Language, Literacy and Learning - Coursework Example

Language, Literacy and Learning THE In the following essay, I am going to explore the topic “Language, Literacy and Learning”. I believethat language, literacy and learning in the contemporary world is extremely important aspects. Since the world is converging, language along with the different culture are coming closer and in this regard, it is important that every individual has the knowledge regarding the different culture in order to remove any complexities associated within a society (Nieto 9-19). It would be an interesting for me to begin with my own story, not because the author’s note is only a channel to acquire understanding regarding language, literacy, and culture. Although, I believe that, my story may not be unique, but my intention behind this is to classify myself as an ‘exception’. Like other millions of children going to school to learn and make friend I was not different from them. Unfortunately, many children in my classroom were very weak in English language. I remember these students were just like a poster child for what we call as, achievement gap. This was because that education system had no knowledge regarding the resources to promote their education. The children are identified to have weak educational background and had come with language that was not English. They were linguistically deprived with limited proficiency in English. My mother was a teacher and my father used to work in a bank. I still remember when I was a child, every morning my mother used to dress me up handsomely for my school. I believe that she was my first teacher, she taught not only about writing, reading and speaking but beyond that. Thank you to my mother. My intention behind the above presented brief information is to illustrate the importance of language, literacy and learning beyond the traditional lens. FINAL DRAFT Language provides people with an effective means to communicate with others across the world. It shapes the ability to judge other people and establish a social place. It is therefore important to make choices regarding the type of language an individual wants to learn. The use of language is also paramount for those individuals like leaders for acquiring support and respect from the followers. As it has been stated earlier that in the modern world, people are required to deal with numerous languages and hence, it is vital to have literacy of various languages. Literacy is not just grooming the ability of an individual to read, write and speak any particular language rather it is a process of having an understanding of different words in languages. Precisely, literacy is a broad aspect that requires an individual to acquire an in-depth understanding regarding a particular language. Literacy is an ability of an individual to develop ideologies for reflecting one’s experience in such a way that promotes positive attitudes and respect for others. Likewise, learning is not just acquiring a broad knowledge about any particular language or subject rather, it can be conjured that learning is the ability of an individual to respond to other people or group. Learning for an individual is a lifelong process. People learn something at every stage of life and it is a never ending process. People are offered with numerous opportunities to learn for instance, people can learn through social interaction and through observation (Watts-Taffe and Truscott 258-265). Language proficiency for many years was often measured in terms of ability to communicate with others. However, language proficiency is argued to be beyond that. Accordingly, Language proficiency can be argued to include academic as well as social language. In this respect, it is claimed that not every individual is proficient in the academic and social language. There tends to be a requirement for different language skills amid individuals in order to excel in any specific language for instance either social or academic. In this regard, academic language proficiency is argued to take place in a classroom setting. Academic language is advocated to vary significantly from social language. The skills such as receptive and productive are identified to be closely related to the academic reasoning and thinking. The academic communication is recognised to take place for a limited time frame. For instance, a teacher may ask questions to a student, which may be of few seconds only. The academic language focuses on learning of content, but it is least concerned with the learning of language. On the other hand, social language generally entails the basic interpersonal communication skills. This kind of language can be identified as language that is required to participate in sport event at school hour or interact with other pupils. This type of communication is generally informal and can be expressed through facial expressions and gestures. However, in contrast to social language, academic language does not recognize facial expressions and gestures (Watts-Taffe and Truscott 258-265). Literacy is not just reading and writing, but it encompasses broad areas such as listening, talking as well as critical thinking. A balanced approach is adopted to support language development as well as literacy learning. Combining the academic development with the literacy development is identified to yield much positive outcome for children. It is equally important to capitalize on the native language of children in the development of non-native language. Besides, family literacy is also ascertained to be important for promoting literacy development of the children. It is extremely important that learning is a lifelong process for every individual. It is paramount that language is used in the most meaning full way to promote effective learning amid the children. The role of the classroom environment is also vital in the language development and literacy learning (Dunst, Jones, Johnson, Raab and Hamby 1-18). The learner should be engaged in meaningful activities that facilities them to understand messages delivered to them in the most convenient and simple manner. Involving children in peer discussion is also determined to enhance their critical thinking ability and analytical skills. In addition, engaging children in effective communication practice is also determined to aid children in the acquisition of language (Behrman 490-498). Thus, there is a greater requirement of shift from traditional model of teaching and learning practice to modern and effective model that would eventually eliminate the issue of achievement gap experienced by the children on several instances. Incorporation of new model would provide greater opportunities for children to acquire understanding regarding different languages and develop literacy learning. GRAPH Fig. 1 Illustration of Percentage Use of Five Most Used Words in the Survey SURVEY In the survey, numerous types of words with different meanings were used. The 5 most recurring words in the survey included ‘Mosit’, ‘Nigger’, ‘Retard’, ‘Ugly’ and ‘Femenist’. These words were extracted from the survey. From the list of top five most recurring words in the survey, the word, ‘Mosit’ was used extensively in the survey. Accordingly, the rate of recurring of the word, ‘Mosit’ was observed to 40% among the extracted five most used words in the survey. It was observed that the word, ‘Nigger’ was the second most recurring word in the survey. Apparently, the rate of recurring of the word, ‘Nigger’ was reckoned as 33% of the above listed five most used words. Similarly, it was noted that the word, ‘Retard’ was the third most recurring word among the five words that were extensively recurring in the survey. Accordingly, the rate of recurring of the word, ‘Retard’ was estimated as 13%. On the other hand, the words ‘Ugly’ and ‘Feminist’ were determined to be repeated equally. In this regard, rate of recurring of both the words was observed as 7% each respectively. Works Cited Behrman, Edward H. “Teaching About Language, Power, And Text: A Review Of Classroom Practices That Support Critical Literacy.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 49.6 (2006): 490-498. Print. Dunst, Carl J., Tara Jones, Molly Johnson, Melinda Raab and Deborah W. Hamby. “Role of Children’s Interests in Early Literacy and Language Development.” Center for Early Literacy Learning Review 4.5 (2011): 1-18. Print. Nieto, Sonia. “Language, Literacy, and Culture: Aha! Moments in Personal and Sociopolitical Understanding.” Journal of Language and Literacy Education 9.1 (2013): 9-19. Print. Watts-Taffe, Susan and Diane M. Truscott. “Focus on Research Using What We Know about Language and Literacy Development for ESL Students in the Mainstream Classroom.” Language Arts 77.3 (2000): 258-265. Print. Read More