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Article |
Fortalecimiento de la
lectoescritura en los estudiantes de quinto año EGB, desde el área de ciencias
sociales
Liliana de las Mercedes Vela Guamá[*]
Gloria Aracely Miranda Rodríguez*
Elsy Rodríguez Revelo*
Wilber Ortiz Aguilar*
Abstract
This study addresses the strengthening
of reading and writing skills in students in the fifth year of
General Basic Education (EGB) through
the area of Social Sciences. The research is
based on the diagnosis of difficulties in text comprehension and production, identified in evaluations of the Ministry
of Education, which revealed deficiencies in the skills of analysis
and relationship. The main objective is to design
and implement didactic strategies that integrate reading and writing in the History and Identity block to improve academic
performance and student participation.
In terms of methodology, the qualitative-descriptive approach allowed understanding the learning processes
through observations, surveys and content analysis. Didactic interventions were carried out based
on critical reading, analysis of primary and secondary sources, as well as discussions and essays. The results
indicate an improvement in students' comprehension and written expression, as well as an increase in their motivation and participation in class. It is concluded
that integrating literacy in Social Sciences not only enhances linguistic
skills, but also critical thinking and historical understanding, thus
facilitating meaningful learning.
Keywords: literacy, social sciences, basic education,
critical thinking, didactic strategies.
Resumen
El
presente estudio aborda el fortalecimiento de las habilidades de lectoescritura
en estudiantes de quinto año de Educación General Básica (EGB) a través del
área de Ciencias Sociales. La investigación parte del diagnóstico de
dificultades en comprensión y producción textual, identificadas en evaluaciones
del Ministerio de Educación, las cuales revelaron deficiencias en las destrezas
de análisis y relación. El objetivo central es diseñar e implementar
estrategias didácticas que integren la lectoescritura en el bloque de Historia
e Identidad para mejorar el rendimiento académico y la participación
estudiantil. En cuanto a la metodología, el enfoque cualitativo-descriptivo
permitió comprender los procesos de aprendizaje mediante observaciones,
encuestas y análisis de contenido. Se realizaron intervenciones didácticas
basadas en la lectura crítica, el análisis de fuentes primarias y secundarias,
así como en debates y ensayos. Los resultados indican una mejora en la
comprensión y expresión escrita de los estudiantes, además de un aumento en su
motivación y participación en clases. Se concluye que integrar la
lectoescritura en Ciencias Sociales no solo potencia las habilidades
lingüísticas, sino también el pensamiento crítico y la comprensión histórica,
facilitando así un aprendizaje significativo.
Palabras
clave: lectoescritura,
ciencias sociales, educación básica, pensamiento crítico, estrategias
didácticas.
Introduction
Literacy is an essential tool in the educational
process, forming the basis on which learning is built in various areas of
knowledge. According to UNESCO (2006), literacy involves not only the mastery
of mechanical reading and writing skills, but also the ability to understand,
analyze and produce texts effectively. This complex process of acquisition and
development of linguistic skills is fundamental for academic and professional
success, being a pillar in the cognitive and social development of students.
The importance of integrating literacy into all
areas of the curriculum has been widely recognized in education, particularly
in the area of social sciences. This area offers a rich opportunity to foster
critical reading and writing skills, as social science texts challenge students
to understand and analyze cultural, historical, and geographic complexities,
thus promoting meaningful and reflective learning.
However, it has been observed that there are
significant difficulties in reading and writing among students in the fifth
year of General Basic Education, at the time of analyzing the results of the
Ser tests taken by the Ministry of Education this year reflect the following
results in the block of History and Identity students do not master the skill
of Analyzing presenting a result of 49. 20 % which requires an immediate
reinforcement of the mentioned skill, in the same way the skill of Examining
should be worked on immediately because its equivalence is 57.00%, for which
teachers should make their respective intervention and be able to reach the
desired percentage, as for the skill of relating with a percentage of 42.90%
the students should be leveled in a timely manner and thus be able to overcome
in the most didactic way the said results, negatively impacting their academic
performance, especially in social sciences. Faced with this panorama, the
present research seeks to investigate didactic strategies and techniques that
can be used to strengthen reading and writing in the area of social sciences,
with the objective of improving the comprehension and textual production of
students and, consequently, their academic performance, designing a
methodological proposal which includes activities and didactic strategies in
the History and Identity block of the social studies area in 5th Grade of EGB
in which the Ministry has indicated that an immediate intervention is required,
which allows teachers to strengthen their practice in the classroom.
This study is justified by the need to provide
teachers with effective tools that allow them to integrate literacy in the area
of social studies, thus overcoming the barriers that limit student learning. In
addition, it is hoped that the findings will contribute to the existing body of
knowledge on interdisciplinary teaching and offer practical insights for
addressing literacy challenges in similar educational contexts.
Background on literacy
Educational methodology has undergone major changes,
allowing to work in direct contact with students, who in traditional
methodologies assumed a passive role based on the practice of memorization
(Fortea, 2016). Currently, interactive, motivating and inclusive sessions are
sought. Torres and Argentino (cited in
Santiago and Capitillo, 2017) state that, “Methodology is a very important
element in the process of design, implementation and evaluation of the class,
because it guides the implementation of activities in a systematically
organized, sequential and step-by-step manner, using sufficient resources that
allow achieving quantitative and qualitative results, that is, directing the
work, showing the path that allows progress towards the goals achieved in
education”.
