This article presents the official proposals of both the Ministry of Education and São Paulo State Secretariat of Education for literature teaching at schools, analyzing the different theoretical viewpoints of their authors and the socio-historical context in which they have been elaborated. The overall panorama observed in the analysis of these proposals shows a significant change in the way the Portuguese language discipline must be examined and taught by teachers, prioritizing the teaching objectives instead of the traditional lists of content. As an immediate consequence of this change, there is a new language teaching approach based on the psychosocial conception, without dividing teaching into blocks: grammar, (history) of literature and writing. However, a wide gap is observed between the goals of these official documents and the actual experiences undergone by most Brazilian schools and their teachers, since the ratification of the importance of literature teaching to empower students as readers does not assure educators the knowledge and the necessary know-how to insert literature teaching in the language studies. In view of this peculiarity of literature teaching in Brazil, the survey conducted seeks to point out the differences between the documents and, at the same time, to comment on the situation experienced by students and teachers in the period.
READING; LITERATURE; CURRICULUM; SCHOOL