ORALITY AND LANGUAGE CONCEPTIONS IN THE PROCESS OF FORMAL LITERACY INSTRUCTION

Abstract

Orality is one of the key points that guides the teacher in the teaching of
Portuguese at any level. The way orality is considered in the literacy instruction process shows,
consciously or not, the language conception that underlies the teaching of language at this stage
of the child’s schooling. In this perspective, this article aims at analyzing utterances of literacy
teachers concerning their understanding on orality when they teach the written language everyday
in their classrooms. The analyses were based on the Bakhtinian theory, especially the categories
dialogism and alterity, the latter seen as ‘the Other’. The analyses were carried out with the
understanding that language is social interaction, which, similarly, can be seen as the Bakhtin’s
concept of utterance. The teachers’ utterances showed, by inference or not, different conceptions
of orality and, consequently, different conceptions of language, particularly written languagem.
Nevertheless, when the teachers unveiled their language conception, they also unveiled their interlocutors, that is, those with whom they somehow share the conceptions on what and how
they teach: their Others.