Ruiz Flores (cited in Fortea,
2016) points out that literacy has ceased to be an exclusive knowledge of some
to become a fundamental need for social integration. Education has as one of
its main objectives the acquisition of knowledge through reading and writing.
According to Segers (1950), “reading is so common in today's society that it is
no exaggeration to say that an illiterate person is maladjusted or
handicapped”. This justifies the constant efforts to combat illiteracy because
of the crucial role it plays in developed societies. Likewise, Goodman (cited
in García, 2021) argues that reading and writing skills are not innate, but are
acquired through meaningful experiences that allow the reader to model and
adopt new learning strategies.
Literacy is taught from preschool through high
school, fostering the relationship between reading and writing (García, 2021).
However, difficulties may arise in the first years of primary education due to
the increased complexity of the contents, which highlights the importance of
having solid educational foundations to face these challenges. In addition, the
methodology, understood as the joint activity of the teacher and the student
during the teaching-learning process, must be flexible enough to adapt to the
specific needs of the context (Fortea, 2016).
Syllabic method
The syllabic method is based on the idea that the
syllable is the basic and generative unit of literacy, allowing the formation
of words and sounds that are subsequently combined into phrases and sentences.
This methodology seeks to internalize in the student's thinking the awareness
of the syllabic structure of language. However, one of its main challenges is
that it tends to promote constant repetition, which can limit the construction
of deep meanings and reduce teaching to a mechanical process focused only on
shapes and sounds. In this sense, Ramos and Tejado (2011) state that “the
syllabic method begins with the teaching of vowels, then consonants, combining
them with the five vowels to form syllables, and these are used to form words
and then sentences” (p. 45).
This methodology offers the advantage of organizing
content gradually and systematically, although it is also noted that it does
not usually stimulate the senses through visual tools, but focuses mainly on
memorizing phonetic patterns, which can limit reading comprehension and
creative writing (Ramos and Tejado, 2011).
Farfán (cited in Fortea, 2016) attributes the creation of the syllabic method
to Federico Gedike and Samuel Heinicke, who conceived it as an inductive
process. In this approach, students progress from the specific to the general,
which allows them to progressively develop reading and writing strategies. As
complexity increases, syllables become words and words become sentences,
facilitating the development of cognitive structures to comprehend and produce
texts.
Global method
The Global method is presented as an alternative for
teaching reading and writing according to the demands of modern society as well
as the constructivist model that governs the entire Ecuadorian educational
system, as Rosano (2011) points out “The global method allows the intervention
of the senses, especially the visual memory which allows them to relate a
figure with its meaning and therefore recognize words, phrases or sentences”.
This method achieves an intelligent, efficient and realistic literacy that
starts from their own external interpretation towards the construction of much
more advanced cognitive structures in the sense that it forces them to think,
relate, analyze, argue, i.e. a series of mental constructions that contribute
to the realization of meaningful learning. In his postulates, Chartier (2004)
states that “The global method is defined as the method of visual recognition
of words, without analysis, without separation of words into syllables and
without construction of systematic relationships between letter and sound”,
i.e., it is located in a “global method”, that is to say, it is a method of
visual recognition of words without analysis, without separation of words into
syllables and without construction of systematic relationships between letter
and sound. that is, it is located in a specific space of the morphology of
letters and words in an integral way as a single indivisible concept that
nevertheless allows the structuring of a conceptualization of the message it
conveys and its relationship to a specific environment.
For Agudo (2013) the
global method “is a natural method, since it follows the same process as
language learning, which is based on repeating the words that we hear
continuously” in this sense it becomes a tool that is related to the daily
development of children, that is, it replicates a process as the cited author
calls “natural” so it is easy to apply in the educational system taking into
account that it is necessary to start from the experience, from the students'
own capabilities and potential to achieve new and better learning products. One
of the main characteristics of the global method is that it is based on the
need to initiate the learning of reading and writing based on the individual's
orality, that is, on the expression of what he/she observes, feels, needs and,
based on this, to relate them with objects and figures of his/her environment
that will later be expanded with meanings with texts prepared according to the
age and educational needs.
For the application of this method, five phases are
highlighted: the first is comprehension that requires the relationship of words
with objects that necessarily must be of the immediate environment, as Hendrix
(2009) points out “This stage seeks that students establish a first approach
with the words of their environment, become familiar with the shape of words
and relate them to objects” that is, it is required to work with words and
objects or vice versa so that more than the structure of the text, the student
establishes the meaning of the word as a structure of analysis and synthesis;
the second is imitation, which according to what is pointed out by Rosano, M.
(2012) “The imitative stage develops graphomotor ability to achieve the ability
to draw letters and words”, i.e.. students can draw using signs after
identifying objects and words and connect and recognize them. and symbols made
of letters.
The third is refinement, where the need increases
and naturally raises the level of complexity of understanding, associating and
writing new words that suddenly no longer belong to our immediate environment,
but were once part of the word. student experience; the fourth is production.
This is the last stage of the global method, where students can apply their
literacy knowledge in other activities that are not only related to learning,
such as games, different subjects or activities that, in other words, are
especially interesting to them, they must apply their new knowledge, and the
fifth is the visual strategy, which is not a step of the global method.
