Knowledge Connection During the Reading, in Portuguese Language Classes

Afiliation: ESE/IPP

Abstract: Since reading and literary education are two central aspects in the typical structure of a lesson of Portuguese language and because we consider that the literary text requests a dialogue between the reader and the text, for this research we have decided to focus our attention in the way previous knowledge is related during text reading in language classrooms. Conceiving reading as an interactive and integrative process which to be effective requires the pupils to have previous knowledge, we chose to observe four videotaped lessons, aiming at, through the analysis of a typical lesson of Portuguese, the characterization of the meaning making process and the understanding of how it is achieved the pedagogical principle of knowledge interrelation during the interaction with and about the texts.
Through the analysis of the 42 interactive sequences that we took as specific object of our study, we concluded that, even though we could find examples of sequences with previous knowledge mobilization in all lessons, it does not occur with the objective of developing that previous knowledge and transforming it into new one; on the contrary, that mobilization occurs most of the times with the objective of solving immediate problems of text comprehension or with the intention of evaluating contents previously taught.
On the other hand, we verified that that knowledge relation, which is, most of the time, of “intrasubjects knowledge” type and “heterogenerated” type, occurs, almost always, “during reading”, what seems to minimize the moment “before reading” as the core moment of preparation for the text and for the new echoes that text may convey.
As a conclusion, we may say that we are in the presence of lessons where there isn’t a concern with improving reading performance and consequently the communicative performance of the pupils through literary reading, but on the contrary a concern in developing just their linguistic or grammatical competence.
The Portuguese lessons which have been portrayed here does not seem to integrate either research or syllabus orientations, in what concerns as well the objectives for text work in the classroom: to teach reading strategies, inclusively strategies for knowledge relation, which is believed has the potential to promote more and better reading in a lasting way, when effectively worked out.

Keywords: reading, previous knowledge, lessons observation

Knowledge Connection During the Reading, in Portuguese Language Classes

Author: Ana Isabel Pinto

Afiliation: ESE/IPP