Abstract

This paper analyzes literacy as a social practice and a fundamental tool for life, emphasizing the need to move beyond traditional approaches centered on mechanical decoding and formal correctness. Drawing on sociocultural and critical perspectives, the study highlights the contributions of Vygotsky, Freire, Bakhtin, Piaget, Snow, Pearson, and Gee in understanding language as a cognitive, social, and transformative instrument. The text argues that literacy instruction in primary education should focus on meaningful and contextualized textual production, promoting metacognitive processes, communicative intention, and knowledge transfer across disciplines. By centering teaching on purposeful writing, formative assessment, and real-life communicative contexts, literacy becomes a transversal competence that empowers students to interpret, participate in, and transform their social reality.

READING AS A SOCIAL PRACTICE AND A TOOL FOR LIFE

Currently, the teaching of literacy in Colombia is undergoing a transition process between traditional approaches and proposals more focused on the development of competencies. Although the guidelines of the Ministry of National Education promote the strengthening of comprehensive communicative skills—reading, writing, speaking, and listening—in practice, methodologies focused on mechanical decoding, repetition of grammatical rules, and evaluation centered on formal results such as spelling still persist. This tension between the normative and the practical highlights the need to rethink the teaching of the mother tongue in primary education.

Today, in a context shaped by digitalization and immediate access to information, teaching literacy cannot be limited to transmitting content that students can find on the internet. The real pedagogical challenge lies in forming children capable of using language meaningfully in their daily lives: to argue, express emotions, resolve conflicts, understand their surroundings, and actively participate in society. This requires a teacher who not only knows linguistic and literary theory but also models textual production processes, guides critical reflection, and systematically supports the writing process.

In Colombia, advancing toward a literacy instruction centered on textual production and the application of language implies recognizing that learning to read and write is not about memorizing structures, but about developing communicative competencies that allow knowledge to be transferred to different areas of school and social life. From this perspective, the teaching role is redefined as expert mediation and formative guidance, aimed at developing comprehension, analysis, and production skills that transcend the classroom and contribute to the formation of critical and competent citizens. Literacy should therefore focus on oral and written textual production, understood as a social, cognitive, and ethical practice.

From a sociocultural perspective, Lev Vygotsky (1978) argued that language is the fundamental tool of thought and cognitive development. One does not learn to speak, read, or write in isolation, but through interaction with others. This idea allows us to understand that literacy must be linked to real situations in which the child uses language to request, express emotions, argue, question, educate, or demand.

From childhood, individuals must recognize that language is a powerful tool that allows them to act upon the world. When a child understands that, through words, they can ask for help, convince others, express what they feel, resolve a conflict, explain an idea, or even make someone change their mind, they begin to perceive its true value. Language ceases to be a school obligation and becomes a practical resource that grants autonomy, influence, and participation. Understanding that words can generate actions and produce effects in others strengthens intrinsic motivation to learn to read and write better.

In this same line, Paulo Freire (1970) proposed that literacy is not only about teaching how to decode words, but about enabling the subject to “read the world.” Textual production must connect with the student’s reality so that they can critically interpret their environment and act within it. Reading the world implies understanding not only what is written in a text, but also what is expressed in faces, in intentions, in ways of living, acting, and relating. One reads the reality of an environment when interpreting gestures, silences, family dynamics, classroom norms, and situations of injustice or cooperation that arise daily.

From this perspective, literacy becomes a tool to understand and transform these realities. The student learns that language allows them to name what they observe, question what they consider incorrect, propose alternatives, and actively participate in building more conscious coexistence. Thus, literacy is not only about teaching letters, but about forming individuals capable of interpreting their context and exercising their voice within it.

For his part, Mikhail Bakhtin contributed the notion of speech genres, pointing out that language always responds to concrete communicative situations. In primary education, this implies teaching different types of texts—such as stories, fables, letters, descriptions, news articles, and instructions, among others—not as abstract structures, but as tools that fulfill specific social functions.