Phonetic method
The phonetic method represents an alternative based
on the initial stages of letter recognition from sounds and of course
pronunciation, which are then converted into diagrams and patterns, so authors
like Bransford (2009) say that: “The phonetic method begins with the teaching
of vowels, then the teaching of consonant sounds and with an image, fruit,
object: whose name begins with the letter to be taught. “This method activates
sensory perceptions and the ability to gather information through the senses, i.e.,
sight, hearing, smell and all possible senses work simultaneously depending on
the creativity of the teacher to achieve visualization, internalization and
interpretation of the students. image and sound of the letters beginning with
vowels.
Another proposal related to the teaching of reading
and writing is the so-called phonetic method, which according to a study by
Quevedo (2015) “This method is based on e.g. teaching letters by their sound”,
which means that the name of the letters is no longer used, but it is about
teaching the sound of the sounds through drawings containing pictograms that
begin with letters.
According to Alvarez (2009), “Borel-Maisonny's gestural method and Lemaire's mime-gestural
method were built on the basis of the phonetic method” (p. 64), where each
phoneme is associated with its corresponding sound using gestures. For Lemaire,
Maisonny relates it to the position of the speech organs for the transmission
of sound, while for Lemaire the gesture has enough affective value for the
child. In this regard, Maldonado (2008) “The phonetic method consists of
teaching the letters independently of their names” which means that; In this
method, students use the individual sounds of the letters and then synthesize
those isolated sounds into syllables and words, with an inductive construction
until gradually and systematically arriving at general concepts. According to
numerous studies (Freire 1998, García, M., and Sánchez, J. 2023) reading and
writing are an essential part for logical thinking, autonomy, affective
communication and deep understanding of interdisciplinary concepts of each
individual, literacy is the process by which a student learns to read and
write, this process is achieved through a system that begins at the age of 4 to
7 years. “The acquisition and mastery of reading and writing have become
conceptual foundations that determine the cultural development of the
individual” (Montealegre and Forero, 2006). It is clear that reading and
writing are the union of two interrelated processes: reading and writing are
cognitive processes that should be initiated in the first years of life. The use
of effective methods is essential in this process because learning to read
ensures that students acquire knowledge about all subjects. Students should be
encouraged to understand that reading and writing are the most important tools
for acquiring, creating, and communicating new knowledge.
It is now clear that students in many schools have
reading and writing deficits, causing problems in reading and writing
comprehension, which directly affects their communication skills. However, this
lesson is taught every year in basic education, where the level of complexity
gradually increases, which if not corrected in time, generates problems in
later studies (Avendaño et al., 2017) .
It is worth mentioning that the development of reading-writing involves several
stages of a cognitive process characterized by the passage from ignorance to
the relationship between writing and spoken language; and combining written
with spoken language. In addition, we need to move from the process of
conscious operations such as recognizing phonemes, representing them with
letters, synthesizing letters with words, ordering words to their automation.
action and mastery of written text and written language. For this reason, the
process of acquiring reading and writing takes into account the definition of
the level of mastery of written language; levels of data processing when
reading; the cognitive phase, of mastery and automation of reading; searching
for meaning when understanding a text; declarative, procedural and conditional
knowledge (Montes and Imbernón, 2018).
Theoretical foundation
Literacy defined by UNESCO in 2006 is the ability to
read and write adequately, a learning process that begins in early childhood
education and develops until complete mastery is achieved. Hence, for Freire
(1998), reading and writing are skills for constructing knowledge and actively
participating in society. The author argues that literacy includes not only
decoding letters and words, but also understanding and thinking about a text,
providing students with the ability to analyze, synthesize and evaluate information,
which are essential skills for academic success in any field of study.
Therefore, literacy is a fundamental skill for academic and professional
development. In the social sciences, literacy is essential for the
comprehension of academic texts, the production of written work, and
participation in debates and discussions. García, M., and Sánchez, J. (2023).
Literacy is a skill that we use to approach text comprehension as a
teaching-learning strategy, focusing on the intrinsic interrelation of reading
and writing, and we use it as an integrated communication and metacognition
system; reading and writing are inseparable elements of the same mental
process.
Reading and writing are inseparable elements of the
same mental process. Reading and writing is a process by which a learner learns
how to read and have the ability to interpret a text and write using an
alphabet, in itself is the ability to read and write, this occurs from 4 to 6
years. Children are set various tasks that involve literacy activities.
Literacy represents the union of two methods that are totally connected:
reading and writing. Literacy is the ability to know how to read and write
texts for different purposes, literacy is based on interpretation and creation,
not on deciphering codes.
Reading and writing are complex but fundamental
activities on which the fact that human beings continue learning for the rest
of their lives will depend. Reading and writing allow us to build important
knowledge, but also provides the opening of new ways of communication between
students and the social environment in which they develop. It is important to
emphasize that both tools, reading and writing, should be introduced to the
child in a motivating way that attracts their attention and that they enjoy. Interesting
activities that promote fine motor skills and visual-motor coordination, such
as working with play dough, chopping or using the brush and paint to create
their own works resulting from the imagination and creativity of the student,
the students learn to read and write in a dynamic, motivating and practical
way, through the sounds of the letters, phonemes are minimal units of the
language, different from each other, that all speakers know and when we use
them we do it in the form of sounds or letters, the learning of reading and
writing is a process that is achieved when the child is in an optimal degree of
maturation and with the rest of their emotional conditioning factors (family,
friends, environment ...) do not suffer any anomaly, everything is in the same
way. ) do not suffer any anomaly, every child will learn to read sooner or
later, it is a somewhat complex skill that requires many different
abilities.
