Leitura literária no ensino fundamental e a representatividade da literatura de autoria feminina no livro didático de língua portuguesa: um estudo à luz da análise crítica do discurso

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to reflect upon the representativity of literature written by women in Portuguese language textbooks aimed at ninth year elementary school students adopted by two public schools from Paraíba. To do so, the teaching of reading literature at school is discussed, especially texts written by women, under the guidance of important official national (BRASIL, 1998, 2013, 2018, 2019), state (PARAÍBA, 2010) and municipal documents (MAMANGUAPE, 1990; RIO TINTO, 1991). Moreover, concepts and categories of Critical Discourse Analysis (FAIRCLOUGH, 2012, 2015[1989]; MEURER, 2005) were used to discuss matters related to discourses and ideologies that permeate the didactic-authorial proposal of the textbooks analyzed, as well as the guidelines about working with literature in the Programa Nacional do Livro e do Material Didático Literário (BRASIL, 2019). Studies about intersectionality (CRENSHAW, 1989; AKOTIRENE, 2019) are also considered, as well as gender, feminism and women’s participation in society (BASSANEZI, 2004; CASTRO, 2020; DUARTE, 2019). In terms of methodology, this study consists of a interpretivist research, and presents a qualitative-quantitative approach to the data obtained through the cataloging of genres and analysis of activities. To further the discussion, the analysis contemplated teachers’ opinions about the materials used in the classroom, which were collected through the use of a questionnaire. Results indicate that both textbooks present a low percentage of texts of female authorship, having, in fact, only one short story in one of the textbooks, which motivated the selection of this genre for the analysis. Regarding these, there are, in general, extensive and in-depth discussions of the texts, but there are disproportionate approaches of texts of female and male authorships, both in terms of length and in-depth reading. There are, on the one hand, cases of extensive activities of the latter, and, on the other hand, of exclusive reading aloud of the former, without any reading comprehension activity. Furthermore, a predominant profile of authors was identified as white and from the Southeast of Brazil. Given the importance of textbooks in classrooms, it is possible to infer from the data gathered from these materials that this lack of representativity can have implications in the formation of students’ literary taste and worldview.