CONSTRUCTION OF LEARNING

ON READING AND WRITING IN CHILDREN

ACCORDING TO RESEARCH BY EMILIA FERREIRO

LIC. MARITÉ SARTHE

(REVIEWED)

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INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCHES OF EMILIA FERREIRO
Undoubtedly, we could say that Emilia Ferreiro's research was
revolutionary. It sheds light on one of the most complicated lessons at the beginning
of childhood schooling.

In general terms, everything starts when Emilia Ferreiro, along with her team, is
task to investigate the learning difficulties related to writing
and reading in first grade students. This is how research begins.
First in rural areas, in the context of poverty in the Province of Buenos Aires and then it
extends to different sociocultural media. In the year '76 this team must emigrate to
countries like Spain, Mexico, finding in them the same conclusions as those
that had arrived in Argentina.

The theoretical basis of the proposal is psychogenetics, that is, Piaget's theory. It is to
based on this theory in which reading and writing are taken as objects of
knowledge and that as such it is constructed. The process of construction has always been
clear in the learning of mathematics. We knew that to arrive at the notion of
we should essentially work on logical-mathematical aspects, such as the
classification and serializing. This is, approximately, one of the points most
important aspects of the proposal, to consider writing as an object of knowledge, not
social rather than physical.

We say that it is a proposal, not a method, because it respects the process of

The child's construction starts from what he brings, what he has as his own, the teacher continues.
to the child and not the child to the teacher's planning.

E Ferreiro's research was impactful, to understand this impact

It is enough to keep in mind that until that moment the teaching methods of the
reading and writing coincided in three basic points:
They emphasize teaching, privileging the figure of the teacher and their method.
and placing the child and their learning in the background.
The child begins the learning of reading and writing when they enter school.
Literacy involves only activities that engage aspects
perceptive and motor.

The most novel aspect of this research was the permission granted to the child to
manifest your own graphic code. From now on, you will be encouraged to play with writing.
Showing in this way the ideas they have regarding writing.

If we cling to a classical definition of writing, we interpret that it is about

a system of signs that express individual sounds of speech, as it is
our alphabetical writing system, we could conclude that almost no child that
enter the school, write. But if we recognize in writing its origins
psychogenetic, as a particular form of graphic representation, with a long
evolution process, we could say that most of the children who enter the
school, they write.

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Trying to draw a parallel between traditional teaching and the proposal,
we found that:

TRADITIONAL TEACHING PSYCHOGENETIC PROPOSAL

Emphasis is placed on perception and all this would replace the

control motor. need to understand what it brings
child.

It involves a series of habits as it is an object to be known.

acquire
Ignore the evolution of writing and
propose an immediate entry to the code in the construction process of the
alphabetical the boy is passing through
different levels

Part of a supposition: all children To understand writing the child

Are you ready to understand the code reason intelligently, emit hypotheses
alphabetical. regarding writing systems,
This help consists of conveying that it has overcome conflicts, it has granted
sound equivalent of each letter and meanings.
practice them in graphic reproduction. The child appropriates the object through
from the copy (denying the process). This is a slow construction of criteria that
It means that they will learn the most that allows them to understand it.
advanced in conceptualization. In
those who fail can see the deficit there
where there is only one difference regarding
at the moment of conceptual development
in which they are located.

The child knows nothing and has to The child is an active being who defines their
teach him everything. problems, build possible
solutions and reconstruct the object for
appropriate it

Two contradictory assumptions: The boy does not enter ignoring everything.
the boy knows nothing about writing
the child knows that writing refers to
language" (overestimation)

Conception of the error: it means difficulty. It is based on the notion of error from the
or incapacity Piaget's theory: constructive error.

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STEPS TAKEN BY THE CHILD IN THE LEARNING OF READING AND THE
Writing

When does a child begin to learn reading and writing?

What steps does he go through in this process?

Piaget's theory has shown that the child is an active being who structures the
world that surrounds him through a constant interaction with it, acts
permanently on the objects and thus understands the relationships between the
same by formulating hypotheses, testing them, accepting some and
rejecting others.

