press) to the Brazilian context of early childhood education

• Grant number: 13/17472-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Effective date (Start): January 13, 2014
• Effective date (End): July 02, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Cognitive Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Sylvia Domingos Barrera
• Grantee: Sylvia Domingos Barrera
• Host Investigator: Maria Iolanda Ferreira da Silva Ribeiro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Universidade do Minho (UMinho), Portugal

Abstract

It is a fact widely recognized by the literature that children tend to benefit, both at present and in their future school life, from kindergarten attendance and that these effects are correlated with the quality of education received, being more important for the poorest children. Among the items considered for assessing the quality of early childhood education are the structure of the curriculum in general and, more specifically, the pedagogical activities performed. The program "Speaking, reading and writing in kindergarten", developed by researchers at the Department of Psychology, University of Minho (Viana et al., In press) aims to provide to educators from kindergarten with a structured set of activities that contribute to the development of emergent literacy skills, ie, abilities, knowledge and attitudes considered precursors of reading and writing, among which there are: oral language, knowledge about print, phonological awareness and motivation for the activities of reading and writing. The importance of the development of such work in Early Childhood Education is justified by the initial impact of these skills in literacy. Thus considering the theoretical perspectives related to the concept of "emergent literacy" and its potential to provide input to proposals of curriculum in kindergarten that integrate activities related both to the domain of the alphabetic code as to their social uses and functions, as well as proposed by the program "Speaking, reading and writing in kindergarten", we propose to develop the following research activities during the postdoctoral period that will be conducted at the Department of Psychology, University of Minho: 1) conduct a review of the literature about the concept of "emergent literacy" and about the intervention programs for pre-school education based on these skills, in order to publishing a scientific article on this subject in an international journal of recognized quality editorial in Psychology; 2) make an adaptation of the program "Speaking, reading and writing in Kindergarten" to the context of Early Childhood Education in Brazil (also involving the adaptation and/or selection of books of children's literature in which it is based. (AU)