Reflection on C0831 / Adult Language and Literacy
One of the last classes that I took to complete my graduate studies is the Adult Language and Literacy course. Professor Gleason facilitated our group of approximately 15 students. We focused on adult language and literacy practices, programs and policies from the viewpoint of adult learners, educators, researchers and bureaucratic officials. Several guest speakers brought vitality to our classroom as they informed us about various forms of adult literacy and teaching methods. We engaged in rich conversation around social, economic, cultural and political matters that affect adult literacy practices. To end the course work, we visited the Consortium for Worker Education (CWE) and for me that experience basically summarized what adult education is really about.
We began the class by reading Terrance G. Wiley’s, Literacy and Language Diversity in the United States. Wiley challenges assumptions, research and educational policies in order to make us look more closely at the practices in American schools. It is obvious that his book was written to critique the status quo. Readings on his research and the statistics from the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) reveal that only 37.1% of Americans complete college with an Associates or a higher degree. Whereas, most educated countries such as Korea, Japan and Canada have college completion rates of 52.8%. This means that the United States is no longer the education leader of the world. While the latter fact is acceptable, the number of people who seek and complete higher education is really substandard.
Two of my fellow graduates and an earlier Language and Literacy, MA graduate did presentations during our class on contextual adult learning and teaching practices. Wynne Ferdinand presented the I-BEST model approach of adult education. Along with Amy Dalsimer, the Director of Pre-college Academic Programming at LaGuardia Community College, Wynne offered invaluable information on multiple programs offered at LGCC Adult & Continuing Education Programs.
Megan Kelley, one of our classmates who is visually impaired did a workshop of Braille literacy. She is very knowledgeable on accessing reading materials for people who are blind. It was great to learn the history of Braille and how it is evolving with new technology. Braille literacy is not a highly recognized term, however it has let to the empowerment and success of Megan Kelly. She is truly a remarkable person and one of her goals is to become a teacher for blind students and exploit the concept. I wish both Megan and Wynne much success on their future endeavors.
Mr. Ruben Rangel, a Marilyn Sternglass Award Winner and MA, L&L graduate of 2005 visited our class to demonstrate a Freirian approach to teaching adult literacy. During his workshop we actively explored key concepts from Freire’s, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It was a very moving experience that I believe changed the dynamics of our class in a personal way.
Paulo Friere and Mike Rose are the two philosophers that Professor Gleason chose for us to study on issues of access to education and literacy. She could not have chosen any better scholars to demonstrate how social, cultural and political realities impact learners and how we as educators can address them along with the students. These were both powerful reads, ones that I am sure I will revisit infinitely and use as guides throughout my personal and professional lifetime.
Our mid-term assignment was to write a summary of a journal article or a chapter of a book of our choice. I chose to summarize from Peter Elbow’s, Everyone can Write, “Inviting the Mother Tongue.” Elbow proposes ways to make the basic writing classroom an educationally comfortable and more writing safe environment where students can worry less about their language being “wrong” or “incorrect.” He introduces ways to promote writing comfort ability in the classroom by allowing students to write in their native dialect while guiding them towards writing in standard written English. His ideas have intrigued me in such a way that I am eager to further explore his theories. I, not only as an educator, but also as an African-American student who speaks in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), can understand how this method can have a scaffolding affect on students. I plan to learn more about this technique and practice it in my classroom.
We wrapped up the semester by visiting the CWE. We had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. Joe McDermott, the Executive Director of the organization, who founded it 25 years ago. He is an amazing man who established the CWE to provide adult basic education and workforce specific training to help people to build and maintain careers. Eric Shtob, who is the Assistant director, has worked closely with Joe McDermott for the past 15 years developing educational services through unions, government agencies and community based organizations to serve workers of New York City and State. I was very impressed by these men and the work that they do. I really admire their dedication, compassion and honorable achievements that help non-traditional students like me reach their goals in life. It was such a pleasure to meet them both. However, Joe McDermott’s discussion shifted my view of adult learners during my last few hours of graduate school. He stated, “Society lost the battle (lifelong learning) to schools that focus on a categorized and formal outcome. What about average workers; shouldn’t their work also be recognized? School does not define people!” These are just a few of his words of wisdom that has caused me to adjust my perspective and redefine my understanding of adult education.
The L&L, MA program at City College is a relatively small program in comparison to others at the college. Barbara Gleason occupies several positions in addition to being the Director of the program. For this reason, she has taught several of the courses that I have taken during my graduate studies. These include: Writing Center Theory and Practice, Adult Learning and Development, Theories and Models of Literacy and the most recent Adult Language and Literacy. Professor Gleason does a great job of providing information in ways that are effective for adult learners through literature, research, reports, graphs, presentations, field trips, etc. More impressively, she is able to re-invent herself every semester by teaching in variable styles and making learning exciting. I appreciate Dr. Barbara Gleason and thank her for being motivating, supportive and devoted to her students. My learning experience at CCNY has been an unimaginable one and I could not have done it without her.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Lashallah's Final Paper - Paulo Freire
Lashallah Osborne
Adult Language and Literacy – Professor Barbara Gleason
May 11, 2010
Final Paper – Paulo Freire
Through his work, Paulo Freire became legendary for developing an extraordinary approach to education that focuses on helping adults liberate themselves from oppression of others. His own childhood impoverished life molded his sociopolitical and educational beliefs. Freire was born during the early 1920’s to a middle class family in Brazil right before the great depression. He and his family were familiar with hunger and poverty due to the great depression in 1929. They continued to experience hardship after his family moved to the poverty stricken city of Jaboatao dos Guararapes and when his father died in 1933. His learning in school suffered a great deal due to these conditions. Freire’s social life back then involved spending lots of time playing sports with kids whose families’ were in worst financial circumstances than his family was. Nevertheless, he learned a lot from them. These experiences influenced his compassion for the poor and birthed a highly influential theorist of critical pedagogy.