This child faces writing much before entering school and tries to
interpret what this particular type of writing is different from drawing and that is
They can be found in most everyday objects (packaging, signs, etc).

At first, the child does not understand that writing is an object.

symbolic, that the texts refer to a meaning.

Much later, the boy makes a fundamental discovery: character

symbolic of the texts. He still does not know how to read but knows that they say something and formulates
your hypothesis has discovered that texts carry meanings but
has not yet understood the relationship between writing and the sonic aspects of
speaks. This entire long period is called PRESYLLABIC.

What do children propose about the content of the texts when they discover that they are
bearers of meaning?

The first hypothesis they construct is regarding the 'name hypothesis':

they consider that the texts represent the names of the objects (if they are written
about the objects or those close to them)

At the beginning, they can write with just one letter. But later on, a
demand that constitutes a 'quantity hypothesis', it is a requirement of
minimum amount of letters for the text to be readable, be a carrier of a
meaning.

This quantity hypothesis is complemented by the 'variety hypothesis': a

writing must have a minimum of three letters in order to be read but
they must also be different. For example, the child may reject a writing like
AAAA or PPPP or MAMA.

It is also feasible that in a very short time or together with the other, it arrives at
a hypothesis that assumes that: different names must be represented by
different writings.

After exploring different strategies, it leads to the syllabic hypothesis that

it consists of assigning a syllabic sound value to each letter. We are faced with
a more advanced level of conceptualization, as it considers the relationship between
writing and sound aspects of speech.

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For the children who are trying to understand our writing system that
is alphabetical, this syllabic hypothesis presents several conflicts that operate as
gear shift, they cause imbalances that determine the replacement of the
syllabic hypothesis for another closer to our system. These conflicts are:
Conflict of the syllabic hypothesis with another that has been constructed: for example, The
minimum character quantity hypothesis will present difficulties when
write monosyllabic or bisyllabic words: SUN=O
Insufficiency of the syllabic hypothesis when it comes to interpreting texts. When the
child tries to 'read' a word assigning to each letter the sound value of a
syllable, it has extra letters COW (CA is extra)

Based on these conflicts and the information it receives, the

conceptualizations of the child are advancing in the sense of understanding of the
relationship between phoneme-grapheme, phoneme-existing letter in the alphabetical system.

To arrive at this, one goes through a transition period called 'syllabic-alphabetic' in

the one that works simultaneously with both hypotheses: the syllabic and the alphabetic.

The word DUCK can be written as "PTO, writings so familiar for a

first year that does not represent an omission but the simultaneous work with both
hypothesis.

This is how they come to understand the alphabetical characteristics of our system,
essential but not final discovery of the re-construction process of the
writing.

He should strengthen the work line on the correspondence between phonemes and graphemes.

It must also recognize the elements of written language that are not reflected in the
spoken language: separation between words, conventional use of capital letters, letters
that have no sound (h).

It should also inversely recognize the elements of spoken language that do not
are reflected in the writing: intonation, varieties for pronouncing the same letter,
etc.

We are talking about the ORTHOGRAPHIC level.

SLIDE/TRANSFERENCE PROJECTION
The slides that we are going to see next show us children's writings.
of children who finish preschool and others who start elementary school.
They come from state and private schools.

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 "TEST" OF WRITING
Description of the technique: Words

The child is encouraged to write their name and

then "read" its parts.

It is about choosing a series of words

NAME
under certain conditions that
enable the observation of what the child
has built on writing and reading. Worm

Words that belong to are selected Giraffe

a same family, such is the case of names
of animals, that are made up of Mono
one syllables, by two, three and more, that
they refer to a large object and another
Cow
small, that a word has the
same vowels and others that vary, etc.
Little bird
It also includes a sentence, with the
intention to observe the deployment Elephant
constructive at this instance.
Tick
We start from a broad guideline: “I
I want to know how the kids write.
little ones like you because I already know how Cockroach
do the greats write like me or like her
Miss, but I don't know how you write. Fish
Do you want to show me?... let's write
like playing... how do you write your name? The cow eats grass
Show me. Well, now read it. Where it says
WORM?

