Letramentos críticos e redação para o ENEM: desafios no ensino de língua portuguesa com pessoas em vulnerabilidade social

Abstract

This research, which is part of the field of Applied Linguistics, had the general objective of building a theoretical-methodological proposal for teaching the genre “ENEM model essay”, based on the principles of Critical Literacy. The literacy events analyzed took place within the scope of the Letrajovem Extension Project, which carries out Portuguese language workshops with young people and adults in socially vulnerable situations. The question that guided the research was: how to reconcile the adoption of the perspective of critical literacies and the Letrajovem Sociocultural Methodology approach to the development of knowledge and skills necessary for writing the essay model required by ENEM, which configures a specific school genre? To achieve the main objective of this qualitative research, we have combined different methodologies. For the description of the textual/discursive genre “ENEM model essay”, we adopted the bibliographic method. In the field research carried out in the Letrajovem project, the method used was action research with a socially critical bias, in a qualitative perspective. For the interpretation of the data generated in the action research, we used Content Analysis. The theoretical framework of the study comes from contemporary studies of Literacies, interweaving the critical literacy approach and reflections on power. In the analysis of the textual productions generated in the workshops, the Content Analysis method was used. The starting point was the information presented in the “Candidate's Manual” and the analysis of the structure of “redações nota mil” in order to understand the thematic content, style and compositional construction of these written productions, in view of the characterization of the textual/discursive genre “ENEM model essay. In the planning of the workshops, the understanding of this genre was taken into account, emphasizing the development of the workshops that stimulated the discussion, understanding and production of “ENEM model essays”, from the perspective of critical literacy. The focus of the workshops fell on the characteristics of this ENEM writing genre, with a predominance of argumentative essays, and, as indicated by the analysis developed in this study, highly standardized. Thus, paths were sought that would allow groups in a situation of social vulnerability that participate in Letrajovem to pass selection processes, favoring the exercise of criticism and authorship. The results obtained, materialized in “ENEM model essays” produced by the participants, indicate that the articulation between the work with this genre and the approach of critical literacies in Portuguese Language workshops, for people in a situation of social vulnerability, constitutes a great challenge, in the to the extent that the educational inequalities experienced by workshop participants result in many difficulties with regard to the use of the Portuguese language in the standard written variety and the knowledge and skills required in the ENEM writing test. It was observed that such difficulties generate insecurities that also interfere with the written production of the learners. In this sense, it is considered important to reflect on the exclusionary aspects of the exam and on its objectives, taking into account its importance as a gateway to higher education.