In 1943, Freire attended Law School at the University of Recife. He also studied philosophy, phenomenology and the psychology of language. Although he was a law student and was admitted to the legal bar, Freire never actually practiced law. Instead, he worked as a language teacher, teaching Portuguese in public schools. In 1944, he married Elza Maia Costa de Olivia. The two had five children and lived the rest of their lives together as educators.
It was during 1946 when Freire became Director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Social Service in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil. He worked mostly with adult people who were considered illiterate and poor. Consequently, Freire began to “embrace a non-orthodox form of what could be considered liberation theology.” His approach of teaching literacy to adults is one that initiates self worth in adult learners and encourages them to engage in learning.
Freire accomplished many achievements in life before his death in 1997. He was appointed Director of the Department of Cultural Extension at Recife University. There he had the opportunity to significantly apply his theories, when he taught 300 sugarcane workers how to read and write in only 45 days. Because of this, “the Brazilian government approved the creation of thousands of cultural circles across the country.” He also published several books in various languages and was offered a “visiting professorship” at Harvard University. Of all of the accomplishments Freire has made, the most noteworthy has to be the humanistic and libertarian pedagogical methods he has coined to empower people by shedding light on inequity and expanding consciousness.
Freire considers education to be vital in liberating oppressed people and challenging an unjust society. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he enlightens us with details of the relationship between the “oppressor” and the “oppressed” in terms of the student-teacher relationship. He further explains that liberation of the oppressed “the student” can only be attained through the understanding of several themes: Understanding the “banking concept” and “problem-posing” methods of education and believing that liberation can only be achieved through the practice of critical thinking with the use of communication and dialogue.
The first type of control that is presented is the “banking concept” of education in which the oppressor tries “changing the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation which oppressed them”. They achieve this by practicing an authoritative method of teaching that acknowledges only the knowledge of the teacher and the incompetence of the students. As the oppressor, a teacher tries to control the way students learn, therefore indirectly suggesting a sense of passivity and marginality in the student’s character. Freire argues that, “The banking model tries to control thinking and action and inhibits our creative powers. It tries to maintain the submersion of consciousness. In it we are merely spectators, not re-creators (62).” It relies on the student’s ability to memorize what they learn rather than the students’ ability to demonstrate an act of cognition.
Currently, in many urban area educational institutions, there is excessive use of lecturing and memorization methods being practiced. For example, 1865 marks the end of slavery in the United States, but there is no emphasis taught on how that affected our lives or how it continues to affect the daily relationships we establish. Students simply memorize the date. Freire describes this situation as one in which the students are seen as containers into which knowledge can be deposited. The teacher is the depositor and the knowledge is that of which is deposited on a daily basis. This “banking concept” of education attempts to transform the minds of individuals so that they will adapt better to actual situations and be dominated by oppressors with more easily. The more passive people are, the more they will adapt, the more their creativity will diminish and the more their ignorance will increase.
On the other hand, the problem-posing method of education relies on an underlying trust between partners, the teacher and the student. Learners bring to adult education programs a wealth of knowledge from their personal experiences, and the problem-posing method builds on these shared experiences. By introducing specific questions, the teacher encourages the students to make their own conclusions about the values and pressures of society. Freire states, “As they attain this knowledge of reality through common reflection and action, they discover themselves… In this way, the presence of the oppressed in the struggle for their liberation will be what it should be: not pseudo-participation, but committed involvement (68).”
Freire’s work updated the concept and practices of education. His theories have laid the foundation for what is now called “critical pedagogy.” In addition to the two key concepts described above (the banking concept and the problem posing method), listed below are several summarized key concepts from Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed:
1. Culture of Silence – Every person, however ignorant or submerged in the “culture of silence,” can look critically at his or her world through a process of dialogue with others, and can gradually come to perceive his personal and social reality, think about it, and take action in regard to it (Back cover).
2. Speak a True Word – Those who have been denied their primordial right to speak their true word must first reclaim this right and prevent the continuation of this dehumanizing aggression (77).
3. Generative Themes – I consider the fundamental theme of our epoch to be that of domination – which implies its opposite, the frame of liberation, as an objective to be achieved (93).
4. From Object to Subject – Through the process just described, the view of an illiterate or other oppressed person is so transformed that he or she is no longer to be a mere object responding as surrounding social forces direct (Back cover).
5. Dialogue – To substitute monologue, slogans, and communiqués for dialogue is to attempt to liberate the oppressed with the instruments of domestication. This is the “populist pitfall” transforming them into masses which can be manipulated. People can only be liberated with their reflective participation in the act of libration (52).
