IX International Congress of Research and Professional Practice in Psychology XXIV Research

Conferences XIII Meeting of MERCOSUR Psychology Researchers. Faculty of Psychology -

EMILIA FERREIRO AND ANA TEBEROSKY.

Vissani, Laura Elena, Scherman, Patricia and Fantini,

Citation: Vissani, Laura Elena, Scherman, Patricia and Fantini, Nilda Delfina (2017).
EMILIA FERREIRO AND ANA TEBEROSKY. WRITING SYSTEMS IN CHILD
DEVELOPMENT. IX International Congress of Research and Professional Practice
in Psychology XXIV Research Conferences XIII Meeting of MERCOSUR
Psychology Researchers . Faculty of Psychology - University of Buenos Aires,
Buenos Aires.

Stable address: https://www.aacademica.org/000-067/173

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EMILIA FERREIRO AND ANA TEBEROSKY. THE
SYSTEMS
WRITING IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Vissani, Laura Elena; Scherman, Patricia; Fantini, Nilda Delfina
National University of Cordoba. Argentina

SUMMARY content and in the context of production from the point of view
This presentation analyzes Emilia Ferreiro's contributions to of the participants.
the topic of learning to read and write, collected in the text
Writing systems in the development of the child (Ferreiro and Keywords
Teberosky, 1979). The effect of this reading on the Piaget, Emilia Ferreiro, Literacy, School failure, Latin America
conceptualizations sustained from Piagetian theory and on the
teaching practices deployed up to that moment is studied. In this presentation we will analyze the contributions made by
Ferreiro's contributions involved: the introduction of a novel Emilia Ferreiro, based on Piaget's theory, to the topic of
reading of Piaget's theory in academic circles in Argentina; the learning to read and write, expressed in the text Writing
bringing into play of genetic psychology concepts in the field of systems in the development of the child (Ferreiro and
reading and writing, not addressed so far by Piaget or his Teberosky, 1979). Reading these contributions produced an
collaborators; the carrying out of a concrete investigation from intense questioning of the teaching practices derived from
the Piagetian method, and the location of the problem of traditional models and a ree evaluation of the
access to reading and writing and its relationship with school conceptualizations sustained from this theory. Our work is part
failure involving as pects that until then remained invisible, of a broader investigation into the history of psychology in
such as inequality and poverty conditions in Latin America tub. Córdoba and in particular about the reception tion of the work
Published abroad, during the military process, the book arrived of Jean Piaget in psychologists and pedagogues, in the period
in the country clandestinely and began to be worked on in 1960 to 1990, both in its academic dissemination and in its
limited study groups. The present investigation considers the impact on professional practices.
text as a historical product, being interested in both its content After his return from Switzerland, where he had obtained a
and the context of production from the point of view of the doctorate at the Center for Genetic Epistemology directed by
participants. Jean Piaget at the University of Geneva, Ferreiro and a team
of collaborators, within the framework of the psychology
Keywords degree at the University of Buenos Aires, In 1973, they began
Piaget, Emilia Ferreiro, Reading, Writing, School failure, Latin research with children from Buenos Aires schools from low-
America income sectors. In 1979, with a foreword by the renowned
researcher Hermine Sinclair, it was published blic in Mexico
ABSTRACT Writing systems in the development of the child (Ferreiro &
FERREIRO & TEBEROSKY: THE SYSTEMS OF WRITING IN Teberosky, 1979), a book that collects the results of that
THE DEVELOPMENT LOPMENT OF THE CHILD research carried out in Buenos Aires between 1973 and 1976.
This presentation analyzes the contributions of Emilia Ferreiro The novelty provided by the text by Emilia Ferreiro and Ana
to the learning of literacy, collected in the text The systems of Teberosky involved more than one aspect: on the one hand,
writing in the development of the child (Ferreiro & Teberosky, an episical reading themology of Piaget's theory, different from
1979). The effect of this text is studied in the that which circulated in psychology courses at that time; On
conceptualizations sustained from the Piagetian theory and in the other hand, the development llo of the concepts of genetic
the teaching practices deployed until that moment. The psychology in the field of reading and writing, a field that had
contributions of Ferreiro implied: the introduction of a novel not been addressed in Piagetian studies; He also carried out
type of understanding the theory of Piaget in the acade mic specific research based on the Piagetian method, which was
circles in Argentina; The placement into play of concepts of new in our country and fi Finally, he framed his understanding
ge netic psychology in the field of literacy, not addressed so of school failure in a broader perspective, which involved
far by Pia get or his collaborators; The production of a aspects that until then remained invisible, such as inequality
concrete research from the Piagetian method, and the location and conditions of poverty.
of the problem of access to literacy and its relationship to Published abroad during the military process, the book
school failure, involving aspects that until then remained reaches Argentina clandestinely and begins to be worked on in
invisible, such as inequality and poverty conditions in Latin limited study groups (Fantini, Vissani & Scherman, 2016).
America. Published abroad, during the last dictatorship, the Our investigation considers the text as a historical product, it
book reaches the country clandestinely and begins to be deals with the analysis of its content and its production context
analyzed in small study groups. The present inquiry considers (Rosa, Huertas and Blanco, 1996). The analysis takes into
the text as a historical product, being interested both in its account the point of view of the participants, which is why they