From its production, it is observed the

level of construction of writing, the
category and subcategory, the hypotheses that
holds, etc.

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 EVOLUTION OF WRITING
PRESYLLABIC LEVEL
A. Primitive graphics, unigraphic writings or without control of quantity
A.1. Primitive graphics
A. 2. Unigraphic writings
A. 3. Writings without control of the quantity

B. Fixed scriptures
B.1. fixed writings with predominance of conventional spellings

C. Differentiated Writings
C.1. fixed repertoire sequence with variable quantity
C.2. constant quantity with fixed partial repertoire
C.3. variable quantity with partial fixed repertoire
C.4. constant quantity with variable repertoire
C.5. variable amount and variable repertoire.

A. Differentiated writings with initial sound value

D.1. Variable quantity and repertoire and presence of initial sound value.

SYLLABLE LEVEL
B. Initial syllabic writings
E.1. Initial syllabic writings without predominance of the conventional sound value.
E.2. Initial syllabic writings with conventional sound value without correspondence
sonorous.
E.3. Syllabic writings initial with conventional voiced sounds with corresponding sound.

C. Syllabic writings with a marked requirement for quantity

F.1. Strict syllabic writings with a marked demand for quantity and without
predominance of conventional sound value
F.2. Strict syllabic writings with a marked demand for quantity and predominance
of conventional sound value

G: Strict syllabic writings

G.1. Strict syllabic writings without the predominance of conventional sound value.
G.2. Strict syllabic writings with a predominance of conventional sound value.

Syllabic-Alphabetic Level
D. Syllabic-alphabetic writings
H.1. Syllabic-alphabetic writings without the prediction of conventional sound values.
H.2. Syllabic-alphabetic writings with predefined conventional sound values.

ALPHABETICAL LEVEL
I. Alphabetical Scriptures
I.1. Alphabetic writings without predominance of the conventional sound value.
I.2. Alphabetic writings with some flaws in the use of Sound value
conventional.
I.3. Alphabetic writings with conventional sound value.

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slides

PRESYLLABIC LEVEL

PRIMITIVE GRAPHICS: 1, 2, 3
UNIGRAPHIC WRITINGS: 4.5
FIXED WRITINGS: Constant amount with partial fixed repertoire: 6.7.
DIFFERENTIATED WRITINGS:
variable amount with Partial Fixed Repertoire: 8
Variable Quantity and Variable Repertoire: 9. 10
Quantity and variable repertoire and presence of initial sound value: 11. 12

SYLLABIC LEVEL
Initial syllabic writing with conventional sound value in the writings without
sound correspondence: 13
Syllabic writing with a marked demand for quantity: 14. 15. 16.
Strict syllabic writing without prediction. Of the conventional sound value: 17

Initial syllabic writing with sound value pred.: 18. 19. 20.

SYLLABIC-ALPHABETIC LEVEL
Syllabic-alphabetic writing with predominance of the sound value.

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Material: 21 slides

There are 4 main levels in writing: pre-syllabic, syllabic, syllabic-alphabetic and

Alphabetical. Each of them has categories and subcategories.

Syllabic Level

Unaware of any search for correspondence between graphemes and sounds.

Primitive graphics: to understand our writing system, the

the child must recognize and incorporate elements of writing into their productions
from their environment.

In Gabriel's case, he prefers to cling to the drawing and only resorts to producing.
Pseudo-letters before a sentence. This will be your hypothesis but in addition, it faced him.
with a conflict, that of representing a sentence through drawing.
2. While Leonel also resorts to drawing, he represents with pseudographies below
the same writings. (Instruction when drawing: 'put it so that it says')
3. David, already uprooted from drawing, uses pseudolike letters with large variations and
other scribbles to decipher their writings

Unigraphic writings: using a single graphic for each name

to represent. It can be the same writing (fixed repertoire) or a different one (repertoire
variable.
4 and 5. With a variable and unigraphic repertoire, Mario and Ignacio represent the
writings (in this last one, the use of the letters of his own name is observed)

Scriptures without quantity limit (no s.e.): it is marked by the sheet limit.

