Syllabaries for the teaching of reading and writing here and overseas (16th-20th Centuries)

Abstract

Alphabets, ABC letters, primers, reading books and syllabaries were, in Brazil and other Western countries, especially from the 19th century onwards, the main materials used to teach reading and writing. Although these books had different names, they had similar characteristics and, often, the legislation aimed at school books did not mention their particularities. The research, especially about these artifacts in Portuguese-speaking countries, has observed that they share similarities in several aspects, such as materiality, content and didactic organization. In Brazil, for example, ABC letters and syllabaries, as Frade (2010, p. 276) points out, “sometimes seem to designate the same material and, on other occasions, they seem to be another support”. In our research experiences about school material culture in the area of the history of literacy, reading and writing, both in Brazil and in transnational contexts, we have observed that certain printed materials have attracted more attention from researchers, resulting in a greater volume of studies, such as primers and reading books. In comparison, other types of books, such as syllabaries, are less investigated, which leads us to propose this thematic dossier within the scope of the Cadernos de História da Educação Journal.