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Abstract

Illiteracy problems in Latin America cannot be faced successfully without taking into account what actually happens at the beginning of primary school. Almost all children enter primary school, but those from marginal sectors of the population repeat the first grades one or more times and leave school before completion. Nonpromotion and low retention constitute the evidence of a deeper problem. Traditional school practices make the beginning of literacy more difficult precisely for those children who are more dependent on school help. The present situation may be overcome on the basis of research results generated in Latin America as well as innovative pedagogical experiences to improve literacy acquisition. If failure at the beginning of primary school continues as it is, the children of today will become the low-literate adults of tomorrow.

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1. At present we are conducting a three-year follow-up study in small, poor, rural communities in Mexico where a particular type of school service—pertaining to an agency of the Ministry of Education called CONAFE (National Council for Promoting Education)—has been in operation throughout the country since 1973.

Yetta Good-man , ed., How Children Construct Literacy (Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 1990).

3. The same happens in Brazil with respect to the many varieties of Brazilian Portuguese that are spoken. Cf. Luiz Carlos Cagliari , Alfabetizacão & Lingüística (São Paulo: Editora Scipione, 1989).

For the original Spanish version, see idem Los sistemas de escritura en el desarrollo del niño (Mexico: Siglo XXI Editores, 1979).

5. A very interesting linguistic analysis of writing systems can be found in Geoffrey Sampson , Writing Systems (London: Hutchinson, 1985).

6. Ignatius Mattingly , “Reading, the Linguistic Process, and Linguistic Awareness,” in Language by Ear and by Eye, ed. James Kavanagh and I. Mattingly (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1972), p. 138.

7. Emilia Ferreiro , “The Interplay between Information and Assimilation in Beginning Literacy,” in Emergent Literacy, ed. W. Teale and E. Sulzby (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1986).

8. Emilia Ferreiro , “L'écriture avant la lettre,” in La Production de Notations chez le Jeune Enfant, ed. Hermine Sinclair (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1988).

For the Portuguese version, see idem , Os filhos do analfabetismo (Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas, 1990).

Children's Literacy and Public Schools in Latin America

Abstract

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