6. Students and Teachers – Through dialogue a new term emerges, teacher-student with students-teachers. The students, while being taught, also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which they all grow. Here, arguments based on authority are no longer valid and authority must be on the side of freedom, not against it… no one teaches another, nor is anyone self taught. We teach each other, mediated by the world (67).
7. Education’s Either/Or – Education either conditions the younger generation into acceptance of society’s status quo or becomes “the practice of freedom” through which people deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to transform their worlds (15).
8. Dehumanization – Afflicts both those whose humanity has been stolen and those who have stolen it, distorts the process of becoming more fully human (28).
9. Dependence - The peasant begins to get courage to overcome his dependence when he realizes that he is dependent. Until then, he goes along with the boss and says, “What can I do? I’m only a peasant.” (47).
10. Change in The Oppressed and Oppressors – Although oppression dehumanizes both parties and stifles their humanity, the oppressed has to lead the struggle for a fuller humanity for both. The oppressor, who is himself dehumanized because he dehumanizes others, tries to hang onto his power and dehumanizing practices (32). When the oppressed seek to regain and deepen their humanity, they must not in turn oppress the oppressors, but rather help to restore the humanity of both (28). The contradiction between the two classes is resolved by the appearance of a new kind of human being, one in the process of liberation. It’s not possible to eliminate oppression just by a shift of roles in which the oppressor becomes the oppressed and vice-versa (42). In such change we can’t say that one person liberates himself, or another, but that people in communion liberate each other (128).
The key concepts listed above are just a few that summarizes Freire’s hypothesis that discourse between the oppressed and the oppressor will eliminate power structures and form learning communities where everyone benefits. His theories are ones of value, knowledge and human nature and are embedded in the idea that education should raise the awareness of the students so that they become critical thinkers (subjects, rather than objects, of the world). This is done by teaching students to think democratically and to continually question and make meaning from everything they learn. Freire believes, “There are no themes or values of which one cannot speak, no areas in which one must be silent. We can talk about everything, and we can give testimony about everything (58).”
Paulo Freire was also concerned with praxis, which is defined as “reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it (78).” Dialogue then is not just about deepening understanding, but is also part of making a difference in the world. Dialogue in itself is a collaborative activity involving respect and opportunity. The process is important and can be seen as enhancing community and changing society to lead us to act in ways that make for justice and human growth. Freire's entire educational theory is based on his desire to provide greater opportunity for the poor and oppressed people of the world.
Disagreement is normal and something to expect, according to Freire. If learning is to be consensual then disagreement can instigate reflection and become a source for growth. The problem that Freire addresses, is in regard to when opinions and disagreements are suppressed in the name of control and authority. He states that, “There may not be life or human existence without struggle and conflict. Conflict shares in our conscience. Denying conflict, we ignore even the most mundane aspects of our vital and social experience. Trying to escape conflict, we preserve the status quo (45).” This will not be an easy concept to embrace by oppressors or the oppressed because traditionally restrictions of the oppressed peoples thought patterns were the norm. However, the situation can be transformed. “For the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they need to perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform (34).”
The oppressor’s attitude plays an important role in the liberation process, but only the oppressed can liberate themselves. When the oppressor can see the oppressed as individuals with unique learning styles and abilities and not categorize them as abstract objects, that is a step toward liberation. However, independence is not a gift but an act of courage and confidence. “While no one liberates himself by his own efforts alone, neither is he liberated by others. The oppressed must be their own example in the struggle for their redemption (54).” The pedagogy that Freire proposes suggests that people acquire a love of life by being educated and by being an influence on the world and not just of the world. This can only be achieved through liberation and educational equality.
Overall, Paulo Freire’s theories and concepts encourage individuals to form themselves rather than be formed. He recommends that people reflect upon and analyze the world in which they live in as part of an effort to reform it. He realizes that the practices he suggests can encounter problems from opposing individuals and/or systems that block educational achievement and cause resistance to natural learning. These situations are the product of a stagnant relationship between the oppressors and the oppressed. Obviously, in order for a change to occur, the mindset of both the oppressed and the oppressors must first change. This will require open-mindedness and respect on the part of the educator. It must also involve clear goals, willingness to learn and accountability of one's educational experience from the student. Freire is not proposing a revolutionary event. Rather, he is speaking of the awakening necessary to free oneself from the oppression that one encounters.
Works Cited
Freire, Paulo http://nlu.nl.edu/ace/Homage.html, (6/10/01)
Freire, Paulo http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/freire_summary.html, (2/21/08)
Freire, Paulo, “Letters to Christina: Reflections of My Life and Work.” London: Routledge, 1996. 3-23 pgs. Print.
Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (30th Anniversary Edition). New York: Continuum, 2000. 9-170 pgs. Print.
Adult Language and Literacy – Professor Barbara Gleason
May 11, 2010
Final Paper – Paulo Freire
Through his work, Paulo Freire became legendary for developing an extraordinary approach to education that focuses on helping adults liberate themselves from oppression of others. His own childhood impoverished life molded his sociopolitical and educational beliefs. Freire was born during the early 1920’s to a middle class family in Brazil right before the great depression. He and his family were familiar with hunger and poverty due to the great depression in 1929. They continued to experience hardship after his family moved to the poverty stricken city of Jaboatao dos Guararapes and when his father died in 1933. His learning in school suffered a great deal due to these conditions. Freire’s social life back then involved spending lots of time playing sports with kids whose families’ were in worst financial circumstances than his family was. Nevertheless, he learned a lot from them. These experiences influenced his compassion for the poor and birthed a highly influential theorist of critical pedagogy.
