A representação discursiva da criança em memes: uma proposta de leitura e análise crítica para os anos finais do ensino fundamental

Abstract

This dissertation aims to elaborate and apply a proposal of reading and critical analysis of memes found on social media and apps that have a child as main social participant, focusing on the semiotic-discursive representation of this participant. In order to perform this research we adopted a qualitative methodology approach which design is organized by a methodological triangulation that includes the participant research, applied research and the three attitudes of democratic research: the ethical attitude, the defense and the strengthening of participants. In theoretical and analytical terms, this work is affiliated to the contribution of the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), which preconizes that we should start from a social problem that has a semiotic aspect, as a way of action and social transformation. We explored the articulation among the CDA, the multiliteracy pedagogy and the Grammar of Visual Design (GVD) to analyze and describe the child’s discursive representations built in memes and the resources by which they are materialized. The corpus analysis is integrated by data generated by questionnaires, interviews, classes’ recordings, field registers and notes. The analysis results of this proposal, which was applied to a 9th grade group from a public school in the administrative region of Samambaia, in the Federal District of Brazil, reveal that, in the multimodal era, there is much creativity in the meme production, which possesses a privileged space in the propagation of ideology. They also show that many students, parents and/or responsible ones have liked and shared memes in which the child is the central character, without paying attention to the world representation built in these memes and to the way children are represented in these discursive genders. Besides, this indicates that it is possible to think in different ways to teach reading skills and critical analysis considering that, during the realization of the research, students showed themselves more enthusiastic and participatory. This research, which integrates technology to the Portuguese teaching program content, has highly contributed to the development of reading practices and critical analysis, which takes into account the multisemiosis, to problematize the children´s representations constructed in countless texts that circulate on social media and apps, and to a reflection made by parents and/or responsible ones and students, about the sharing practice of texts and its effects in the way they represent the world and, especially, the childhood.