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have been covered interviews conducted with Emilia Ferreiro marginal sectors of the city of Buenos Aires. “…we began to
and published under different formats; also stories from systematically find that those children who failed in school
collaborators and communicates personal meetings with key again and again, were children who were knowing what the
actors in the field under study (Jacó-Vilela, Espírito-Santo, school taught, that is, all those children who repeated knew all
Degani-Carneiro, Goes & Vasconcellos,2016). the letters perfectly well, they knew perfectly well the
relationship with sounds and could not read or write” (Kaufman
The beginnings in Aspis & Horta, 2015).
Emilia Ferreiro was born in Buenos Aires in 1937, studied The investigation required the preparation of specific
psychology at the University of Buenos Aires, and was part of situations. cases, since the usual tests, which assessed the
the first generation of Argentine psychologists; In the 1960s child's maturation for reading and writing, were not useful for
she was a student assistant in General Psychology II, where the objectives of this work, in which the aim is for the child to
Piaget was studied (Ferreiro in Denti, 2008; Lenzi and Appel, put writing and reading into play "just as he sees” and the
in Caruso and Fairstein, 2003). Let us remember that it was in problems that he poses (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1979, p. 38).
the second half of the 1950s when psychology courses began From these situations, it was about establishing a dialogue,
to be created in the country's main universities (Klappenbach, following Piaget's clinical method. During these individual
2003; 2006). In those years, Piaget's theory was seen and interviews with the children, The responses were recorded and
transmitted as evolutionary psychology; In other works we each subject was evaluated in the entire series of tasks, in the
have been able to establish that Piaget's study was school or kindergarten they attended.
established in the psychology courses of national universities, “A semi-longitudinal follow-up was carried out, lasting one
and in general it was introduced in the same way (Álvarez, year, with 30 children from “a lower class social environment”,
Giordano & Vissani, 2013; Vissani & Fantini, 2015). . It is also in first grade at a school in a peripheral neighborhood of
in the educational and pedagogical field, where this greater Buenos Aires, a “shanty town” (Ferreiro & Teberosky,
psychological theory will achieve greater diffusion. 1979, p.43). The families were unskilled workers or temporary
The personal encounter with Piaget occurred when, pushed workers. The teachers' teaching methods were the same. The
abroad by the political pressure she experienced with her results made it clear that children arrive at first grade with a
husband after the Onganía coup (Ferreiro in Denti, 2008), she whole series of hypotheses about writing, which begin around
ended up doing her doctorate on Temporal relations in the the age of 4. They were in this section, with the group of
language of the child at the University of Geneva, and directed children in a school in the village, when “for reasons beyond
by Piaget himself. our control” says Ferreiro (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1979, p.46),
they had to abandon that exhibition.
The investigation between 1974 and 1976 The new coup d'état in 1976 had the consequence that the
In 1971 he returned to Argentina, resumed his work at the group stopped working and that each of them took different
University and soon began to design research. paths, going into exile abroad: Ana María Kaufman in Mé xico,
“Returning to Argentina, I had the purpose of doing a series of Ana Teberosky in Barcelona, Spain. Emilia Ferreiro returns to
comparative studies in psycholinguistics, and in fact I was very Switzerland and then settles in Mexico.
interested in certain syntactic constructions and how those
syntactic constructions were learned. I was interested in The book
understand a little more the reasons for initial school failure…” The text begins by explaining many of the aspects that make
(Ferreiro in Denti, 2008) the impact that Emilia Ferreiro's work produced: writing as a
As Piaget understands it, conceptual and theoretical progress cultural object, learning as the child's relationship with that
requires sarily it must be rigorously supported by empirical object that he tries to assimilate, and the child as a knowing
evidence obtained in experimental situations. subject rather than an object of different teaching methods.
“... I began to observe classes in marginalized areas of the city Says so:
of Buenos Aires and I found that an enormous amount of “A very important number (too important) of children fail when
linguistic exchanges had to do with writing. And one of the introduced to initial literacy. Aims to We must demonstrate that
things that Piaget had taught me, and he taught me for life, is the learning of reading, understood as the questioning about
that a boy is a knowing subject, that a boy is someone who the nature, function and value of this cultural object that is
tries to understand the world around him, who develops writing, begins much earlier than the school imagines, and
hypotheses, who receives information, but he receives it in his proceeds in unsuspected ways. That in addition to the
own way which depends on the assimilative schemes you methods, the manuals, the teaching resources, there is a
have to interpret that information. So I said: well, let's see if we subject who tries to acquire knowledge, who poses problems
find the Piagetian child in the field of written language..." and tries to solve them following his own methodology. (…) A
(Ferreiro in Denti, 2008) subject that the psychology of reading and writing has
The research group was formed in 1973. The collaborators forgotten, by dint of searching for specific aptitudes, particular
were Ana Teberosky, Alicia Lenzi, Susana Fernández, Ana abilities, or an always ill-defined maturity achieved.” (Ferreiro
María Kaufman and Liliana Tolchinsky. In 1974 it was part of & Teberosky, 1979, p.9)
his duties as professors at the University of Buenos Aires. The
In the specific field of learning to read and write, produ ce a
following years they continued it without any official support,
true revolution, both in our country and in other Latin American
on their own. They worked in primary schools and gardens in

