Prácticas pedagógicas para la enseñanza de la lectura inicial: un estudio en el contexto de la evaluación docente chilena

The article presents the results of a study focusing on the reading instruction practices used in the first 2 years of elementary education and the approaches underlying them. A mixed methodology was applied to a random sample of 90 video recordings of 1 st and 2 nd grade teachers, made in the context of the 2008 Chilean teacher evaluation. Their practices were characterized according to these approaches by observing classroom activities and how they were conducted in classroom interaction. Descriptive, exploratory factor, and individual differences analyses were conducted. Regarding the activities, the results showed that teachers privilege reading over the other core lines of their subject area, acting as protagonists of the activities and asking most questions. Those who performed better in the evaluation tended to present greater cognitive challenges to their students. Regarding the interactions, the results showed that they are characterized by the predominance of teacher discourse, with little student participation, that opportunities for vocabulary expansion and acquisition of metalinguistic concepts are meager, and that the cognitive challenge posed to readers is limited.