Assessment of initial reading and writing learning: conceptual and methodological principles

Abstract

This article discusses the assessment of initial reading and writing learning by analyzing instruments used in school experiences in first-year classes of elementary school. There is a contextualization of the evaluation process through the assumptions of formative evaluation. Subsequently, based on the phonological and psychogenetic perspectives – which are paradigms that explain the children’s learning of the alphabetical-orthographic system –, conceptual and methodological principles are presented and discussed to evaluate the conceptualization of writing, knowledge of letters, syllabic awareness, graphophonemic awareness and knowledge of phonemegrapheme relations or, as it may also be called, phonographic awareness. Finally, it is
concluded that the teacher’s interpretation is what will guide the assessment of students’ learning, based on the different theories that explain the initial learning process of reading and writing. This finding shows the importance of the specific knowledge of the teacher of initial reading and writing instruction for monitoring children’s learning and organizing teaching situations that favor the betterment of students considering
the different possibilities of intervention.