In 1943, Freire attended Law School at the University of Recife. He also studied philosophy, phenomenology and the psychology of language. Although he was a law student and was admitted to the legal bar, Freire never actually practiced law. Instead, he worked as a language teacher, teaching Portuguese in public schools. In 1944, he married Elza Maia Costa de Olivia. The two had five children and lived the rest of their lives together as educators.
It was during 1946 when Freire became Director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Social Service in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil. He worked mostly with adult people who were considered illiterate and poor. Consequently, Freire began to “embrace a non-orthodox form of what could be considered liberation theology.” His approach of teaching literacy to adults is one that initiates self worth in adult learners and encourages them to engage in learning.
Freire accomplished many achievements in life before his death in 1997. He was appointed Director of the Department of Cultural Extension at Recife University. There he had the opportunity to significantly apply his theories, when he taught 300 sugarcane workers how to read and write in only 45 days. Because of this, “the Brazilian government approved the creation of thousands of cultural circles across the country.” He also published several books in various languages and was offered a “visiting professorship” at Harvard University. Of all of the accomplishments Freire has made, the most noteworthy has to be the humanistic and libertarian pedagogical methods he has coined to empower people by shedding light on inequity and expanding consciousness.
Freire considers education to be vital in liberating oppressed people and challenging an unjust society. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he enlightens us with details of the relationship between the “oppressor” and the “oppressed” in terms of the student-teacher relationship. He further explains that liberation of the oppressed “the student” can only be attained through the understanding of several themes: Understanding the “banking concept” and “problem-posing” methods of education and believing that liberation can only be achieved through the practice of critical thinking with the use of communication and dialogue.
The first type of control that is presented is the “banking concept” of education in which the oppressor tries “changing the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation which oppressed them”. They achieve this by practicing an authoritative method of teaching that acknowledges only the knowledge of the teacher and the incompetence of the students. As the oppressor, a teacher tries to control the way students learn, therefore indirectly suggesting a sense of passivity and marginality in the student’s character. Freire argues that, “The banking model tries to control thinking and action and inhibits our creative powers. It tries to maintain the submersion of consciousness. In it we are merely spectators, not re-creators (62).” It relies on the student’s ability to memorize what they learn rather than the students’ ability to demonstrate an act of cognition.
Currently, in many urban area educational institutions, there is excessive use of lecturing and memorization methods being practiced. For example, 1865 marks the end of slavery in the United States, but there is no emphasis taught on how that affected our lives or how it continues to affect the daily relationships we establish. Students simply memorize the date. Freire describes this situation as one in which the students are seen as containers into which knowledge can be deposited. The teacher is the depositor and the knowledge is that of which is deposited on a daily basis. This “banking concept” of education attempts to transform the minds of individuals so that they will adapt better to actual situations and be dominated by oppressors with more easily. The more passive people are, the more they will adapt, the more their creativity will diminish and the more their ignorance will increase.
On the other hand, the problem-posing method of education relies on an underlying trust between partners, the teacher and the student. Learners bring to adult education programs a wealth of knowledge from their personal experiences, and the problem-posing method builds on these shared experiences. By introducing specific questions, the teacher encourages the students to make their own conclusions about the values and pressures of society. Freire states, “As they attain this knowledge of reality through common reflection and action, they discover themselves… In this way, the presence of the oppressed in the struggle for their liberation will be what it should be: not pseudo-participation, but committed involvement (68).”
Freire’s work updated the concept and practices of education. His theories have laid the foundation for what is now called “critical pedagogy.” In addition to the two key concepts described above (the banking concept and the problem posing method), listed below are several summarized key concepts from Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed:
1. Culture of Silence – Every person, however ignorant or submerged in the “culture of silence,” can look critically at his or her world through a process of dialogue with others, and can gradually come to perceive his personal and social reality, think about it, and take action in regard to it (Back cover).
2. Speak a True Word – Those who have been denied their primordial right to speak their true word must first reclaim this right and prevent the continuation of this dehumanizing aggression (77).
3. Generative Themes – I consider the fundamental theme of our epoch to be that of domination – which implies its opposite, the frame of liberation, as an objective to be achieved (93).
4. From Object to Subject – Through the process just described, the view of an illiterate or other oppressed person is so transformed that he or she is no longer to be a mere object responding as surrounding social forces direct (Back cover).
5. Dialogue – To substitute monologue, slogans, and communiqués for dialogue is to attempt to liberate the oppressed with the instruments of domestication. This is the “populist pitfall” transforming them into masses which can be manipulated. People can only be liberated with their reflective participation in the act of libration (52).
6. Students and Teachers – Through dialogue a new term emerges, teacher-student with students-teachers. The students, while being taught, also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which they all grow. Here, arguments based on authority are no longer valid and authority must be on the side of freedom, not against it… no one teaches another, nor is anyone self taught. We teach each other, mediated by the world (67).
7. Education’s Either/Or – Education either conditions the younger generation into acceptance of society’s status quo or becomes “the practice of freedom” through which people deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to transform their worlds (15).