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countries, mainly in Mexico and Brazil (Aspis & Horta, 2015). teacher for a long time, who at every moment he grabbed his
head saying: what did I do, what did I do, that is to say: the
The knowing subject in a new field impact, the force of a vision completely different from the
The authors express regarding the conceptions of the time vision one had of that boy who was learning to read and write,
about learning: “The principle from which we start is that there and who suddenly might have own ideas totally different from
is a “maturation” for learning and that this maturation consists those that the teaching methods were trying to implement.”
of a series of specific skills that can be measured through (Lerner, in Aspis & Horta, 2015).
observable behaviors. ” (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1979, p.39). It In this sense, this perspective implies a radical shift: it deals
started from a description of the child considered “normal”, with literacy as an object to be learned and no longer as an
which was also taken in a prescriptive sense, says Ferreiro, as object to be taught, which fundamentally changes the
necessary requirements to access education; hence the questions about the methods and position of the teacher. The
importance given to evaluation in that model. “When we teacher will no longer be the one who induces the process,
consider the psychological literature dedicated to establishing applying the most effective method, giving rise to errors being
the list of the aptitudes or skills necessary to learn to read and seen and worked on as conscientious. partial instructions,
write, we see the same variables continually appear: spatial which allow approximations to subsequent achievements,
lateralization, visual discrimination, auditory discrimination, points of arrival and not points of departure. However, it could
visual-motor coordination, good articulation, etc. ” (Ferreiro & be said that a kind of dependence on methods in the field of
Teberosky, 1979, p.28). education later produced contradictions in the interpretation
These characteristics served as the basis for an implicit or and application of Emilia Ferreiro's developments, which
explicit school classification and constituted the foundation and paradoxically were understood and brought to the classrooms
response that the psychology of the time gave to the as teaching methods.
phenomenon of school failure. In general, the cause of this
delay was attributed to maturation, a biological response in its School failure in social perspective
ultimate explanation. The authors begin by citing data from UNESCO from 1974 so
“Between a conception of the subject of learning as a recipient about school failure in Latin America, which highlight the
of knowledge received from outside, and the conception of this seriousness of the situation at that time. And at the same time,
same subject as a producer of knowledge, there is a they show the problem from other perspectives. According to
difference. abysmal rence. This is the difference that these data, in 1970 20% of school-age children were outside
separates the behaviorist conceptions from the Piagetian the educational system; Of the school population, only 53%
conception” (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1979, p.36). reached fourth grade, the rest dropped out; Finally, they also
show that 2/3 of repeaters occurred in the first mere degrees
A new perspective on learning to read and write The authors of schooling. This concern for the situation of large sectors of
develop a look at this process that is “ra "dically different" and the population in Latin America reflects a view that frames the
that allows the emergence of "a child who actively tries to phenomenon in a broader reality than the failure of the student
understand the nature of the language spoken around him" or the method, a view that makes visible the incidence of
(Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1979, p.22) social inequalities and economics in educational failure.
Piaget studies in children, with collaborators from all over the It is interesting to follow the authors' reasoning in this regard:
world who are trained at the Center for Genetic Epistemology “This problem – lack of basic general education for the entire
in Geneva, the construction of different objects in the field of population – is officially referred to in terms of one of the
physics and mathematical-logic. Emilia Ferreiro investigates “endemic evils” of the educational system, generated by
with this method a completely new domain, one that Piaget repetition and school dropouts. (…) But one might ask: what is
had not worked on and with writing understood as a cultural the cause that makes an individual become a repeater, then a
object: “what is at stake.” Here is the very conception that we repeater? sertor and end up being undereducated all your life?
have about Piaget's theory: either it is conceived as a theory Is it perhaps your inca ability to learn what determines failure?
limited to the processes of acquisition of logical-mathematical Is this, perhaps, a subject responsible for his abandonment
and physical knowledge, or as a general theory of the who, at some point, will be able to reintegrate into the system
processes of acquisition of knowledge." (Ferreiro & Teberosky, to reduce his educational shortcomings? This could be a
1979, p.31) possible interpretation (although not acceptable) if when
Two anecdotes better illustrate the impact that the new analyzing the problem we abstracted from the reality where of
conceptualization had at that time: “…a friend, exiled in Mé is inserted. But it happens that when we analyze the statistics,
Xico, he brings me everything covered so that it wouldn't be none of these problems are proportionally distributed among
seen and tells me: a book has just come out in Mexico that is the population, but rather they accumulate in certain sectors
selling like bread... that's when I began to understand the that, for ethnic, social, economic or geographical reasons, are
writing of Juancito, of Pedrito, at what point in the construction disadvantaged. It is among the indigenous, rural or
were and how those kids had followed their process and were marginalized population of urban centers, where the largest
not sick at all” (Moller, com. personal information, September percentages are concentrated. rates of school failures.”
2014). “...for a year we did an internal study group about the (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1979, p.16)
book and the first thing I remember about that situation was They say it in a very explicit and simple way, analyzing each of
one of the people on the team who had been a first grade the factors that at that time were understood as the cause of

