Literatura e a prática da leitura literária na Educação de Jovens e Adultos: entre palavras e mundos

Abstract

Literary reading in Youth and Adult Education (EJA), as a pedagogical practice, constitutes an essential element for the integral formation of subjects, enabling the development of critical thinking, ethical experience, and the strengthening of autonomy. Furthermore, the reading of literary texts, by promoting an aesthetic experience, stimulates affective and cognitive engagement, ensuring that text reception goes beyond simple decoding to become a process of meaning-making and recognition of self and others. However, promoting this practice within the EJA context remains a recurring challenge, especially given the multiple demands permeating the lives of students and teaching work. In this sense, this research aims to understand how literary reading is conceived, planned, and experienced in the pedagogical practice of a Literature teacher working in cycles V and VI of EJA. As a result, the following specific objectives were defined: to analyze the teacher's conception of literary reading; to identify the main pedagogical strategies adopted in planning; and to analyze the challenges and possibilities encountered in experiencing literary reading within this educational context. The bibliographic review is anchored, on one hand, in the foundations of education as a political and liberating act (Freire, Gadotti, Gramsci) and, on the other, in studies of literature as a right and formative practice (Candido, Colomer, Cosson, Lajolo, among others). The fieldwork was characterized as a qualitative research approach, specifically a case study, utilizing participant observation, narrative interviews, and documentary analysis. Data were analyzed through the perspective of Meaning Nuclei (Aguiar; Ozella). The research results indicate that literary reading in EJA is conceived by the teacher as an experience of identity reconstruction and humanization. The teacher's pedagogical planning is based on adaptation and cultural anchoring through music, films, and memes. Among the challenges, the lack of time and socioeconomic barriers stand out; however, the practice demonstrates that affective mediation and teacher autonomy enable the formation of critical readers. In short, the study suggests that literature in EJA may function as an existential support, contributing to the fight against marginalization and to personal enrichment.