8. Dehumanization – Afflicts both those whose humanity has been stolen and those who have stolen it, distorts the process of becoming more fully human (28).
9. Dependence - The peasant begins to get courage to overcome his dependence when he realizes that he is dependent. Until then, he goes along with the boss and says, “What can I do? I’m only a peasant.” (47).
10. Change in The Oppressed and Oppressors – Although oppression dehumanizes both parties and stifles their humanity, the oppressed has to lead the struggle for a fuller humanity for both. The oppressor, who is himself dehumanized because he dehumanizes others, tries to hang onto his power and dehumanizing practices (32). When the oppressed seek to regain and deepen their humanity, they must not in turn oppress the oppressors, but rather help to restore the humanity of both (28). The contradiction between the two classes is resolved by the appearance of a new kind of human being, one in the process of liberation. It’s not possible to eliminate oppression just by a shift of roles in which the oppressor becomes the oppressed and vice-versa (42). In such change we can’t say that one person liberates himself, or another, but that people in communion liberate each other (128).
The key concepts listed above are just a few that summarizes Freire’s hypothesis that discourse between the oppressed and the oppressor will eliminate power structures and form learning communities where everyone benefits. His theories are ones of value, knowledge and human nature and are embedded in the idea that education should raise the awareness of the students so that they become critical thinkers (subjects, rather than objects, of the world). This is done by teaching students to think democratically and to continually question and make meaning from everything they learn. Freire believes, “There are no themes or values of which one cannot speak, no areas in which one must be silent. We can talk about everything, and we can give testimony about everything (58).”
Paulo Freire was also concerned with praxis, which is defined as “reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it (78).” Dialogue then is not just about deepening understanding, but is also part of making a difference in the world. Dialogue in itself is a collaborative activity involving respect and opportunity. The process is important and can be seen as enhancing community and changing society to lead us to act in ways that make for justice and human growth. Freire's entire educational theory is based on his desire to provide greater opportunity for the poor and oppressed people of the world.
Disagreement is normal and something to expect, according to Freire. If learning is to be consensual then disagreement can instigate reflection and become a source for growth. The problem that Freire addresses, is in regard to when opinions and disagreements are suppressed in the name of control and authority. He states that, “There may not be life or human existence without struggle and conflict. Conflict shares in our conscience. Denying conflict, we ignore even the most mundane aspects of our vital and social experience. Trying to escape conflict, we preserve the status quo (45).” This will not be an easy concept to embrace by oppressors or the oppressed because traditionally restrictions of the oppressed peoples thought patterns were the norm. However, the situation can be transformed. “For the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they need to perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform (34).”
The oppressor’s attitude plays an important role in the liberation process, but only the oppressed can liberate themselves. When the oppressor can see the oppressed as individuals with unique learning styles and abilities and not categorize them as abstract objects, that is a step toward liberation. However, independence is not a gift but an act of courage and confidence. “While no one liberates himself by his own efforts alone, neither is he liberated by others. The oppressed must be their own example in the struggle for their redemption (54).” The pedagogy that Freire proposes suggests that people acquire a love of life by being educated and by being an influence on the world and not just of the world. This can only be achieved through liberation and educational equality.
Overall, Paulo Freire’s theories and concepts encourage individuals to form themselves rather than be formed. He recommends that people reflect upon and analyze the world in which they live in as part of an effort to reform it. He realizes that the practices he suggests can encounter problems from opposing individuals and/or systems that block educational achievement and cause resistance to natural learning. These situations are the product of a stagnant relationship between the oppressors and the oppressed. Obviously, in order for a change to occur, the mindset of both the oppressed and the oppressors must first change. This will require open-mindedness and respect on the part of the educator. It must also involve clear goals, willingness to learn and accountability of one's educational experience from the student. Freire is not proposing a revolutionary event. Rather, he is speaking of the awakening necessary to free oneself from the oppression that one encounters.
Works Cited
Freire, Paulo http://nlu.nl.edu/ace/Homage.html, (6/10/01)
Freire, Paulo http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/freire_summary.html, (2/21/08)
Freire, Paulo, “Letters to Christina: Reflections of My Life and Work.” London: Routledge, 1996. 3-23 pgs. Print.
Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (30th Anniversary Edition). New York: Continuum, 2000. 9-170 pgs. Print.
Lashallah's summary of Peter Elbow's "Inviting the Mother Tongue"
Lashallah Osborne
Adult Language and Literacy – Professor Barbara Gleason
April 20, 2010
Summary – Inviting the Mother Tongue
Peter Elbow
In Peter Elbow’s, “Inviting the Mother Tongue” a chapter of his publication “Everyone Can Write” he proposes ways to make the basic writing classroom a more comfortable and safe environment where students can worry less about their language being “wrong or incorrect.” He introduces ways to promote writing safety in the classroom by allowing students to write in their native dialect while guiding them towards writing in Standard Written English (SWE). While Elbow’s teaching strategy is well intentioned and pragmatic, it still has been challenged by other educators who strongly believe that culture is closely linked to language, thinking and identity and inviting the “mother tongue” into writing will offer students very little access to Standard Written English. Nonetheless, Elbow’s goal is an admirable one. He intends to honor multiple dialects by empowering its user’s to preserve it while striving toward a more acceptable and powerful literacy.
