Success in education depends on how literate one is. Moreover, being literate is more than being able to read and write, rather it is the student’s ability to apply the skills taught effectively on a job, in society, and to further their education. “Students with strong literacy skills have promising educational and career options, while most students with weak skills face a future of being undereducated and underemployed as they struggle with undeveloped personal goals and unfulfilling, low-paying jobs” [Hock & Deshler, 2003]. Consequently, the ensuing paper will compare literacy and language models used in a bilingual education program and will select models that would be useful in establishing a bilingual program.
Comparing Literacy and Language Models
“Literacy is defined as a social practice, meaning a form of activity through which we use text in culturally appropriate ways for specific purposes” [Kern, 2000]. On the other hand, Neilson (2014) argues that “the power of literacy lies not just in the ability to read and write, but rather in a person’s capacity to apply these skills to effectively connect, interpret and discern the intricacies of the world in which they live” [Delvene, 2014, para. 1]. Significantly, when these two perspectives are analyzed, literacy can be seen as a skill and a tool. Whereby, students, can possess the learned skills and still be unable to utilize these skills in an informative way.
Letter and Sound Knowledge
For bilingual education
More young americans nowadays are being raised in homes speaking non-English, but these students are falling behind in schools where there is not a bilingual program available. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in schools without a bilingual education program, 71% of English speakers are at or above the basic requirements for fourth grade reading while merely 30% of non-English speakers reach this level. 35% of English and 8% of non-English speakers reach proficient reading levels while only 9% of English and 1% of non-English speakers perform at advanced levels. It’s evident that the availability of a bilingual program is crucial to the success of an individual who needs the resources that can be given to them through the use of bilingual education. The percentages of the non-English speaking students previously mentioned could undoubtedly be comparable to those percentages of the English speaking students if the education they were being provided with was cohesive to their comfortability, and the material being taught was in a language they could better understand.
Literacy is having an understanding that oral language can be brought to life through print. Thoughts, that are translated in text or through writing, are used to inform, entertain or persuade the reader. Literacy (the ability to read and write) is a much-needed tool to survive in today’s society. Without it, one would become a life-long dependent. The building blocks for becoming a successful reader begin with emergent literacy.
Literacy specialist and teachers will argue that being able to read and write is fundamental in everything we do. The way in which literacy is important is constantly changing as it is no longer needed to simply read a newspaper or book, but now it is a case that for teachers and students, it is also about being intellectually, culturally and electronically capable. We now live in a digital age and the use of IT is encouraged across the curriculum. This can be a hindrance to those students who struggle to analyse and search through the material presented. With these new technologies aside, literacy is still essential to developing a strong sense of well-being and citizenship. Research has shown that children who have good reading skills will
In “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction,” James Paul Gee introduces a new approach for thinking about Literacy. Rather than think of literacy in terms of language (grammar), Gee suggests that we think of it in terms of social practice (5). Gee claims that this approach has important and interesting consequences.
In the essay ‘What is literacy?’, James Paul Gee, presents to us a very detailed examination, of concepts that are rather deemed to be similar by most. He explores the definition and meaning of “literacy” by taking into account other related ideas such as “learning”, “discourse” and “acquisition”.
Literacy has the power to transform us. By reading we learn new things and we are more likely to express ourselves to others. We can understand another’s language, other cultures, and know the way others way of thought.
“The more you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” This is how Dr. Seuss thought of reading, and I think of it in much the same way. Literacy is everywhere and influences us every day, therefore, it plays a major part in each of our lives. I believe that reading is an interactive activity in which learning happens, or as Clay (2001) defines it, “…a message-getting, problem-solving activity” (p. 1). Reading is the process through which one reads information and from doing so, constructs meaning about the material. The more exposure and practice one has with reading, the more knowledge one gains. In this paper, I will begin by discussing my own personal educational philosophy, then continue by stating and explaining four of my beliefs about the reading process and the research that is found to support each of them before sharing the remaining questions I have about literacy. I am an existentialist, and a strong supporter of a balanced literacy approach. My beliefs about literacy come from these foundations and perspectives that I embrace. For students to be successful in their literacy development, I believe that identity acceptance in the classroom is crucial, instruction for all students must be differentiated, direct and explicit instruction is at times necessary, and vocabulary is a significant component in the ‘Big Five’ of children’s literacy development.