According to Vigotsky
(1978), reading and writing is not a simple process of deciphering letters and
words, but a complex social and cultural activity that involves understanding
and interpreting meanings. The author emphasizes that literacy learning is
developed through social interaction, in an environment that provides support
and guidance to the child during the process of acquiring written language, and
that literacy is not a simple process of deciphering letters and words, but a
complex social and cultural activity that involves the understanding and
interpretation of meanings. The author emphasizes that learning to read and
write is developed through social interaction, in an environment that provides
support and guidance to the child during the process of acquiring written
language. According to Vigotsky (1977), literacy is not restricted to a process
of decoding letters and words, but is a social and cultural process that
involves the understanding and interpretation of meanings; literacy learning
originates from social interaction, in an environment that offers support and
guidance to the child in the learning process. Vigotsky argues that literacy
learning is not a unique and homogeneous process, but occurs in different
stages and levels of complexity. He also stresses the importance of the
relationship between spoken and written language, and how both complement each
other in the learning process, and has had a great impact on education,
especially in early childhood and primary education. His ideas have led to a re-evaluation
of literacy teaching, highlighting the importance of the social and cultural
environment in the learning process and the need to adapt teaching
methodologies to the individual characteristics of each child.
Piaget's theory of reading and writing focuses on
children's cognitive development and how it influences their ability to learn
to read and write. According to Piaget, learning to read and write is a process
that occurs in different stages and depends on the mental maturity of the
child. In the first stage, known as the pre-reading stage, children are in a
period of exploration and experimentation with written language. They learn to
recognize shapes and symbols, and to associate them with sounds and meanings.
At this stage, reading and writing are playful activities that have no clear
communicative purpose. The second stage, known as the decoding stage, is when
children begin to associate sounds with letters and words. They learn to
pronounce words and understand their meaning, but are not yet fully familiar
with the grammatical and orthographic rules of language. In the third stage,
known as the comprehension stage, children have already acquired a more
advanced knowledge of language and are able to understand more complex texts.
At this stage, reading and writing become more formal and structured
activities. Finally, in the fourth stage, known as the reflective stage,
children are able to reflect on language and use it creatively. At this stage,
reading and writing become tools for critical thinking and
self-expression.
All these skills together lead to the ultimate goal
of reading: “Reading comprehension”, opens a great door to learning and
information management ensuring a form of communication that can endure over
time and develop imagination and creativity improves attention and
concentration, developing skills such as understanding and reflection and in
turn improves and expands the vocabulary, through writing can capture and
convey ideas or thoughts. The child is constantly learning and every aspect of
his life that he masters will cultivate self-confidence, self-esteem and
independence. Therefore, we can affirm that these processes are essential in
the development of a child.
Development and stages of reading and
writing
Different authors make proposals about the stages of
reading and writing, taking into account that in learning to read and write, a
child goes through several stages until he/she is able to acquire the written
and spoken code. Being aware of these stages is very important to be able to
identify and know the students' previous knowledge, and on the other hand, it
helps us to determine where they are in their learning process. Díez Vegas,
Pardo de León, Anula Alameda and González Arechavala (1999) are based on the
research of Ferreiro and Teberosky (1979), creating a series of stages,
emphasizing five levels or stages of code learning, written. Level 1:
undifferentiated, differentiated, syllabic, syllabic alphabetic and finally
alphabetic.
Level 1: Indistinguishable/undifferentiated
At this stage, children already distinguish between writing and drawing, they
understand that, using straight lines, curves or dots, they can both write and
draw. “The shape of the letters has nothing in common with the shape of the
object to which they refer, and their order has nothing in common with the
order of the parts of the object” (Ferreiro, 1991). Children use their own
spelling that only they understand; no one else can interpret what they write.
Children often rely on the properties of objects when they write a word. At an
integrated level, the child learns two main characteristics of writing:
arbitrariness, i.e., unlike drawings, writing does not repeat the shape of the
object or the linearity of the writing. Attempts are made to imitate the formal
qualities of gestures and written text during writing. As the child progresses,
he/she will understand how many spellings a word should have and that the
spelling should be different. Literacy development is underpinned by fundamental
skills that enable children to learn to read and write effectively. These
include Figure 1 and Figure 2.
Level 2: Differentiated
At this level, students are aware that drawing is a
form of representation and writing is a form of communication. Although
children imitate or recognize some letters of the alphabetic code, they do not
yet assign a phonetic value to them, creating pseudo-letters. At this stage,
the child develops three very important hypotheses for the development of
writing. The first hypothesis is the internal variation, the child understands
that there must be different graphic signs in the text. We also find the quantitative
hypothesis, which is that a word must have a minimum number of letters. It has
meaning, and finally we find the external hypothesis, because both words have
different meanings, they must have different spellings (Figure 3).
Level 3: Syllable
At this level, the student begins to associate
writing with sounds. At this stage, the child develops two hypotheses, the
first hypothesis is a quantitative syllable, for each syllable the child hears,
he assigns a grapheme to it, and the next hypothesis is a qualitative syllable,
which usually includes one of the sounds in each syllable. “The resulting
sound-letter correspondences are not conventional, but for the first time
children understand that written alphabetic representation must focus almost exclusively
on the sound pattern of words” (Ferreiro, 1991). As Figure 4 indicates.
