Theoretical-Methodological Contributions to Research on Literacy at School

Abstract

This article aimed at proposing a theoretical and methodological perspective for the study of literacy in school that goes beyond the New Literacy Studies (NLS) based on the assumption that the complex reality of schools and classrooms cannot be understood by a single research approach. The text discusses various aspects involving the theoretical-methodological perspective built over the last 15 years by the Research Group in literacy, Language and Decoloniality (GPEALE). This approach is inspired by the ethnography derived from the NLS, which adopts an anthropological perspective of research, articulating it to the critical pedagogy and literacy of Paulo Freire and to the conception of language derived from Bakhtin’s studies. The analysis indicated that the methodological design adopted allowed more in-depth and holistic understanding of literacy practices at the school through the use of different research tools to consolidate the ethnographic perspective.