Introducing Young Children to Expository Texts through Nonverbal Graphic Representations

Ainat  Guberman

doi:10.18682/cdc.vi89.3791

Ainat Guberman

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18682/cdc.vi89.3791

Palabras clave: Educación inicial ; escritura expositiva ; modalidades de aprendizaje ; aprendizaje activo

Resumen

Los textos expositivos representan la realidad de acuerdo a una modalidad lógico-científica. Frecuentemente consisten en lenguaje escrito y representaciones gráficas no verbales, tales como tablas y gráficos, cada uno de los cuales transmite algunos de los significados del texto (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006). Los textos expositivos son predominantes en el mundo académico y el sistema educativo, y resultan desafiantes en todos los niveles educativos (Berman & Nir, 2009).

El presente estudio explora la producción de textos expositivos por parte de niños en nivel inicial: cuándo necesitan este tipo de textos, qué recursos eligen, y cómo estos recursos contribuyen al significado textual.

Método: Los participantes fueron cuatro docentes de nivel inicial en Israel y sus alumnos, de tres a seis años de edad. Cada docente documentó eventos de producción textual, incluyendo para ello la descripción de la producción textual, la transcripción de las conversaciones de los niños y fotografías de los textos con comentarios explicativos. El análisis textual se basó en la identificación de los marcadores de género (Coutinho & Miranda, 2009), funciones del texto (Donald, 1991), las representaciones verbales y no verbales y la disposición del texto (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006).

Resultados: Los niños produjeron textos correspondientes a seis géneros: una definición, una tabla de observación, una guía de aves, una planilla informativa, un manual de instrucciones y un diccionario bilingüe. Estos textos les resultaron útiles para almacenar y recuperar información, monitorear su propio comportamiento y comunicarse con otras personas. Los niños utilizaron diversos tipos de representación: palabras escritas para nombrar, dibujos para formas, numerales para representar cantidad y longitud, tablas para organizar datos.

El estudio mostró que las representaciones gráficas no verbales enriquecen los recursos de producción textual de los niños, y pueden ayudarlos a aprehender y apropiarse gradualmente de los géneros textuales expositivos.

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