This article presents reflections on the teaching of reading and literacy in Brazil, taking as its point of departure the current disputes among the so-called 'methods' and 'methodologies', or still, 'lines', 'philosophies', 'theories' of literacy and reading. The text weaves its arguments from some of the clashes and concerns taking place in this field of teaching in this first decade of the new millennium and, as an example, analyzes a document published by the Commission for Education and Culture of the Federal House of Representatives entitled "Final report of the workgroup Child Literacy: the new paths", (Brasília, 2003). This analysis is taken as a reference to discuss the relation between the scientific production in the field of the teaching of reading and literacy, and its influence on public education. Towards the end of the text, the author explains his research perspective and describes specific suggestions to approach the issue of literacy and the teaching of reading in Brazil, emphasizing the singularities of the school in Brazil in which orality - if viewed in its authentic possibilities of use - can play a fundamental role in the teaching and learning of reading. The article's conclusion affirms that, many times, politics adopts this or that method as a way of evading the more complex responsibility of assuming literacy as an absolute priority of the State.
Literacy; Reading; Literacy proficiency; Orality; Methods