This study deals with the acquisition/development of reading comprehension transversal competences within the scope of the teaching/learning of Mother Tongue in basic compulsory education, a main concern in the educational context nowadays. During the last decades, research about reading comprehension highlighted the importance of developing competences in this domain either for academic uses or for social purposes. Reading is regarded as an irreplaceable instrument which allows people to acquire knowledge as well as to go through a whole set of experiments. Notwithstanding this fact, recognized international studies devoted to assessing subjects’ literacy levels in different countries, such as PISA, developed by OECD, show that our basic school students have some severe problems when it comes to reading comprehension. In this context, we consider that reading is “the capacity to understand, use and reflect on written texts in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential, and to participate in society” (OECD, 2004). So, each country must create conditions for students to enjoy the pleasure of reading and, at the same time, acquire and develop the necessary competences so that they can understand what they read. We must bear in mind the role reading competences play in structuring one’s thought, in raising his/her critical awareness and acquiring and developing other competences, such as writing. We all know textbooks are a relevant element in the teaching/learning process. Textbooks for the teaching/learning of Mother Tongue must take into account the transversality and the need to promote reading comprehension competences. The above mentioned principles led us to develop a study focused on the relationship between the acquisition/development of reading comprehension competences and: a) students’ academic success; and b) their future socio-professional integration. This research project, entitled Textbooks and transversality of reading comprehension in Portuguese as a Mother Tongue: a study in Basic Education*, aims at: (1) drawing a reader's profile based on the acquisition/development of competences which promote students’ academic success and facilitate their social integration; (2) analysing textbooks associated to the teaching/learning of Mother Tongue in order to assess their adequacy to the acquisition/development of reading comprehension transversal competences in Basic School; (3) defining essential principles for the elaboration of textbooks which promote the acquisition/development of reading comprehension transversal competences and for the improvement of teacher practices as far as reading comprehension is concerned. The study will lead to the production of guidelines dealing with these two issues. Keywords: Transversal competences; Transversality of Mother Tongue; Reading comprehension; Textbooks * Financed by the Portuguese Foundation for the Science and the Technology (POCI 2010)

In this study, we are using a qualitative methodology, corresponding to a content analysis of nine textbooks which are being used in Portuguese Basic Schools. The analysis is being guided by a grid especially elaborated for this purpose.

At present, we are testing our grid through the analysis of a textbook not included in our corpus. This preliminary analysis is revealing that textbooks promote the acquisition/development of certain reading comprehension transversal competences, but fail in promoting others. We are working on the characterization of these problems. The study will lead to the production of guidelines regarding two issues: i) the elaboration of textbooks which promote the acquisition/development of reading comprehension transversal competences; ii) the improvement of teacher practices concerning the acquisition/development of reading comprehension transversal competences in Portuguese as a Mother Tongue. In the future we expect to provide a tool for similar studies in a European framework and compare our conclusions to those of other research projects developed in different countries.