Youth and Adult Education (EJA) is a type of education in our country that is equivalent to the different levels of basic education. This form of education is aimed at young people and adults who have not continued their studies and at those who did not have access to primary and/or secondary education at the appropriate age. The EJA takes into account the fact that these are people who have generally had problems in the school system, who already have life stories, their own knowledge and who are in a hurry to learn. In this way, the EJA is thought of as a modality that rescues and values students’ knowledge of the world so that they can see real meaning and validity in their studies. In view of the teaching format proposed by the EJA, it is essential to verify the importance of teaching reading and writing to high school students, because, considering that they are speakers of a discredited variety of the Portuguese language, it is necessary to work on valuing their language so that it appears in equal importance with the others.