Reading this type of text not only leads to understanding what already exists, but also to producing responses to the needs of the environment. When students understand that a letter can serve to request improvements in their school, that an opinion can generate debate, that an instruction can guide collective action, or that a fable can invite reflection on everyday behaviors, they begin to perceive language as an instrument of transformation. In this way, textual production becomes an exercise in initiative and proposal: the child does not merely reproduce models, but becomes proactive in seeking solutions, building agreements, and generating improvements for their community. Thus, teaching speech genres fosters not only communicative competence, but also the ability to imagine and create new ways of living, relating, and responding to the situations they face.

More than teaching form alone, it is about revealing meaning. When students understand that narrative texts can offer solutions to everyday life situations—such as interpersonal conflicts, ethical decisions, or classroom problems—they begin to see writing as a transformative tool. In this way, they not only analyze existing texts, but become creators of new narratives that dialogue with their reality and propose new ways of acting and coexisting.

Textual Production as the End Goal of the Literacy Process

Centering instruction on textual production implies that students understand that language is not an isolated academic exercise, but a tool to act, influence, and transform their environment. It means recognizing that reading and writing have a concrete purpose in daily life. When children understand that they can narrate a situation, argue a position, or propose a solution through a text, they begin to assume language as a resource of power and participation.

A concrete example is the teaching of the fable. Traditionally, it is approached through its definition, structure, and moral. However, an active pedagogy proposes a more meaningful process in which the student:

• Analyzes various fables and identifies the human situations they represent (lying, deception, laziness, solidarity, responsibility).
• Reflects on similar situations that occur in their immediate environment.
• Designs and plans their own fable based on real experiences.
• Shares the text, engages in dialogue about its message, and evaluates its impact on coexistence.

In this process, the situations analyzed should initially arise from the student’s closest context: first the classroom, then the school, later the family, and finally the community. This progression allows learning to begin with what is known and meaningful for the child, gradually expanding their understanding of the social environment.

Likewise, the selection of vocabulary and cultural references must be consistent with their reality. Teaching from what the student has—their crops, representative places, dances, regional products, customs, and traditions—strengthens identity and a sense of belonging. It is not about teaching from deficiency, but from the cultural richness that their context possesses.

In this way, the fable ceases to be an isolated literary content and becomes an ethical, cultural, and social tool that allows reflection on behavior, the proposal of alternative actions, and the appreciation of one’s own environment as a legitimate source of knowledge and creation.

This same approach is not limited to the fable, but is transferable to all types of texts worked on in primary education. Stories, letters, news articles, descriptions, argumentative or instructional texts must be taught from a contextual, adapted perspective coherent with the specific needs of the population being educated. Each speech genre gains meaning when it responds to real situations in the student’s environment: writing a letter to request improvements at school, drafting a news article about a community event, preparing instructions for caring for local crops, or producing an argumentative text about rules of coexistence. When texts are designed from the concrete reality of children rather than from decontextualized models, instruction becomes relevant, meaningful, and transformative. Thus, literacy ceases to be a homogeneous and standardized content and becomes a living practice, adapted to the culture, challenges, and opportunities specific to each educational community.

On the other hand, contemporary authors such as P. David Pearson (2012) emphasize the importance of strategic instruction, especially in the development of written production. From this perspective, students should not only write, but learn to critically review their own texts, asking themselves whether they fulfill the communicative purpose, whether the ideas are organized coherently, and whether the message is clear to the reader. This training implies developing metacognitive writers, capable of planning, monitoring, and evaluating their writing process before focusing on formal aspects.

In this sense, self-assessment rubrics and checklists become fundamental pedagogical tools, as they guide students in the conscious review of communicative intention, structure, contextual appropriateness, and textual coherence. Likewise, peer assessment strengthens the ability to argue, offer respectful feedback, and recognize opportunities for improvement in both others’ and one’s own productions.

From this reflective exercise on writing, reading comprehension is also strengthened, since students learn to monitor whether they truly understand what they read, identify the organization of ideas in texts, and transfer those strategies to their own productions. In this way, evaluation ceases to be an exclusive act of the teacher and becomes a formative, participatory, and reflective process that strengthens student autonomy and responsibility for their learning. Thus, a direct and inseparable relationship between comprehension and textual production becomes evident, in which both strengthen each other and form part of the same cognitive and communicative process.

