Conhecimento metalinguístico e aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita

Abstract

The aim of this research was to study the relationship between metalinguistic knowledge (phonological, morphological and syntactical awareness) and reading and writing outcomes at the end of the second year of elementary school. The participants were twenty-eight Portuguese-speaking children followed from the beginning of first grade to the end of second grade, selected from a larger sample of 83 children. They were evaluated at the beginning of each school year (tests of phonological, morphological and syntactical awareness) and at the end of each school year (word reading and word writing tests). Two groups of children were assembled: (i) good performances in word reading and writing tests at the end of second grade (N=13) (ii) poor performances in word reading and writing tests at the end of second grade (N=15). The results showed that when the cognitive development, the verbal memory and the mother’s educational level were controlled, the good reader/writers group obtained statistically significant better results at the phonological, morphological and syntactical awareness tests (measured at the beginning of first and second grade) than the poor readers/writers group. These results show the importance of metalinguistic development on reading and writing and call the attention for the need to work phonological, morphological and syntactical awareness since the beginning of schooling.