A letra cursiva nos anos iniciais da alfabetização: obrigatoriedade ou tradição?

Abstract

The essay presented here has as its theme the mandatory use of cursive writing in Elementary School and comes from reflections that take into account the study of ideas, aspects of thought about the teaching of writing and literacy, but also the observation of school reality and the imposition of a unique form of writing, as if it represented legitimate “school writing”, disregarding other writings present in other social environments frequented by students as possible forms. Questioning this mismatch, we arrived at the questions that guided this research: What would be the point of making mandatory the practice of writing that is mostly observed in the school environment or in personal writings, the latter being a choice of the writer? Why force us to write in cursive, given that in the society in which we live, literacy practices occur primarily with printed letters? When elaborating reflections on them, we pursue the following objectives: (a) analyze, in the documents that guide the literacy process in elementary school, the guidelines on the use of cursive; (b) problematize the discussions that circulate about the requirement for cursive handwriting, in specialized literature on the subject; and (c) Point out possibilities for working with different forms of writing, considering the Brazilian educational reality. Reading the works produced on the subject, in different areas of knowledge, led us to the hypothesis of an “invented school tradition” and allowed us to point out some points for reflection and contribute to the expansion of this debate in the field of research in Education and also in scope of school institutions.