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failure: absenteeism, repetition and school dropout. psychologists and pedagogues who were interested in the
Regarding school absenteeism they say: “Indeed, there are developments of genetic psychology, both in the field of
many children who are absent from school for long periods. reading and writing and in other fields of knowledge.
But what are the causes? There are cases, in rural areas, It may be the subject of further work, delving into the impact
where climatic conditions or distance influence, preventing How effective these approaches have been in psychosocial
assistance. regular attendance at school. In other cases, the practices. logos and pedagogues, promoted even in the
need to be useful to the family in productive tasks determines educational policies that, at least in the province of Córdoba,
absence or abandonment.” (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1979, p.16) took place since the return of democracy in 1983.
The other factor referred to is repetition: “When a child fails in
learning, the school offers him a second chance.” nity: begin BIBLIOGRAPHY
the learning process again. Is this a solution? Isn't repeating Abratte, J.P. (2012). An approach to the political-educational discourse
an experience of failure, under identical conditions, forcing the of the Educational Reform of Córdoba. Cuadernos de Educación 2
(2) 39-49.
child to “repeat his failure”? (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1979, p.16)
Alvarez, S., Giordano, S. & Vissani, L. (2013). Child psychology in the
And finally, the forcefulness of the reflection on desertion is
UNC psychology major: Authors and predominant contents.
schooling, central problem of educational failure: “The term
Proceedings of the XIV Argentine Meeting of the History of
“deser “implementation” carries with it a significant burden of Psychiatry, Psi cology and psychoanalysis. San Miguel de
responding voluntary ability of the subject – in this case, Tucumán: UNT.
children – to individually abandon a group or system to which Aspis, P. & Horta, R. (2015). Educators Series: Emilia Ferreiro. Public
they belong. In the case of the educational system, we would Competition 2015, Prefeitura Duque de Caixas. Duque de Caixas
have to ask ourselves if it is not the system that abandons the Municipality. RJ. Brazil.
dropout, having no strategies to keep him or her, nor interest Caruso, M., & Fairstein, G. (2003). The gates of heaven. Hypotheses
in reintegrating him.” (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1979, p.16, 17). about the reception of psychogenesis and constructivism with
This perspective later influenced an opening of the educational Piagetian roots in the pedagogical field. Dictatorships and utopias
in the recent history of Argentine education (1955-1983). Buenos
system. vo and in the insertion of psychologists in said field. In
Aires: Galerna.
Córdoba, this movement produced changes in the educational
Denti, J. (2008). The Argenmex. Emilia Ferreiro. TVAL Productions.
policy that the first democratic government promoted since
Channel 22 and Channel Encuentro. Mexico DF
1983, in the Educational Reform of Córdoba (Abratte, 2012). https://www.educ.ar/recursos/102321/ emilia-ferreiro
