TEACHING PRACTICES OF READING AND WRITING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN BRAZIL AND FRANCE AND CHILDREN’S KNOWLEDGE OF ALPHABETIC WRITING

ABSTRACT: This study investigated the reading and writing teaching practices in two pre-school classes (five-year-old children): one belonging to the public schools in Recife/PE (Brazil) and another in Paris (France). It was sought to analyze more specifically the work focused on the appropriation of alphabetic writing from the reading and writing activities developed in the classroom. The methodological procedures were interviews, observations of the daily school routine, and writing words activities with students. The analysis of the collected data showed that the teachers organized their pedagogical work in order to emphasize the use of texts and readings that were already part of the children’s universe, and also developed games and activities that led the students to think about the principles of alphabetic writing. At the end of the school year most students of both classes showed understanding of the relationship between writing and the sound of words.