Elbow believes that it is important for students to initially write in their own dialect. One reason is because when people are allowed to write in their own rhetoric their arguments tend to be stronger because they truly own them as opposed to writing out of anxiety of a foreign and/or unfamiliar rhetoric. In addition, if students feel that their language is respected and accepted then chances are likely that they will produce more writing. He also points out that usually when people feel that their language is considered inferior, unsophisticated or broken compared to SWE they will write no more than the minimum requirement. While it is respectful to honor various dialects in the classroom, mainly it is the writing teacher’s responsibility to help students develop competent writing skills for academic purposes. For this reason, Elbow has created strategies to address both concerns.
To achieve both goals of making students more comfortable with their writing in their freshman year college course and helping them to produce writing that eventually conforms to SWE Elbow simply encourages students to seek help. As a major part of his curriculum he implements copy-editing as a requirement. Students are allowed to write the first drafts in their own dialect and are expected to use various resources to re-organize and revise. It does not matter where students seek help as long as they are working towards revising their papers. The assistance can be electronic through technological writing or grammar programs, from professional services such as writing centers, learning labs, paid editors or his office in the English department. He also encourages students to get help through their personal relationships by friends, roommates, loved ones, etc.
Elbow feels that this approach works for several reasons. The main reason is that students are required to take responsibility for their own writing process and do whatever is needed to get the writing (after several drafts) to conform to the conventions of SWE. Secondly, we cannot assume that freshman composition students have the ability to edit their own work. Having outside support takes the copy-editing pressure off of students and offers informal writing instruction at the same time. Thirdly, while it may seem that this approach allows for plagiarism, it actually prevents it because in addition to informal writing in class, it allows the instructor to see plenty of the students writing through several drafts. Lastly but not least, many non-mainstream dialect speaking students will seek the most help.
As a part of the copy-editing teaching method, Elbow uses two strategies to help change the students thinking about writing. The first approach is mostly for an “orthodox structure.” When the essay he is requesting has one main idea and plenty of supportive reasons and evidence, he gives the students a choice of starting the writing in their dialect or not and through several drafts has them expand and transform the essay without totally abandoning their dialect. Only at the end, the student is asked to make the changes from their dialect to more academic writing. Elbow says, “This process raises an intriguing question as to the nature of the dialect: as he gradually transforms his essay – first in thinking, rhetoric, and organization and finally in grammar, syntax and spelling – at what point has he abandoned AAE? I think the answer will be a matter of fruitful debate, but however it is settled, it is clear that I am asking him to make substantive changes in his thinking as he moves his drafts to mainstream or academic or ‘white’ modes of thinking and presentation (337).” In other words, Elbow does not force students to abandon their dialect; however the writing/learning process tends to affect and enhance it.
The second strategy that Elbow uses to help students change the way they think when writing is one of his favorites. He encourages students to write “their way” by beginning with a story and gradually curve around to their point. It is not a conventional 5 paragraph essay with an introduction and a conclusion (although he suggests that students include a brief introductory). More interestingly, it relies on the creativity of the student and has the potential to leave an impressive affect on the audience. Elbow compares this style of writing to that of writing published in magazine and journals. He states, “Indirection and subtlety are much valued and published – as long as they are handled well (339).” This is extremely valuable in building confidence of students who speak stigmatized dialects.
An objection of Elbow’s teaching approach is that it might be ideal for mainstream students who speak and write close to Standard English, but it will probably be less effective for people who speak non-mainstream dialects whose writing require much more revision. Because culture, language, thinking and identity are closely linked, some educators believe that when a student is allowed to write in their dialect, it will be embedded with perspectives and rhetoric than what the assignment requires.
Elbow’s rebuttal to this objection is that the writing is being transferred from a “short distance” of one dialect to another, not across languages. He feels that the hardest part of the transfer would be from oral to written communication because people of non-mainstream dialects are known to rely more on oral discourse and have vernacular based preferences. However, the strategy of having the students write in their own rhetoric will eventually help to improve their writing skills. It will also decrease their anxiety by allowing them to begin in their own style and gradually develop into Standard Writing English.
Finally, Elbow believes that “links are not chains” and just because a particular group of people use a dialect, does not mean that they are locked into one way of thinking. While we understand that language and thinking are intertwined, the dialect does not prevent people from learning to think in other ways. He suggests that we invite students to compose in their “mother tongue” in order to encourage them to write more toward the standard. He further argues that once a student learns to introduce a topic and stay on it, provide relevant details and evidence, show good ideas of his own, argue and reason, in addition to organizing an essay then it is usually not too difficult to make necessary grammatical, syntax and spelling changes to conform to SWE. Although it might be difficult to take responsibility of their writing to by continuously copy-editing final drafts it would not be as difficult as writing all of their drafts in SWE.
Adult Language and Literacy – Professor Barbara Gleason
April 20, 2010
Summary – Inviting the Mother Tongue
Peter Elbow
In Peter Elbow’s, “Inviting the Mother Tongue” a chapter of his publication “Everyone Can Write” he proposes ways to make the basic writing classroom a more comfortable and safe environment where students can worry less about their language being “wrong or incorrect.” He introduces ways to promote writing safety in the classroom by allowing students to write in their native dialect while guiding them towards writing in Standard Written English (SWE). While Elbow’s teaching strategy is well intentioned and pragmatic, it still has been challenged by other educators who strongly believe that culture is closely linked to language, thinking and identity and inviting the “mother tongue” into writing will offer students very little access to Standard Written English. Nonetheless, Elbow’s goal is an admirable one. He intends to honor multiple dialects by empowering its user’s to preserve it while striving toward a more acceptable and powerful literacy.
