Desenho infantil e aquisição de linguagem em crianças surdas: Um olhar histórico-cultural

Abstract

The present paper aimed to analyze the interrelation between the symbolic activity of drawing and language development in deaf children, who were late on the acquisition of Brazilian sign language, and who were at the beginning level of Portuguese writing as a second language. In a qualitative approach, this paper was based on a cultural-historical perspective aiming to gather in one explicative model both brain mechanisms that are implicit to the psychological operation and human and individual development throughout a long historical and cultural process, including the social context. Three deaf children, ages between four and seven years, their bilingual teacher participated in the study. All of them were beginning the acquisition of Brazilian Sign Language and Portuguese writing. Data collected were analysed through the cultural-historical theory in order to evaluate the relation between the sign form of expression - the drawings, the language in process of acquisition by deaf children and the signification process of the world that is in building process through the mediation with others. Children’s drawing interpretation literature was used to analyze the meaning construction of deaf children’s graphical representation. Data showed that sign language and drawing are important signal resources that contribute to language and cognitive development of children who are becoming bilingual.