Inquiry into the Problem of the Graphic Segmentation of Text into Words: Contributions to a Multidisciplinary Reflection on the Role of Research in the Construction of a Culture of Diversity

Abstract

Beginning school represents for many children an opportunity to take an active part in an increasingly literate culture. However, for many others it implies facing failure and marginalization. It does not seem accidental that the highest rate of school failure and the largest number of children sent to therapy or special institutions occur during this first stage. It is then necessary to revise the paradigms that influence the conditions of literacy within school contexts, as they help to determine what is "normal" and what is "different". In this regard, research takes on a particularly important role in providing the facts and data which will make it possible to find new answers and new questions and will encourage educational and therapeutic changes. This article refers to the analysis of some of the variables considered in the Research Project (SECYT-UNR, Secretariat of Science and Technology, National University of Rosario) that inquires into a specific feature of written language: the segmentation of text into words IN children from rural areas. The achievements made contribute to reviewing the relationship between oral and written language, as they show that children perform a certain type of metalinguistic reflection frequently ignored in educational or therapeutic practices. Based on the constructivist epistemological perspective adopted by this project and on the adopted research line, the non-alphabetic aspects of the writing system, the mentioned achievements encourage the revision of the items that make up the factors considered to assess or predict the future possibilities of students in the process of literacy learning.