O processo de letramento de alunos migrantes: um estudo de caso em uma escola pública brasileira de educação infantil

Abstract

Literacy is the process by which individuals develop reading and writing skills, understanding not only how to decipher letters and words, but also the meaning and use of spoken and written language in a social context. This process allows for the active participation of individuals, who come to understand the role that spoken and written languages play. In Early Childhood Education, literacy can be promoted through playful and contextualized activities that introduce children to the world of spoken and written language: conversation circles, storytelling, games, music, dramatizations, reading, textual genres, etc. Children are part of migratory flows. Cantinho (2017, p. 156) states: "millions of children move in an attempt to escape conflicts, natural disasters, poverty [...] in search of better living conditions." In Brazil, there has been an increase in the enrollment of migrant children in Early Childhood Education. This topic has become part of daily school life, including in municipal Early Childhood Education schools in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, with the arrival of international migrant students (MIL). Therefore, the integration of these students into school requires actions that promote acceptance and foster their literacy development, considering linguistic and cultural particularities, as well as the literacy practices they bring from their countries of origin. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the literacy process of MIL in a Brazilian public early childhood education school, with a special focus on teaching, concentrating on the daily school life of 4- and 5-year-old children. Within the scope of this investigation, the following questions arise: "How does the literacy process of MIL occur in a Brazilian public early childhood education school?"; "What strategies do teachers implement (or could implement) to support MIL in their literacy development?"; and "What challenges do teachers experience in the literacy process of MIL?" In attempting to answer these challenges, the specific objectives are: 1) to map the literacy events in which MIL are involved in the school under study; 2) to analyze the strategies adopted by teachers to contribute to the literacy process of MIL; and 3) identify the main challenges encountered by teachers in the MIL literacy process. The study is based on the theories of: Soares (1999, 2004, 2005, 2009); Tfouni (1995); Street (1984, 2003, 2008); Kleiman (1995 and 2005); Freire (1989); Rojo (2012); Rojo and Almeida (2012); Bakhtin/Volochinov (1988); Vygotsky (1934, 1978, 1984, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2007). This is an ethnographic case study. The data collection instruments consisted of structured interviews with two teachers, field diaries, and observation notes from the researcher/master's student, seeking to understand the literacy process of MILs using a qualitative methodology. The results indicate, despite the challenges faced, teaching initiatives in the literacy process of MILs, the need for ongoing training focused on practices that consider the specificities of these children, and academic research on this topic, supporting the development of proposals that recognize and integrate the different literacy practices present in Brazilian schools.