A compreensão leitora entre alunos de 9º ano de uma escola pública da zona rural de Arapiraca: um trabalho sistemático enfatizando descritores de leitura do SAEB

Abstract

The central theme of this work is related to the school practice of reading and the initial motivation of the research was the verification of the low level of reading comprehension of the students of the 9th grade of Elementary School in a municipal public school in the rural area of Arapiraca, Alagoas. Indeed, as a Portuguese language teacher for more than twenty years, in private schools and in public schools, we realized that in these, the reading proficiency levels of students have been, over the years, increasingly worrying. In view of this problem, we present a proposal for pedagogical intervention that aimed to develop the necessary skills to increase reading comprehension among the referred students. More specifically, it is an action research carried out during the first and second semesters of 2019 in two classes - 9th grade A, with 33 students, in the morning shift and 9th grade B, with 29 students, in the afternoon shift. The basic procedure performed was the application of graduated reading experiences through tests of reading comprehension with multiple choice questions (TCQME), followed by sessions to discuss the results in an attempt to promote mediation between the students and the researcher teacher, aiming to lead students to reflect on their own performances. The theoretical foundation of the research is based on the socio-cognitive and metacognitive approach to reading, whose theoretical assumptions are widely defended by Kleiman (2013), Silveira and Oliveira (2015); Cavalcante and Ribeiro (2017), Cruz (2007), among others; in comparison with the reading skills and descriptors that make up the Portuguese Language Reference Matrix used by the Saeb system. Four tests were applied using texts of different types and genres. Quantitative data (grades obtained) were analyzed, received statistical treatment and were displayed in tables, as well as were analyzed and discussed from a qualitative point of view. These analyzes showed a certain heterogeneity in the students' performance, but we observed a considerable progress not only in the levels of comprehension, but also in the attitude of the participating students, who showed interest and good will in carrying out the tasks and in the discussions mediated by the researcher after the feedback of the tests. Given these evidences, we can infer that a good part of the relative success achieved so far was due to the routine of the activities: the participating students seemed to be considerably benefiting from a systematic reading practice. However, when analyzing the results in terms of grades, it is worth pointing out the existence of students who were not yet able to make the necessary inferences for the effective reading of the text. It is important to remember that these students reached the 9th grade with a lag in basic reading skills, which hampered their development. These data indicate that, if the interventional research had lasted longer, it would probably give them a better chance of remedying their reading deficiencies.