SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF SCHOOL FLOW CORRECTION STUDENTS ABOUT READING

Abstract

The learners carry underlying the behavior towards reading the conceptions about it. These representations may change according to new experiences. This research is based on the hypothesis that students in backwardness act passively in reading as they have representations anchored in negative ideas about reading, based on unpleasant experiences, making literacy difficult. This conjecture originated the objective of this study, which is to understand reading social representations elaborated by eight students - non-literate - of a school flow correction class in Recife. In this perspective, the Theory of Social Representations (TRS) was adopted as a theoretical-methodological reference point because of the interrelationship between subject and object and how common sense knowledge is constructed. A case of study was developed as a methodological strategy for action research, with a qualitative approach and ethnographic modality. The instruments of data production were the participant observation, to verify the group relations  with reading, and the interviews, to verify the transformations of the representations. The data examination was based on content analysis. The results revealed four representational categories: conceptions anchored in positive aspects, conceptions anchored in negative aspects, conceptions anchored in schooling and conceptions anchored in literacy. There have been transformations in the representations due to the new pedagogical experiences. By the end of the year there were no indicators anchored in negative ideas. It is concluded that the hypothesis was confirmed. Changes in representations positively impacted learning. This study leaves its contribution in addressing the relations between the representations of an object (reading) and its learning (literacy), stimulating reflections on the collaborations of the TRS to the education, attributing a psychosocial look to the educational process and the difficulties present in this course.