Beginning Literacy as the Object of Study of Language and Literature Teaching Research, from an Ethnographic Perspective: Contributions to Teacher Training and the Teaching Work

Abstract

This article presents the concepts and fundamentals of the lines of research on Language and Literature teaching from an ethnographic perspective, which we have been conducting in Argentina. Currently, these lines of research are being carried out at Universidad Pedagógica Nacional and focus on continuous teacher training distance learning, specifically addressing the challenges that affect Beginning Literacy in our country. The article explores how teachers describe their teaching experiences regarding the reproduction of educational slogans from the approaches that have guided curriculum designs and teacher training over the last four decades. It also presents how teachers produce other meanings regarding specific aspects overlooked by such reproduction. In this regard, the meanings through which teachers describe the challenges that their students face in mastering written language are defined and analyzed. Teachers sometimes do not know how to address these difficulties, as they have not been introduced to linguistic perspectives related to the distinctive features of Beginning Literacy.