Level 4: Syllable-Alphabet
The child develops leaving behind the syllabic
hypothesis and begins to learn to read and write. Figure 5 as an example. At
this stage, “some letters continue to replace syllables, while others continue
to replace small sound units (phonemes)” (Ferreiro, 1991).
Level 5: Alphabetic
At this level, children already know that each word
consists of phonemes that represent each letter. Children write complete words,
although they have not yet mastered the specific orthographic rules of writing,
such as punctuation, spaces, uppercase and lowercase letters, etc. Therefore,
we can say that this stage is not the end of literacy development, but new
cognitive skills related to the orthographic code are still emerging (Figure
6).
Students begin to develop the literacy process from
level 4 (syllable-alphabet) because at this level students begin to read and
write, therefore already at this level we can speak of reading comprehension,
at a very low level, We emphasize level 5 (alphabetic) because at this level
the students already know the spelling rules, since this is one of the
weaknesses that we have found in the students of 5th grade EGB of the Princesa
Paccha School, since they read and do not understand what they are reading and
do not have an analysis of their reading because they do not know the spelling
rules that should be applied in reading, so that it is profitable for the
student. Learning to read and write is a complex and multifaceted process that
begins in early childhood and continues throughout life. It is essential to
provide children with the opportunities and support they need to develop these
fundamental skills for success in school and in life.
Literacy Skills and Learning
Teaching reading and writing requires certain skills
without which learning would be very difficult. When a child understands that
each letter corresponds to a sound and each sound corresponds to a letter, he
or she can access the meaning of the word formed by those letters. To do this,
you must memorize the sounds of the letters until you can read the word
automatically. To adequately develop this process, the child must have
phonological, cognitive and language skills.
Phonological skills are those that allow distinguishing elements of spoken
language such as syllables and phonemes. From the age of three or four,
children can separate words into syllables with the help of games or nursery
rhymes, but it is very difficult for them to separate words into phonemes.
Phonemic awareness or knowledge is acquired when a child begins to read and
write articulately, it does not emerge spontaneously as syllabic awareness.
Phonological skills also include lexical awareness, that is, the ability to
separate the words that make up a sentence. In general, three- and
four-year-olds find it more difficult to separate words in a sentence than to
separate them into syllables, so lexical awareness begins to develop when
sentences need to be written. Thus, phonological skills develop at certain
stages, and although there is an indicative age for their acquisition, each
child follows his or her own learning process.
Knowing whether two words rhyme or not and dividing
a word into syllables are skills that are developed before learning to read and
write and facilitate this process. According to González (2010), phonological
awareness plays a crucial role in learning to read. This skill allows children
to identify and manipulate the sounds of language, which is essential for the
development of reading fluency and comprehension.
Similarly, a child must have cognitive skills to
learn to read and write. With the help of these skills, the child can
understand whether or not he understands the word or text he is reading, and
both are important at the beginning of the process at age five, in the last
year of early childhood education . . and in their
studies. the first year. Elementary school, when the teaching of clear literacy
and then the acquisition of new learning begins. Working memory and naming
speed are two of the most important skills to achieve this learning, especially
for children with difficulties. Working memory allows the child to retain the
sounds of the letters he reads in his memory and eventually make connections
with them, access the meaning of the word he reads and
retain the meaning in memory. of the sentences that make up the text to
understand the reading. According to Piaget (1976), children's cognitive
development plays a fundamental role in the acquisition of literacy skills.
Phonological awareness, memory and attention are crucial elements in this
process.
Literacy and its relation to the area
of social sciences
Freire (1998) and García M. and Sánchez J. (2023)
discuss literacy as an essential tool for constructing knowledge and
participating in society, highlighting its importance in the social sciences
for understanding academic texts and participating in debates.
Problems in literacy learning
As Gallego and Rodriguez (2001:158) say, “literacy
is a tool whose significance is evident; therefore, the difficulties that may
appear in it are considered a basic special educational need that should be
detected as soon as possible and treated adequately. It is necessary to change
the organization of schools, so that everyone works and learns from their
possibilities, as Maruny, Ministerial and Miralles
(1997) say. This does not mean that everyone learns equally, but that no one
feels excluded; a teacher must take into account the pace of each child and
show a motivating attitude towards teaching and learning. Literacy requires a
series of consolidated skills and abilities that are acquired through
multidisciplinary experiences through movement, which allows the child to
develop mental functions and organize their perceptions, leading to learning,
with the implementation of active methodologies related to literacy, teachers
should no longer only impart knowledge, but also guide the construction of
learning. Literacy should be the basis for learning because it is the main
foundation for acquiring knowledge and improving oral expression. In Ecuador,
there has been a lack of concern for the development of oral expression in
children.
Before reaching fifth grade in relation to reading
and writing, students should develop skills such as identifying the main idea
of what they have read, explaining how the author uses facts and evidence to
support the text, comparing texts from different cultures, understanding
information presented in graphs, taking notes, organizing data, using
figurative language, word relationships and nuances in the meaning of
words.
The influence of literacy problems in all areas of
children's lives, from spelling errors to difficulties in structure and
organization, and how the family, the school, and the therapist play an
important role in their development (Pisco and Navarrete, 2021).
Lack of literacy skills can hinder comprehension of texts in mathematics,
science, social studies, and other areas, which in turn can limit students'
ability to solve problems, interpret data, and communicate their thoughts
clearly and coherently. For this reason, literacy problems in children have
repercussions in all areas and environments of their lives, from spelling
errors to difficulties in structuring and organizing paragraphs, syntax and
punctuation; the family, school, therapist and student play a preponderant role
in the process of developing reading and writing skills. Pisco and
Navarrete (2021)
We will mention some reading and writing problems
that have been detected in society:
- There is a low reading rate in students, in
parents, in teachers, in the community because they have not been formed with a
good reading-writing habit.