Fixed writings: generally, conventional spellings are used, it is controlled the

quantity of those graphemes (not a single one nor a specific number). The same series of letters.
in the same order they serve for different names.
6. As in the case of Gabriel with a constant amount with a fixed partial repertoire.
7. The same is observed in Miguel Angel but with the appearance of pseudolanguages and
variations in his name.

Differentiated writings: with a predominance of conventional spellings and quantity

controllable to introduce intentional differentiations.
8. With a Variable Amount with Partial Fixed Repertoire, we find the
productions of Cristina. On the other hand in:
9 and 10. With greater differentiations and a large number of elements are the
productions by Miguel Angel and Mariana that contain a variable amount and a
Variable Repertoire.

Differentiated writings with initial sound value

11. This protocol is found in a subcategory where an Amount appears and
Variable repertoire and presence of initial sound value. The letter that starts each
The writing corresponds to the sound value of the first syllable of the word.
12. The most pronounced sound value is observed but with a more fixed repertoire.

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SYLLABIC LEVEL

An attempt is made to match graphemes and syllables (generally one grapheme per
syllable what does not exclude problems arising from demands for minimum quantity of
letters).
Initially, we can find initial syllabic writings, these are the first ones.
attempts to write by assigning a syllabic value to each grapheme.
13. We encountered an Initial Syllabic Writing with Constant Sound Value
in writings without sound correspondence, they are writings without correspondence
sonorous but with initial sound value and with a certain particularity in this case since it
observe terminal sound value.

Syllabic writings with a marked demand for quantity: another subcategory is

writings constructed from the syllabic analysis of the word but in some
cases present more spellings than those required by the predominance of a demand
minimum quantity greater than two.
14. this protocol presents this marked demand for quantity in some cases in
those who omit the conventional sound value while respecting it on other occasions. Such
the representation of his name. There is also a demand for variety that is
translate to represent the same syllable in print and italics.
The same thing happens
16. The same is observed with monosyllables or disyllables but with a predominance of value.
conventional sound.

Strict syllabic writings: these are the ones in which the hypothesis predominates.
syllabic. One (or two) letters for each syllable of the word. The requirement of quantity
minimum is subordinated to the syllabic hypothesis.
17. Strict Syllabic Writing without the predominance of the conventional sound value, is the
Natalia's construction where letters and pseudo-letters have no sound value
conventional.
18. Strict Syllabic Writings with voiced consonant pred: in this protocol there
observe a hypothesis of variety that contradicts the sound value in some words.
The same for 19.
20. Introduce some transitional elements to the next level but it is evident that a
more systematic learning.

SYLLABIC-ALPHABETIC LEVEL

There are two ways to match sounds and writings: the syllabic and the
alphabetical. It is not about writings with omissions but about two types of
correspondence.
21. Syllabic-alphabetic writing with a predominance of the conventional sound value, such as the
production of Rafael.

Practical work: Analysis of children's writings

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The observation of the naming of levels, categories, and subcategories through which
traverses the evolution of children's writing, it may cause confusion due to the large
number of names to incorporate.
But familiarization with some fundamental concepts will greatly facilitate
measure the analysis and it will become a simple technical observation with the
frequent management of protocols.

To facilitate the use of this vocabulary, some are highlighted.

concepts that are repeated. For example:

QUANTITY: refers to the number of characters used by the child. Letters, numbers or
pseudoletters. The quantity can be constant (same number) or variable (different quantity)
for each denomination)

REPERTOIRE: refers to this amount of characters and their order. The repertoire can
fixed (always the same), partial fixed (can start or end the same)
form for the different names) variable (different for each denomination.

SOUND VALUE DOMINANCE: a reiterated concept that refers to

discovery of the relationship between writing and the sound aspects of speech. It can be
initial (when it only appears at the beginning of each 'word'), conventional (when
respond to our code) and its presence or absence determines its corresponding
preposition: with us.

ASSIGNMENT:
Analyze the following protocols with children's writings. Try to determine their
level of construction of writing

BALANCING PROCESS AND CONSTRUCTIVE ERROR

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Emilia Ferreiro's research is based on theoretical approaches, the theory
psychogenetics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics.

