Literacy for children with learning difficulties: the place of shared story reading

Abstract

This  research belongs to the study field of literacy and aims to discuss the influence of story shared reading on children from lower classes to overcome difficulties in literacy and to have access to written culture. From a conceptual perspective, we highlight the need of teaching how to read and write while learning to make their competent use. This would enable these children to enter the world of writtenculture, enjoy the cultural world coded by writing, access social prestige knowledge considered a citizenship instrument. This investigation was characterized as an action research developed in a peripheral school in the city of Montes Claros, in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. For the diagnosis of children’s problems, progress tests and interviews were made in order to capture their perceptions and feelings about reading and writing to guide classroom performance. In order to interfere on their reality, workshops were made with story shared reading on a week basis during three semesters. The activitiesenabled the development of literacy skills, the understanding of written language conventions, the interaction with authors and texts, the encounter with the other, imagination, curiosity, interest in confronting and solving problems. The option to discuss literacy difficulties was based not only on the need to give visibility to the problem of not learning but especially to point out possibilities of teaching performance and contribute to the educational process quality