Linguagem matemática e língua materna: aproximação para uma aprendizagem significativa

Abstract

The research highlighted the importance of developing literacy skills in the Mother Tongue (MT) and in Mathematics for the full development of students. It emphasizes that literacy is not limited to alphabetization, but rather permeates all aspects of teaching and learning, involves social practice, and broadens the understanding of the world in its diverse cultural manifestations. Based on data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which indicate low proficiency among Brazilian students in these areas, the need for effective actions to improve teaching and learning was evident, and the importance of the interrelation between MT and Mathematics was recognized. Given this problem, the objective was to understand how the teaching of MT and Mathematics approached in the literacy process, considering teachers' conceptions, pedagogical practices, and the formative conditions that influence it. As a theoretical basis, it relied on discussions that relate literacy in Mathematics and in MT as complementary processes presenting similar characteristics from a literacy perspective. Therefore, as a methodological approach, exploratory field research was adopted, with a quantitative-qualitative approach, using Likert-type questionnaires via Google Forms and semi-structured interviews as instruments, with literacy teachers from elementary schools (early years) in municipal schools in a city in the southwest region of Minas Gerais. To examine the data collected, description, content analysis, and integration/cross-referencing techniques used. The results indicate that the approximation between the teaching of the mother tongue and mathematics favors the construction of meaning, the mobilization of students' prior knowledge, and contributes to overcoming learning difficulties observed in both subjects. They highlight the importance of teacher training as a central axis so that teachers can understand, plan, and implement pedagogical proposals that bring mathematics and the mother tongue closer together. As an educational product, a Pedagogical Workshop was conducted with volunteer teachers from one of the schools in the municipal network, focusing on the articulation between curricular components through communication, the valuing of collaborative work, conceptual and pedagogical improvement, and the re-signification of pedagogical practices. It concluded that the approximation between mathematical language and the mother tongue enhances the literacy process, promoting contextualized and meaningful learning.