Training children as effective readers according to school librarians: an enunciation analysis

Abstract

The research aimed to verify the meanings attributed by school librarians to the notion of training children as effective readers at school. Thus, the research draws on the qualitative and descriptive approaches. The Enunciation Analysis research technique of the Content Analysis method was applied to analyze the data. The latter were collected through the application of a semi-structured questionnaire published in the Facebook group called Bibliotecários do Brasil. The role of the school librarian as an educator at school was discussed. Findings of the research consist on the comprehension that children may be trained as effective readers at school when, according to the deponents: the librarian develops mediational and pedagogical activities; the librarian works with the physical information resources; the librarian censors access to the collection and information; the librarian gets emotionally involved with the users of the information; the librarian rescues the cultural heritage passed on by adults; the librarian understands that the school library is an important information center in society. The paper concludes that school librarians make up the team of education actors at school. They are professionals who work in the pedagogical dimension when they follow the student's learning process, whether offering technical and/or intellectual support, or when they work cooperatively with other professional educators at school. Then the meanings on how to train children as effective readers at school cannot be restricted, as it would influence the professional to make “short-sighted” decisions to promote the reading in the school library when in fact the reading skills in childhood is complex and requires strategies and dense, well-designed, articulated and defined school programs.