Literacy Skills

Traditionally, literacy has been narrowly defined from a technical perspective as the "acquisition of literacy skills, that is, reading, writing and speaking a language" (Chu 342). The neutral quality of this definition that focuses on the process of decoding and encoding the text fails to take into account the socio-political and cultural dimensions of literacy. Similarly, formalized statements such as the expanded definition written in the National Literacy Act of 1991 of the United States also project a fatade of objectivity. In this document, literacy is defined as:

an individual's ability to read, write and speak in English and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals and one's knowledge and potential (qtd. in Chu 342).

However, in a multicultural society of the U.S., the limitation of literacy to the knowledge and proficiency of the English language clearly excludes the existence of minorities in this society (Chu 342). For Jiminez, more than just a technical term, the conception of literacy in this country is often utilized as a means of preserving the status quo that protects privileges enjoyed by the dominant groups in the society. Even more significantly, within the educational setting, the formal statements issued by educators and legislators have been instrumental in shaping the type of curriculum, instructional approach and assessment. Therefore, instead of helping mino

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ion that emphasizes the importance of book reading. In their communities, children build their linguistic abilities by interacting with their family and community members and oral stories. Through their exposure to this orally rich environment, many young children begin to acquire their knowledge in the use of language. In fact, writers from minority backgrounds such as Paule Marshall and Cherrie Moraga attributed their professional development to childhoods that were steeped in the oral tradition of vivid and animated stories (242-4). Therefore, sociolinguists argue that these students' mastery of their dialects and native languages demonstrate their mastery of sophisticated language abilities that should be used to help them learn the English language (Jimenez 123). Based on the above discussion, it is evident that the traditional conception of literacy does not take into account the richness and the diversity of "literacies" that exist in the multicultural society of America. Educators need to focus their efforts on tapping into the students' existing communication abilities to help them acquire the English language by building on the foundation of their sophisticated linguistic abilities (Jimenez 123; Meier 242). Esse

Category: Psychology - L