ABSTRACT
This paper discusses conditions that contributed to the implementation of the literacy cycle (namedBloco Único) by the Department of Education in the state of Espírito Santo in the 1990s, as well as its conceptual bases, highlighting the concept of literacy. It uses the Bakhtinian approach of language as a theoretical reference to substantiate documentary research, as it identifies the documents analyzed as texts/statements produced by individuals. It concludes, from the documents/texts analyzed, about the conditions that enabled the adoption of the Bloco Único: the production of research in the field of literacy and, consequently, the discussions encompassing the concept of literacy. Regarding conceptual bases, they start from the criticism to the school and the demand for points of contact between both constructivist and cultural-historical theories, in the field of Psychology and also Paulo Freire’s theorizations to accept the conceptions of children, teachers and literacy concepts that are not restricted to linguistic and functional processes only, but also involve the political dimension of this process.
Keywords:
Literacy cycle; Constructivism; Cultural-historical approach; History