Literacy plays a huge role in many people’s lives everyday, whether it is learning how to read and write for the first time or writing a five-page essay for the hundredth time. We experience literacy differently and have our very own unique stories on how it has impacted our lives and had made us who we are today. It is an essential aspect that I use in my everyday life, such as in relationships, daily interactions with others, and learning. It has become such a powerful aspect and human right in which it allows one to speak his/her mind and in some cases express their opinion to the world. My personal literacy history has shaped me into who I am today because without my experiences I would not have been able to gain the confidence and
Since a child going up, literacy was not my strong suit. Literacy throughout my life seem not to cope with me. Later as I grew up, literacy meant to me that it is one’s ability to read, write, and speak. More importantly there is a more meaning of literacy, meaning that not only writing, reading, and speaking, but able to understand, analyze, and communicate with other peoples’ ideas. Soon enough literacy has made an impact on my life, it has been and will be a lifelong process. Literacy will always be with me, starting from my past and ending in my future.
Literacy plays a huge role in my daily life. Every single day I read and write. Whether it’s writing an email or reading a text message, class assignment, discussion board, etc. My literacy journey is unique because I have had different experiences. As a result, this is how my literacy journey has let me to be the reader that I am.
Our view of literacy upon commencing this course, was that it is the ability to read and write. Our understanding of it however was partially true because, reading and writing are essential of any person’s literacy, but reading and
Literacy in L1 can support literacy in L2 in a variety of ways. Many researchers and practitioners in ESL/Bilingual Education or ESL/BE are aware of research evidence which supports such transfer, but research is not always applied to practice. According to Roberts (1994), literacy in L1 supports L2 by being able to transfer the teachings to L2 students. Research shows that knowledge of alphabets and awareness of phonological can an are strong predictors of literacy development in children being successful (Ford, K.2005).
LITERACY IS POWER, DO YOU AGREE? Imagine if you were incapable of reading and answering this simple question because you are unable to read or write. Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak, listen, and cogitate; acquisition of these skills is essential for one to communicate effectively and interact effectually in the world. According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 757 million adults worldwide are illiterate— two-thirds of them are women—which equals 15% of the total population. (UNESCO, 2016).
New Literacy Studies (NLS). The New London Group (1996) has broadened our understanding of being literate from “learning to read and write in page-bound, official, standard forms for the national language” (p. 61) to incorporating multimodal methods such as textual, visual, audio, gestural to make meaning out of the social and cultural context. NLS perceives literacy learning as a social and cultural practice that should be understood and studied in a variety of contexts, including cognitive, social, cultural, historical, and institutional (Gee, 2009). The perspective of literacy as a social practice “seeks to shed light upon how students’ cultures, contexts, and histories are embedded within their literacy learning. Moreover, a social perspective of literacy
“It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations-something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.” - Katherine Patterson. Literacy is a right. It is implicit in the right to education. It is recognized as a right, explicitly for both children and adults, in certain international conventions. Literacy is the ability to read and write, and also refers to having enough reading and writing ability to function in society. People who cannot read and write are called illiterate. People are called functionally illiterate if they cannot read or write well enough to do activities that are common in social settings they encounter. Such activities may include employment, schoolwork, voting, or worship. The power of literacy is something that can change the world. How far has literacy come since the beginning and what is its history; what are the causes of a lower literacy rate; what effects can lower literacy rates have; what about higher rates; what are some ways to improve the literacy rates and; what are some of the benefits to a higher literacy rate?