Considering the impact of these aspects on learning

reading and writing, with special reference to the first, that is to say the Theory
psychogenetics, the importance of the balancing process that intervenes is considered
in all construction of knowledge.

We talk about process since the states of equilibrium that are achieved are not
permanent since the constant contact with the object of knowledge raises
new conflicts that need to be resolved.

Functional mechanisms of assimilation and accommodation are put into play that
they intervene in all construction processes but keeping their structural level in mind
that will allow him to approach that object in a certain way.

This is how certain information or fact can be partially denied without

cause imbalance or constitute a disturbance, or be reworked and
incorporated into their way of thinking.

This state of imbalance, understood as a driving force for progress, constitutes the source of
progress of all cognitive development.

In the construction process, we know that a series of ordered steps take place.
before the child understands the nature of our alphabetical system of
writing and that each step is characterized by conceptual schemes
particulars.

These schemes imply a constructive process in which children have in

they account for part of the information, leaving aside part of the given information and
they always introduce something of their own. The result is original constructions so
strange to our way of thinking that seem chaotic at first glance.

This is necessarily related to the concept of error since it exerts a

action precisely constructive in the acquisition of knowledge. The errors
they stop pointing out only a difficulty or inability to be revealing of
an irreducible child logic to adult logic.

In the face of a problem, some idea is held about the object that the child pursues and chooses a
action plan, will make corrections based on the successes or failures of the actions,
using specific procedures.

Errors during this process result from an intelligent activity and it is

characteristic of the moment when the subject has not yet been able to consider all the
data of the problem. This type of error is what the proposal essentially refers to,
we need to differentiate from the common error, the one that does not correspond to any stage
evolutionary but rather to negligence or distraction.

TEACHING ROLE

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Up until the moment of this work, we have referred to the different steps.
that the child goes through in learning the written language, that is to say, to the different
levels of conceptualization and the processes involved in their construction.
From this perspective, we take into account a pedagogical practice that is
based on the following basic principles:
The teacher must function as a guide, directing group activities and
promote the exchange of information among children, thus achieving this way
a reconstruction of the writing system. Their intervention will be necessary in
those cases in which any group member has concerns that are not
satisfied with their peers and through the presentation of situations that
provoke cognitive conflicts when this is appropriate, which will drive the child
to search for new solutions. For example: a child holding a hypothesis
syllabic-alphabetic wrote 'pco' intending to write 'poco', he was asked to write
“pico” and wrote “pco”. Both writings were shown to him and he was asked if the
he considered that 'pico' and 'poco' could be written the same. He remained thoughtful and said 'pi
go with the y and po with o" and he wrote the words correctly. We consider that this
This type of signaling is more fruitful than providing the information or correcting it.
error (say there is missing the 'o') without allowing the child to discover it.
the teacher's intervention must necessarily be accompanied by knowledge
regarding the level of conceptualization in which the child is, as this
will allow to know when it is appropriate to try to provoke a cognitive conflict and
when you should accept their responses without disturbing them. For example, in children who
they are just formulating certain hypotheses, if you try to conflict them it is
It is possible that they get blocked and do not continue to move forward. The teacher must encourage them, respecting
his process and not to disqualify him for his mistakes, which does not mean that always
consider any response valid. It is important to investigate the causes of the error, if
it is a construction error or of another type. In the case of it being so, assess this error as
a useful instrument that leads the subject to reflection and analysis, whereas if their
errors are censored one will feel clumsy, diminished, insecure, increasingly driven
depending on another to solve their problems, potentially hindering their process
of learning.
Thus, the teacher's role will be to facilitate and stimulate learning, which
it means creating favorable conditions for him to learn having in
how much the evolutionary process the child is in. That is, to know that a fact
An object can only be observable to the child if he has a structure.
cognitive that allows him to assimilate that stimulus (example: presenting a book of
Telling stories to a baby is not a stimulus to 'read'; the baby will touch it, suck on it, etc.
it is for a 4-5 year old child since although they cannot read, they will be able to interpret the
content of the images and thus 'read it' or ask an adult to read it to them.
If we assume that the child, long before entering school, formulates
hypothesis about our written language system, we consider valuable from
the teacher should have a constant attitude of alertness and interest to investigate what he
The child knows how to value and take advantage of this knowledge. From here, any activity will be more
rewarding and beneficial to help you broaden your knowledge instead of
constantly initiating it in what we know or assume it ignores. This requires
understand that the axis of the educational situation does not revolve around the teacher or the
teaching method but by the student and the learning process. Thus the children
they will experience in the classroom something that is natural in extracurricular life: the
joy of learning and we will be able to confirm that it does not necessarily come 'with blood'
the lyrics