- There is a lack of vocabulary and writing, and
little use of the dictionary, which is why there is poor spelling.
- The values of interest, encouragement and
self-esteem need to be developed more in order to take into account what the
student does in the field of reading and writing; in other words, the affective
element needs to be worked on more because there is no clarity between the
teacher and the student about the language of the areas.
- Reading and writing have repercussions in the oral
expression of the individual; therefore, there are deficiencies in oral
expression, incoherence in the handling of ideas and inability to have
dialogues, because there is a lack of literacy or training of teachers so that
they can develop elements that tend to improve the differences between reading
and writing; this literacy applies to all areas.
- In reading and oral expression
we find low levels of comprehension, interpretation, analysis, synthesis and
explanation, which makes the students' reading not understandable.
- Somehow, the use of notebooks has been neglected
to fulfill the function in benefit of reading and writing. Because reading is
done out of obligation, but not for pleasure. Obligation causes anxiety, and
anxiety can never be a faithful companion of reading and writing. Reading and
writing should be made a pleasurable act that leads to recreation in the
different areas of the curriculum.
Strategies to strengthen reading and writing through
social studies
In order to strengthen literacy through social
sciences, various didactic strategies can be implemented to promote reading
comprehension and written expression in the context of this discipline. Below
are some suggested strategies:
Comprehensive reading of social science texts: Select relevant texts from
history, geography, sociology, among others, so that students practice reading
comprehension and can extract key information.
In their book La comprensión lectora
en el contexto
de las ciencias sociales (2016),
Cárdenas Cárdenas, Salazar Obeso
and Cárdenas Ortiz examine the challenges and strategies for teaching reading
comprehension in the social sciences. They emphasize the need to choose texts
that are relevant, engaging, and appropriate for the students' developmental
level. They also suggest different strategies to guide students in
comprehending and analyzing texts, such as summarizing, identifying key
concepts, making inferences, and evaluating information.
Analysis of primary and secondary
sources: Working with historical documents, academic articles, research
reports, among others, so that students develop analysis and synthesis skills.
Writing essays on relevant social science topics is a basic educational
activity that fosters the development of higher cognitive skills, such as
organization of ideas, coherence and reasoning. According to Dewey (1910), he
emphasized the importance of essay writing as a basic tool for learning and
expressing critical thinking.
Debates and discussions: Promote debates on social science topics so that
students practice written and oral argumentation, substantiating their opinions
with evidence. Conducting a debate has many advantages, especially for
students. Debate and discussions are crucial for students' academic success
because they enhance their research skills by using electronic sources and
written media (Delago, 2018; Mayoral et al., 2018).
Therefore, various pedagogical and didactic perspectives recognize that
discussion has formative value and allows students to develop oral
argumentative discursive strategies. Essay writing:asking students to write essays on relevant
social science topics, encouraging the organization of ideas, coherence, and
argumentation.
In his book Estrategias de
lectura (1992), Solé emphasizes the importance of
writing as a means of understanding and acquiring knowledge. He emphasizes the
role of essay writing in helping students organize their thoughts, analyze
information, and understand complex social science concepts.
Concept mapping and outlining: Using visual tools to help students organize
information and understand relationships among concepts in social studies.
Novak (1990) argued that concept maps are an effective tool for representing
knowledge and facilitating meaningful learning. By allowing students to
visualize relationships between concepts, concept maps promote a deeper
understanding of topics.
Guided Investigations: Pose research projects
in which students are required to search for information, analyze it and
present their findings in writing, developing research and academic writing
skills. Guided inquiry is an educational method that allows students to
actively construct their own knowledge. According to Dewey (1938), learning
should be experiential and guided inquiry provides students with opportunities
to explore and solve real-world problems.
Use of multimedia resources: Incorporate
videos, podcasts, infographics or other multimedia resources related to social
sciences to enrich understanding of topics and motivate students to express
their ideas creatively. Mayer (2001) has shown that coherence and signposting
are key principles in designing effective multimedia materials. By
incorporating videos, podcasts, and infographics into social studies lessons,
we can enhance student understanding and facilitate meaningful learning. These
strategies can be adapted according to the educational level of students and
the specific goals of social studies instruction. By combining reading and
writing with the study of this discipline, we promote comprehensive and
meaningful learning.
Meaningful learning. Freire (1998) and García, and
Sánchez (2023) assert that reading and writing are essential for logical
thinking, autonomy, affective communication and deep understanding of
interdisciplinary concepts of each individual.
Therefore, the need for an explicit and systematic teaching of literacy within
the area of social sciences and how this can improve not only students'
linguistic skills but also their ability to understand and analyze the
world.
Materials and methods
Method is defined according to Lebrero
and Lebrero (1999:13,14) as “the skill chosen by the
teacher for the organization/structuring of the work, so as to achieve the
objective as directly and efficiently as possible”. For a procedure to be
strong, the following conditions must be met: - That it contributes to the
total development of the student; - that it encourages the activity of the
student in the learning process as well as the intercommunication of the
students; - that it adapts to the rhythm of the advancement of individual
typologies; - that it motivates intrinsically; - that it takes place in a
relaxed atmosphere of controlled freedom; - that it makes possible in the
students the knowledge of their progress and their self-evaluation of learning;
- that in its development it allows the transfer to other areas and learning.
