Activity systems as cultural, cognitive and linguistic contexts for improving reading and writing practices in rural schools

Abstract

This article aims to explore pedagogical materials that were elaborated to build bridges between the language and knowledge children develop in their homes and in school-based learning. Different studies made in rural contexts point to a considerable gap between processes of learning at home and those promoted at rural schools, a gap that causes high school failure rate in rural communities (Heredia & Bixio, 1991; Borzone & Rosemberg, 2000). In a framework that integrates socio-cultural theory and cognitive psychology, Amado (2010) explored knowledge involved in activity systems developed by peasants who live in Copacabana, a rural community in Cordoba, Argentina. On the basis of this re-search, ethnographically based reading books were designed for children who live in rural communities. These materials present the stories of children and recreate real events and forms of language that people employ to communicate in their speech community. The subjects, knowledge, manner of inter-action and dialect used in the stories are selected in the light of previous research in the community and the learning contents proposed by the official curriculum. When knowledge that children acquire at home is not considered at school, they do not have adequate access to decontextualized knowledge. For that reason, ethnographically based books integrate different concepts, language varieties and dis-course forms in order to promote children’s development in different socio-cultural milieux.