Producing Texts with Intention

Before addressing form, it is necessary to ensure communicative intention, purpose, and coherence of ideas. From current approaches to writing instruction, the writing process must develop progressively and reflectively, first attending to meaning and then to formal aspects. Writing should not begin with spelling correction, but with the construction of meaning.

The process can be structured as follows:

Prior recognition of the social function and value of the text type. Before writing, students must understand what the type of text they are going to produce is for, in which contexts it is used, and what its communicative intention is. Only when the purpose is clear can construction begin.

Planning and initial scaffolding. This includes organizing ideas through brainstorming, outlines, or concept maps prior to drafting. At this stage, the intention, audience, and communicative function of the text are defined.

Drafting the first version. Here paragraphs are constructed from the organized ideas, prioritizing global coherence and clarity of the message over formal correctness.

Guided revision. Initially, coherence, logical sequencing of ideas, and fulfillment of the communicative purpose are reviewed. Subsequently, a more detailed analysis of the internal organization of paragraphs is conducted.

Self-assessment through rubrics and checklists. Students complete instruments that allow them to evaluate whether their text meets established criteria, strengthening metacognition and autonomy.

Peer assessment and teacher feedback. Observations focused on content, intention, and structure are offered before addressing formal aspects. This approach aligns with process-oriented literacy proposals defended by contemporary researchers such as Snow and Pearson, who emphasize that writing improves through formative feedback and metacognitive reflection.

Final correction. Only after consolidating meaning and coherence is formal revision of spelling, grammar, and normative aspects carried out. In this way, spelling ceases to be the starting point and becomes the final stage of a meaningful construction process, demonstrating that writing is not simply about avoiding errors, but about communicating with intention, clarity, and relevance.

When children understand that they can argue in science, describe in social studies, explain procedures in mathematics, or express emotions and positions in civic education, literacy ceases to be an isolated subject and becomes a transversal competence. This responds to Freire’s ideal of forming critical subjects and to Vygotsky’s claim that language structures thought. Working on textual production from real contexts, with clear communicative intention and conscious revision processes, ensures that knowledge does not remain confined to the language area, but is naturally transferred to other disciplines and to different areas of daily life.

The true value of the teacher lies, therefore, in demonstrating the applicability of knowledge, modeling processes, supporting the construction of meaning, and forming transferable skills for multiple contexts. When instruction develops in the proposed way—centered on the social function of language, contextualized production, and metacognitive reflection—the student’s capacity to use what has been learned in any academic or social situation that requires it is strengthened.

The teaching of literacy in primary education must transcend the traditional transmission of content and focus on meaningful, contextual, and socially situated textual production. Authors such as Vygotsky, Freire, Bakhtin, and Piaget provide theoretical foundations that recognize the student as an active subject in social interaction, while current researchers such as Snow, Pearson, and Gee offer concrete strategies to develop comprehension, analysis, and production in a strategic and reflective manner.

Implementing this approach not only improves communicative competence, but also guarantees the transfer of knowledge to other areas of learning. When students learn to organize ideas, argue, describe, explain, and review their own texts, they are developing cognitive skills that they will be able to apply in science, mathematics, social studies, and in their community life. In the digital age, where information is available without teacher mediation, the teacher becomes an expert guide in the use of language, capable of modeling, accompanying, and giving practical meaning to knowledge. Only in this way will literacy fulfill its true purpose: to form children who not only know how to read and write, but who use language as a tool to understand, participate in, and transform their reality.

Dra. Loisa Tatiana Camacho Bautista

Didactics of the Humanities – Spanish Language

Guest

Mgtr. Sonnyer Martínez Moreno – Profesor Universidad De La Costa, CUC.

Bibliography:

Bakhtin, M. (1982). Aesthetics of verbal creation. Siglo XXI Editores.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Siglo XXI Editores.

Gee, J. P. (2008). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Pearson, P. D. (2012). Research foundations of reading comprehension instruction. In S. J. Samuels & A. E. Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (4th ed., pp. 1–36). International Reading Association.

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Snow, C. E. (2010). Reading comprehension: Reading for learning. International Academy of Education.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.