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ACTIVITIES
It is important to detect the level of conceptualization in which the children are.
for programs and to regulate activities in the classroom. These must be proposed
taking into account one of the essential functions of written language: the
communication. It will aim to prevent students from doing activities of
literacy that consists of a mere exercise. It is necessary to create an environment
literacy program that allows children to connect with different written materials
carriers of texts with which children can interact. For this, it can be
create a library in the classroom (storybooks, various texts, letters, newspapers,
dictionaries, recipes, magazines, etc.
Not only should the planned activities be implemented but also take advantage
circumstantial situations that serve for children to understand the
functions of writing (e.g. If the need arises to remember something, 'we write it down')
"so as not to forget it?" Or if you need to communicate something to a person who is not present.
present see what is the most effective way to send a message, if someone formulates
Any questions on any topic consult texts to find out the answer.
In group activities, the confrontation of opinions was encouraged.
participation of the largest number of children and the reflective anticipation regarding the
proposed themes and materials. Some of the activities were carried out during
all year and with the whole group (e.g. working with text carriers: identify
carriers, classify library material, work with various storybooks
with reading and staging of them).
Permanent writing activities included in playful and everyday situations
e.g.: a card holder that each child is assembling with the words that are already in
conditions of reading and writing), which led to the need to organize that material.
with which they accessed the need for the use of the alphabet, activities with names
typical of children: analysis and comparison of names, classify by initial and
length, make different cuts of them, create a group diary in the
that they take turns recording the activities that are carried out in class.
-Activities that favor the transition from the pre-syllabic level to the syllabic level: reflect
about the length of two names, trying to provoke a conflict in
those who think that such length is related to the size of the
Regarding 'pencil sharpener book', show posters with names and have each one displayed.
where it corresponds, ask why, say names that start with an
determined syllable, the teacher will write the words and then show them to the children
what was written asking to notice how they are similar and why they are written
starting with the same letter, relate the length of a sentence to that of
a word and locate a word within a sentence. An image is shown
and a sentence related to the theme 'children play' is written on a card.
in the park" and in another "park", ask the children what they see in the image and
show where it says that and where it says the word, the reason for its choice and for
What 'park' is written at the end.
Activities that favor the transition from the syllabic hypothesis to the syllabic hypothesis
alphabetical: assemble a long word with movable letters, read it, disassemble it and
form other distinct words with those letters, each child in a group can
assemble one per shift, read it to your classmates and discuss its correctness or not. No
Words can be repeated, for this they can be noted down in a notebook.
when the possibilities run out, another child suggests a long word to

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 start again; with movable letters make a 'hangman' with the help of
images.
Activities to expand the written language knowledge for children who already
they understood the alphabetic characteristics: writing situations and
interpretation of texts from which information may arise about
orthographic conventions, use of uppercase letters, punctuation marks,
spaces between words, grammatical agreements, etc; promote situations
that require a reflective attitude in relation to different presentations of
writing: words, sentences, paragraphs in different text carriers, each
The child must support his claims and compare them with those of his classmates.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ferreiro, E: "Writing systems in child development"
Ferreiro, E: New Perspectives on the Processes of Writing and Reading
Ferreiro, E: Literacy Process. Literacy in Process. Libraries
University students.
Little Red Riding Hood learns to write
Castorina. Lenzi: 'Genetic Psychology'.

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