Elbow believes that it is important for students to initially write in their own dialect. One reason is because when people are allowed to write in their own rhetoric their arguments tend to be stronger because they truly own them as opposed to writing out of anxiety of a foreign and/or unfamiliar rhetoric. In addition, if students feel that their language is respected and accepted then chances are likely that they will produce more writing. He also points out that usually when people feel that their language is considered inferior, unsophisticated or broken compared to SWE they will write no more than the minimum requirement. While it is respectful to honor various dialects in the classroom, mainly it is the writing teacher’s responsibility to help students develop competent writing skills for academic purposes. For this reason, Elbow has created strategies to address both concerns.
To achieve both goals of making students more comfortable with their writing in their freshman year college course and helping them to produce writing that eventually conforms to SWE Elbow simply encourages students to seek help. As a major part of his curriculum he implements copy-editing as a requirement. Students are allowed to write the first drafts in their own dialect and are expected to use various resources to re-organize and revise. It does not matter where students seek help as long as they are working towards revising their papers. The assistance can be electronic through technological writing or grammar programs, from professional services such as writing centers, learning labs, paid editors or his office in the English department. He also encourages students to get help through their personal relationships by friends, roommates, loved ones, etc.
Elbow feels that this approach works for several reasons. The main reason is that students are required to take responsibility for their own writing process and do whatever is needed to get the writing (after several drafts) to conform to the conventions of SWE. Secondly, we cannot assume that freshman composition students have the ability to edit their own work. Having outside support takes the copy-editing pressure off of students and offers informal writing instruction at the same time. Thirdly, while it may seem that this approach allows for plagiarism, it actually prevents it because in addition to informal writing in class, it allows the instructor to see plenty of the students writing through several drafts. Lastly but not least, many non-mainstream dialect speaking students will seek the most help.
As a part of the copy-editing teaching method, Elbow uses two strategies to help change the students thinking about writing. The first approach is mostly for an “orthodox structure.” When the essay he is requesting has one main idea and plenty of supportive reasons and evidence, he gives the students a choice of starting the writing in their dialect or not and through several drafts has them expand and transform the essay without totally abandoning their dialect. Only at the end, the student is asked to make the changes from their dialect to more academic writing. Elbow says, “This process raises an intriguing question as to the nature of the dialect: as he gradually transforms his essay – first in thinking, rhetoric, and organization and finally in grammar, syntax and spelling – at what point has he abandoned AAE? I think the answer will be a matter of fruitful debate, but however it is settled, it is clear that I am asking him to make substantive changes in his thinking as he moves his drafts to mainstream or academic or ‘white’ modes of thinking and presentation (337).” In other words, Elbow does not force students to abandon their dialect; however the writing/learning process tends to affect and enhance it.
The second strategy that Elbow uses to help students change the way they think when writing is one of his favorites. He encourages students to write “their way” by beginning with a story and gradually curve around to their point. It is not a conventional 5 paragraph essay with an introduction and a conclusion (although he suggests that students include a brief introductory). More interestingly, it relies on the creativity of the student and has the potential to leave an impressive affect on the audience. Elbow compares this style of writing to that of writing published in magazine and journals. He states, “Indirection and subtlety are much valued and published – as long as they are handled well (339).” This is extremely valuable in building confidence of students who speak stigmatized dialects.
An objection of Elbow’s teaching approach is that it might be ideal for mainstream students who speak and write close to Standard English, but it will probably be less effective for people who speak non-mainstream dialects whose writing require much more revision. Because culture, language, thinking and identity are closely linked, some educators believe that when a student is allowed to write in their dialect, it will be embedded with perspectives and rhetoric than what the assignment requires.
Elbow’s rebuttal to this objection is that the writing is being transferred from a “short distance” of one dialect to another, not across languages. He feels that the hardest part of the transfer would be from oral to written communication because people of non-mainstream dialects are known to rely more on oral discourse and have vernacular based preferences. However, the strategy of having the students write in their own rhetoric will eventually help to improve their writing skills. It will also decrease their anxiety by allowing them to begin in their own style and gradually develop into Standard Writing English.
Finally, Elbow believes that “links are not chains” and just because a particular group of people use a dialect, does not mean that they are locked into one way of thinking. While we understand that language and thinking are intertwined, the dialect does not prevent people from learning to think in other ways. He suggests that we invite students to compose in their “mother tongue” in order to encourage them to write more toward the standard. He further argues that once a student learns to introduce a topic and stay on it, provide relevant details and evidence, show good ideas of his own, argue and reason, in addition to organizing an essay then it is usually not too difficult to make necessary grammatical, syntax and spelling changes to conform to SWE. Although it might be difficult to take responsibility of their writing to by continuously copy-editing final drafts it would not be as difficult as writing all of their drafts in SWE.
