The purpose of this research was to analyze the literacy teaching practices of teachers of Youth and Adult Education and the relationship between such practices and the actual learning of their students, regarding the acquisition of the alphabetic writing system. The research involved two groups of module I in a literacy class given at two public schools of Recife, Pernambuco. Classes were observed and interviews with the teachers and with a group of students were carried out, in order to grasp their expectations regarding their learning of reading and writing. Analysis showed that the teachers developed a literacy teaching practice, which gave priority to oral expression, the construction and copy of sentences, text readings by the teacher and text interpretation by the students, as well asa few reflective activities about the alphabetic writing system. It was clear that the expectations of the students when returning to school, that is, to learn to read and write, were not fulfilled. The large majority did not advance much, and most of them blamed themselves for their alleged "failure".
Literacy; Youth and Adult Education; Teaching Practices
