The article discusses the theoretical basis of a research involving ten children between four and five years old from a university crèche. The aim is to investigate aspects of the process of literacy of these children both at school and at home. The children's participation in literacy events, their relations with objects, activities and behaviour associated with written culture, and discursive aspects of family and school movements were taken into consideration. Studies on the relation between oral and written language and studies that highlight a social and dialogical conception of language lead us to a conception of literacy based principally on Bakhtinian notions of social language, genres of discourse, heteroglossia and hybridization. Such a discussion is fundamental in the research for the definition of analytical categories evidencing different ways of being literate. It is intended to deepen understanding on both the role of the school and the family in the literacy process.
pre-school education; oral and written language; literacy