Magda Soares and beginning literacy: Why is reading and producing texts not enough?

Abstract

This article aims to discuss Magda Soares’ views on the explicit teaching of the alphabetic writing system, examining, through a bibliographic review, works she has published since the last millennium. Upon reviewing these positions, it becomes evident that, while she had already expressed concerns in the 1980s about the abandonment of explicit alphabetic writing instruction, it was after the turn of the 20th to the 21st century that she became notably committed to combating what she termed the “de-invention of beginning literacy” and advocating for the necessity of a planned and systematic approach to teaching alphabetic writing, starting in early childhood education, as implemented in the “Alfaletrar” initiative, developed in the municipality of Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. By problematizing the dichotomy between “constructivist teaching” and “explicit teaching,” Magda Soares argued that the choice between these approaches depends on the nature of the knowledge being acquired: the former being more suitable for understanding the alphabetic principle, and the latter for learning the conventional relationships between graphemes and phonemes. The study concludes that, although she was a pioneer in promoting beginning literacy from a sociocultural perspective, Magda Soares never “disregarded” the teaching and learning of alphabetic writing as a fundamental component of early written language acquisition.