Regarding the choice of teaching method for reading, Cuetos
et al (2003:133) say that “it is one of the most important decisions that
schools have to make, since it is undeniable that school success depends to a
great extent on the mastery of reading”. These writers tell us that the choice
of one procedure or another is usually determined by practice (the teacher
teaches with the method he/she was taught) and in many cases the method is
chosen following the proposal of the publishers. Salmon (2009:64) believes that
“literacy programs for young children have a tendency to overemphasize the
systematic instruction of isolated reading and writing skills
[...] minimizing key elements such as comprehension, vocabulary, and
motivation”. Domínguez Chillón and Barrio Valencia (1997:55) have found that
when you ask teachers about the advantages of the method they use, there tends
to be a series of coincidences “...” (Domínguez Chillón and Barrio Valencia,
1997:55).
This paradigm seeks to understand how students
construct meaning from their experiences and cultural contexts. It focuses on
analyzing how they interpret texts, connect new information with their prior
knowledge, and develop critical skills through reflection and analysis (Coll,
1990). The teacher acts as a guide, encouraging dialogue and the construction
of meanings. During the research, activities such as debates, discussions and
essays were carried out that promoted the exploration of personal interpretations
and the development of literacy.
Qualitative Approach - Descriptive
Research
The qualitative approach provided insight into the
unique processes and contexts of literacy learning through observation,
interviews, and text analysis (Patton, 2022). The research focused on current
teaching and learning practices in fifth grade EGB, identifying patterns,
strengths, and areas for improvement (Bernal, 2006; Tamayo & Tamayo,
2006).
Phases of the research
Diagnosis: A diagnosis was carried out to
identify students' strengths and weaknesses in literacy. This facilitated the
creation of personalized activities that fostered the construction of meanings.
According to Coll (1990), it is essential for students to understand abstract
concepts and causal relationships from an accurate diagnosis.
Instrument design: Questionnaires, tests, and observation guides were
designed as tools to collect relevant data. The validity and reliability of
these instruments were fundamental to guarantee the quality of the research
(Solé, 1998; Cassany, 1993).
Data analysis: The data collected were analyzed to find patterns, trends,
and areas of improvement in students' literacy. The findings confirmed that
reading comprehension is an active and constructive process (Solé, 1998).
Techniques used
Surveys: Surveys were administered to teachers
and students, using Google Forms to expedite data collection. The surveys
provided useful information on literacy skills and allowed identifying
behavioral patterns and attitudes (Siegel, 2016).
Observation: Observations were conducted to analyze students' behavior
during literacy activities. Observation allowed capturing more subtle aspects
of the learning process that were not detected through surveys. Gambrell and
Almasi (2006) emphasized the importance of observing students to adjust
instruction according to their needs.
Content analysis
The teacher's lesson plan was reviewed, revealing
that traditional strategies predominated, which diminished student interest.
The lack of didactic resources also negatively affected their literacy
performance, as evidenced by low test scores. It was recommended to urgently
level the students in order to develop analytical and relational skills.
Study population
The research was conducted with students from the
“Princesa Paccha” Educational Unit, located in the
province of Orellana. The sample included ten students in the fifth year of
EGB, selected to evaluate their reading and writing skills. According to Tamayo
and Tamayo (1997), the population is a set of individuals who share a common
characteristic relevant to the study.
Results
The main results obtained from the survey conducted
with the students of the fifth year of general basic education allowed us to
know the level of knowledge they have about the object of the research, and the
assessment and interpretation of these.
The results of the second question, according to the
respondents, 90% say that they have knowledge of the four activities of the
first settlers and 10% do not have knowledge of the first activities.
The results of the question according to the
literals answered by the respondents gives us the following result 77% of the
respondents answered the questions correctly and 23% did not answer
correctly.
In question 4 the following result was obtained from
the responses of the literals in general, 75% of the respondents got an
excellent mark and 25% was a deficit in the question.
According to the respondents to question 5, 66% know the archaeological sites
found in our Ecuador and 34% have no knowledge of them.
66.67% have knowledge about the tribes in the aboriginal society and 33.83% do
not.
Results of the fifth
grade teacher
This is the culmination of the whole diagnostic
process. Once we have analyzed the data, it is time to transform that
information into concrete actions to improve the literacy skills of our
students. Developing an intervention proposal is a creative and flexible
process. It is important to adapt the proposal to the specific needs of each
group of students and to the context in which the teaching takes place. Solé,
I. (1998). Estrategias de lectura. Barcelona: Graó. Solé offers a wide range of
strategies to improve reading comprehension.
Guide of methodological strategies
for social sciences
The organization and orientation of questions,
exercises, explanations and classroom management are influenced by teaching
methods or strategies. If participation is encouraged, teacher-centered
expository methods may work best. Interactive approaches, in which the student
is at the center of the activity (cases, problem solving, simulations,
investigations or projects), base learning on peer interaction and cooperation.
The organization and orientation of questions, exercises, explanations and
classroom management are influenced by teaching methods or strategies.
If participation is encouraged, teacher-centered displays can be optimized.
interactive techniques, in which interactive approaches, in which the learner
is at the center of the activity (cases, problem solving, simulations,
investigations or projects), base learning on peer interaction and
cooperation.