Fantini, N., Vissani, L. & Scherman, P. (2016) Crossings of the socio-
Discussion historical context in the construction of the professional role of the
The research carried out, which had to be interrupted, first due psychologist. XVI Interdisciplinary Conference: Research in
to lack of official support and then because the researchers Human Sciences today. Cor doba: Catholic University of Córdoba.
had to leave the country due to political persecution, produced Ferreiro, E. & Teberosky, A. (1979). Writing systems in development
with the publication of the text three years later, an important child's cry Mexico: Siglo XXI Editores.
questioning of the current perspectives. This effect can be Jacó-Vilela, A., Espírito-Santo, A., Degani-Carneiro, F., Goes, L. &
seen both in the practices of teachers and psychologists linked Vasconcellos, M. (2016). Investigando em História da Psicologia:
methodological contributions. Interactions, 2(2), 123-134
to the educational field. cative, as well as in the theoretical
Klappenbach, H. (2003). Globalization and the teaching of psychology
considerations on the mechanics nisms that allow learning and
in Argentina. Psychology in studies, 8(2), 3-18.
in the conceptualizations and readings about school failure.
Klappenbach, H. TO. (2006). Periodization of psychology in Argentina.
Regarding this last aspect, the proposal is absolutely not
Re view of History of Psychology, 27(1), 109-164.
obscure for that moment and totally current for our time: “…we National Law 26,061 on Comprehensive Protection of the Rights of
believe that instead of “endemic evils”, there should be blar of Boys, Girls and Adolescents. 26/10/2005. Civil Code of the
social selection of the educational system; Instead of calling Argentine Republic.
dropping out of school “desertion,” we would have to call it Piaget, J. (1947/1969). The psychology of intelligence. Buenos Aires:
disguised expulsion. And it is not a terminological change, but Ed. Psyche.
rather another interpretive framework, because social and Rosa, A., Huertas, J. A., & Blanco, F. (1996). Methodology for the
economic inequality is also manifested in the unequal history of psychology. Madrid: Editorial Alliance.
distribution of educational opportunities” (Ferreiro & Vissani, L. & Fantini, N. (2015). Transformations in Jean Piaget's
readings in practice with children, Córdoba, 1960-1990.
Teberosky, 1979, p.17) We ask ourselves: could they Will
Proceedings of the XVI Argentine Meeting of the History of
these arguments be said openly during the 1970s? This saying
Psychiatry, Psychology and Psi coanalysis. Mar del Plata:
called for a transformation of that reality; it could be said that
National University of Mar del Plata.
the very work of these university researchers and teachers,
the fact of going to the village schools, was already a
transformation in itself. it implies ba, as an act, already a
change in the position and in the view from the place of the
intellectual, the university student, the psychologist.
On the other hand, we must recognize the effective
contribution that Emi Lia Ferreiro, through this text and
subsequent works, achieved the construction of a new
perspective on the cognitive subject. noscente, among

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