CHALLENGES OF LITERACY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: BETWEEN THE TEXTBOOK AND THE DIGITAL SCREEN

Abstract

Literacy in the 21st century constitutes a complex process that transcends the decoding of linguistic signs, requiring an expanded understanding of the multiple languages and supports that permeate students' daily lives. This study investigates the challenges of contemporary literacy, specifically the articulation between textbooks and digital technologies as pedagogical resources in teaching and learning reading and writing. The main objective consists of analyzing how literacy teachers perceive and use these different supports in their daily practices, identifying potentialities, limitations, and challenges related to the integration of analog and digital resources. The methodology characterizes itself as qualitative research of applied nature, with descriptive-analytical objectives, grounded in systematic bibliographic review, semi-structured interviews with fifteen literacy teachers, participant observations in classrooms, and documentary analysis of the didactic materials used. The results show that teachers recognize the textbook as an organizing instrument of pedagogical work but identify limitations related to curricular rigidity, while digital technologies enhance students' engagement and favor the exploration of multiple languages, although their use frequently occurs in an unsystematic manner. It concludes that contemporary literacy demands integrated pedagogical approaches that articulate traditional and digital resources in a complementary way, overcoming unproductive dichotomies and promoting theoretically grounded practices that enhance the specificities of each support in developing reading and writing competencies.