What are they? Teaching strategies:
It is how we teach social sciences are an
explanation by the teacher or the resolution of cases by the student body. We
understand “method” or “strategy” as the path that has been chosen to reach the
proposed goal. This goal may include the development of intellectual capacities
of social thinking or of communicative and social skills, the learning of
concepts and procedures, the interpretation of historical and geographical
issues, and the acquisition of values, attitudes or habits. In fact, the methods
guide the social management of the classroom, questions, exercises,
explanations and evaluation activities in a given order.
A useful criterion for classifying the various
methods is to identify who is at the center of the activity: if it is the
teacher, then expository methods predominate; if it is the student and peer
interaction and cooperation are favored, then interactive methods predominate;
if the student learns individually through self-learning materials, which are
now abundant thanks to telematics, we are dealing with individual methods, peer
interaction and cooperation. It is evident that there is permeability among the
three methodological modalities, although the orientation and procedure vary in
each of them. Thus, in an expository class, participation and interaction can
be promoted, while the resolution of cases by students usually requires some
explanation by the teacher.
Strategies for cooperation, interaction and
participation in Social Sciences
·
Even in
classes where teacher exposition predominates, give priority to strategies
based on cooperation, interaction and participation, because these strategies
facilitate the social construction of knowledge.
·
Revive the
methods so that the new generations learn in social science subjects to reason,
question, criticize and work with cases, problems, simulations, etc.
·
The social
sciences are a construction in constant renewal because their own evolution,
the formulation of new questions or the raising of new issues incorporates
other approaches and the emergence of other themes and interpretations.
Therefore, the use of primary sources in the classroom.
·
Different
skills through social thinking (interpreting, classifying, comparing,
hypothesizing, synthesizing, predicting, evaluating) and critical thinking
(evaluating ideas and points of view, understanding in order to act, making
decisions, producing alternative ideas and solving problems). In addition,
recovering the notion of social sciences as sciences that help students to
understand, situate and act.
Participatory strategies for the expository class
The expository class in which the teacher is the
center of the activity is still a very popular method for teaching social
sciences. Expositions usually include, to a greater or lesser degree, questions
that students answer and the performance and correction of exercises or other
complementary tasks that allow them to process information and apply knowledge,
stimulating routine thinking, or they may propose more creative situations that
encourage the development of critical thinking.
How learners learn in an expository class
As long as the students meet certain conditions,
knowledge can be acquired by reception.
·
To connect
new information with what they already know, they use their previous knowledge.
To understand and comprehend new content, it is necessary to have learned
certain concepts and methods, i.e., to have certain learning requirements.
·
Listen
attentively and with interest, which is not always easy or may even be
impossible in some contexts or for some students who are not very motivated by
the subject or studies.
·
Retain the
most significant and crucial part of the explanations. We know that we remember
about 40% of the main points immediately after listening to a lecture, and only
20% are left after a week. Note-taking or any other recording system can help
to fix and remember, but it is a process that must be learned and not all
students have automated it.
·
Perform
out-of-class work to systematize and structure the information collected to
facilitate its assimilation and memorization. This stage is crucial to store
data in the semantic memory, which lasts a long time and allows adding meaning
to new content.
Resources to encourage student participation
Getting students to participate is a way to liven up
the class and keep attention alive. In an expository class, it is convenient to
use simple resources, which do not require a lot of money for their preparation
and management, and to divide students into pairs or small groups, focusing
more on the proximity of the participants than on other criteria.
·
The class
should begin with a question, encourage conversation and discuss the answers.
·
A slightly
more complex technique is to propose a question to find out what the students
know or think, and form groups of three or four students.
·
Each group
should express itself quickly and freely, without restrictions, expressing
everything that comes to mind in relation to the topic. Criticism is not
allowed, everything is valid. It is convenient to take note of what was
mentioned.
Integrating literacy into the area of social
sciences is an essential strategy for improving the academic performance of
fifth grade students. On the one hand, this integration facilitates a deeper
understanding of historical, geographical and social processes. At the same
time, it allows the development of fundamental cognitive skills such as
analysis, synthesis and interpretation of relevant information.
In addition, this strategy not only strengthens
communication skills, but also promotes the ability to collaborate and
participate in group discussions. In fact, working on literacy through debates,
essays and projects contributes to the development of critical thinking, which
is key to problem solving. Likewise, by fostering social engagement and civic
participation, students not only acquire knowledge, but also tools to interact
effectively in their environment.
On the other hand, the study shows that explicit and systematic teaching is
essential to overcome the difficulties identified. In this sense, it is
essential that teachers adopt innovative teaching strategies that integrate
reading and writing in their classes, in order to offer a more meaningful and
contextualized education.
Finally, the strengthening of literacy skills has a
positive impact on all areas of knowledge, not only in social sciences.
Therefore, this methodology contributes to the integral development of
students, improving their academic performance as well as their social and
communicative skills. Thus, it is evident that an interdisciplinary education
that promotes literacy not only guarantees better school performance, but also
forms critical citizens who are prepared to face the challenges of the future.
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Licenciada en Ciencias de la Educación
Mención Informática
Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4725-7538 livela.jn@gmail.com
Licenciada en Ciencias de la Educación
Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8215-2498 gloryaracely@hotmail.com
PhD en Ciencias de la Educación
Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4486-0785 erodriguez@ube.edu.ec
PhD en Ciencias Pedagógicas
Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador