O trabalho com literatura na Educação Infantil: Linguagem, Imaginação e Elaboração Conceitual

Abstract

This article, derived from a doctoral thesis defended in 2021, examines the participation of a five-year-old blind child in everyday interactions with her peers, her teacher, and the researcher during a worksheet-based pedagogical activity linked to children's literature at a private early childhood school in the state of São Paulo. Rooted in Lev Vygotsky’s cultural-historical perspective – with emphasis on Imagination and Creativity in Childhood (2009) and contemporary theoretical contributions on children's literature, the research investigates the development of higher psychological functions (such as language, imagination, attention, aesthetic appreciation, and conceptual elaboration) in blind children. Methodologically, the study relied on participant observation, documented through field diaries and fully transcribed video recordings. The analytical excerpt focuses on restricted pedagogical work, conducted under worksheet-oriented guidance and employed as an instrumental pretext for literacy. The results reveal the undeniable relevance of children's literature as a structuring axis in preschool age, highlighting complex challenges and real possibilities in the blind child's relationship with literary narratives in the absence of visual sense. Thus, the investigation shows that intentional pedagogical mediation sensitive to sensory specificities is an indispensable condition to promote the creative appropriation of written culture, ensuring full inclusion and the child's integral development within the contemporary school context.