UNIVERSIDADE DE BRASÍLIA INSTITUTO DE PSICOLOGIA Programa de Pós-Graduação em Processos de Desenvolvimento Humano e Saúde DINÂMICA DAS SIGNIFICAÇÕES DE SI EM CRIANÇAS NA PERSPECTIVA DIALÓGICO-CULTURAL MÓNICA RONCANCIO MORENO Brasília, março de 2015 (original) (raw)

This research has been developed in the intersection between the Cultural Psychology and the Dialogical Self Theory. The main objective was to characterize the children's meaning-making process in the institutional transition from preschool to primary school, analyzing the development of their Self-System. For this purpose, we suggested some concepts from the Cultural Psychology and the Dialogical Theory: Affective-Semiotic Fields (CAS), Dynamic Self-Positioning (PDS) and Clusters. The participants were seven children, among five and six years old from public institutions in Brasilia, DF. The study was conducted in the last six months of preschool and in the first six months of primary. Three children were selected for the case studies that we are presenting in this paper. Using a qualitative and an idiographic approach, we interviewed children, teachers and parents and observed and videotaped the daily routine in the classroom. Moreover, we constructed semi-structured tasks, e.g. school dolls, storybooks, etc. The results showed that children can assume different Self-positioning and it may change from one educational context to the other. Different developmental processes were identified: cultural canalization, semiotic mediation, anticipation, and others. On the basis of case studies, we concluded that children could not only cope with the challenge of adaptation to a new educational level, but also were able to create meanings about themselves. The children acted like active individuals in the construction of their own developmental trajectories. Finally, this work can contribute for a small progress, theoretical and methodological, oriented to the study of the dialogical Self.