GEALE is constituted by researchers who study written production from the point of view of its acquisition and teaching. The group emerged from the development of the research project “Acquisition and Development of Writing: spelling and accentuation” which resulted in the creation of a Text Bank consisting of written productions of Brazilian and Portuguese children in the initial series, in addition to texts written by EJA students. The Text Bank of Acquisition of Written Language (BATALE), in the way it was conceived, allows investigations to be carried out that involve structural aspects – phonological, morphological and syntactic – as well as aspects related to the text and discourse.
The studies developed by GEALE aim at: (1) a description of the process of acquisition and development of writing of children in the first grades of basic education; (2) an analysis of individual processes and general trends encountered during the period of writing acquisition and development; (3) a comparison of aspects of oral language acquisition with initial writing data; (4) the formulation of proposals to improve the teaching of the mother tongue; and (5) a discussion regarding the repercussion of theoretical training in language teaching practices and in the professional development of the teacher.
In the period from 2013 to 2017, GEALE hosted a broad research project within the scope of the Observatory of Education/CAPES, entitled “National Pact for Literacy at the Right Age (PNAIC): training of teachers and the improvement of reading and writing rates in the literacy cycle (1st to 3rd year of Elementary school)”. The aim of the project was to keep up with the process of continued education for teachers linked to PNAIC actions conducted by the ‘Universidade Federal de Pelotas’, in order to verify the effects on children’s reading and writing rates and the training practices. Two important results of the project were the inauguration of the fifth line of investigation of the GEALE, listed above in item (5), and the creation of the Teacher Text Bank (BTP), consisting of written productions (texts, activity reports, planning) of basic education teachers that participated in the PNAIC-UFPel. Recently, the BTP is also incorporating the productions of students of the Pedagogy course at UFPel that are doing the curricular internship in the initial years.
In view of the breadth and volume of materials produced within the scope of the OBEDUC-Pacto project, a separated website was created for its dissemination, whose access link is as follows: https://wp.ufpel.edu.br/obeducpacto/. Materials and activities developed in the research projects that, since the founding of GEALE, have met and are in line with the lines of investigation from (1) to (4), are here in this page. To view the mirror of GEALE in the Research Groups Directory (Lattes/CNPq), access dgp.cnpq.br/dgp/espelhogrupo/3189572089608769.