Lashallah's I-Best Paper
Lashallah Osborne
ENGLC0831/Adult Language and Literacy
Professor Gleason
April 27, 2010
The I-Best Approach to Teaching Adult Literacy
In the current economic state of our country, a college degree has become necessary to obtain a job that pays a decent salary and offers an opportunity to be considered middle class. This will require earning a technical certificate in a field such as construction, health care, or engineering, and/or an associate or bachelor’s degree that will help people with starting a professional career. While more people are attending college now than in the past, there is only a percentage of about half of Americans who earn a college degree or certificate after high school. As a matter of fact, very few students who begin community colleges graduate due to financial responsibilities and/or family obligations. In addition and very importantly, a huge challenge is that too many students in college are under prepared academically. These are non-traditional students who have specific needs and most colleges have limited resources to support them with issues that make it difficult to successfully complete school such as balancing the demands of work, school, and family.
In 2004, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (WSBCTC) piloted an integrated approach to serve low-skills adults. The Integrated Basic Education Skills Training (I-BEST) program was designed for English as a Second Language (ESL) and Adult Basic Education (ABE) students. The I-BEST program is comprised of a classroom team of teachers and specialized professional instructors who co-teach an integrated course that consist of language and vocational skills training simultaneously. The approach was motivated by the idea that incorporating basic skills in the context of materials of subjects that are of strong interest to students can enhance their learning as adults. With this concept in mind and also to address students' employment needs, the I-BEST approach is collaborated with a workforce program.
The state of Washington has experienced an enormous number of non-English speaking immigrants, like many other states in the United States. In addition, the high school drop-out rate also similar to other states is very high. For this reason, the WSBCTC designed the I-BEST program to reach students with limited English proficiency and low skill levels STOP HERE. START NEW SENTENCE that will help them to obtain better employment. Research shows that "between 1990 and 2000, the adult population of non-English speakers more than doubled, growing from 117,000 to 261,000." CITE YOUR SOURCE HERE. It has also been revealed that although many ESL and ABE low-skilled students sought education in either ESL or ABE classes, very few of them were able to successfully transition into high skill jobs.
I-BEST was developed by the WSBCTC and 32 community and technical colleges to better support ESL and ABE students in advancing to certificate and degree completion. The goal is to direct students on a path to earning a higher income for themselves by helping them to achieve 45 college-level credits and a vocational certificate in a career field of their choice. I-BEST classes integrate college credit courses with English language and adult basic skills. I-BEST classes include five hours a week of non-credit Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction. Students can earn a short term certificate for each of these programs. Certificate credits apply to specific associate degrees. There are a variety of majors offered, they include: Architecture/Engineering, Automotive/Engine Repair, Commercial Driver's License/Transportation, Corrections/Law Enforcement, Early Childhood Education, Healthcare, Manufacturing/Trades and Office and Support Technology. Students can earn a certificate for each of these programs. Certificate credits apply to specific associate degrees.
The I-BEST approach involves contextualized instruction and is not appropriate for students with very low levels of English proficiency. Students are assessed on the Washington State Competency System. The range level is from one to six. The average I-BEST student scores a four. Basic skills teachers and career instructors collaboratively design and teach college level "workforce" courses for the adult basic skills students. "Instruction in basic skills is thereby integrated with instruction in college-level career-technical skills. This model challenges the conventional notion that basic skills instruction should be completed by students prior to starting college-level course." Therefore, the approach offers the potential to facilitate the transition of ABE and ESL into college.
I-BEST affords low-skill adult learners the opportunity to develop their literacy skills as they learn vocational skills. As non-traditional college students they spend just as much time on academics as they do gaining knowledge of specific skills in order to pursue careers in high demand fields. Because they are non-traditional students, they are likely to have outside responsibilities that can conflict with the obligations of being a student. Adult learners often have family and/or employment priorities that make it difficult for them to focus and totally commit to school.
An essential component of the I-BEST approach is the supportive services the students are afforded. In addition to having two instructors in the classroom, the I-BEST staff supports students by advising, tutoring and mentoring them in order to address many of the obstacles that can interfere with them completing the program successfully. Some of these issues may include health issues, childcare or transportation. I-BEST administrators emphasize that substantial and intentional planning take place before, during and after the program in order to decrease the possibility of failing. The colleges provide a high level of student services to these non-traditional students to address their needs accordingly.
Although I-BEST is relatively new, results of the program are remarkable. A study was conducted on students who enrolled between 2006-2007 and for students who persisted into the 2007-2008 academic year. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of being in I-BEST as it relates to earning college credits and the amount of them that was earned in vocational courses. The study also examined if the students continued for an additional academic year; whether a certificate or an associate degree was earned; and if the students achieved educational gains on basic skills tests. Comparisons were made on I-BEST, non I-BEST and non I-BEST workforce groups.
In total, 896 I-BEST students were enrolled at 24 Washington state community or technical colleges for the 2006-2007 academic year. 30,182 non I-BEST students were studied as well as 1,356 non I-BEST participants who took a workforce course. It should be noted that while the non-I-BEST workforce group took basic skills and vocational classes, it was not contextualized instruction, nor was it designed to "accelerate the transition from basic skills to college-level workforce programs. However, the non I-BEST workforce program is the most comparable to the I-BEST program.
Table 3. Educational Outcomes of Basic Skills Students Over Two Academic Years, 2006-2008
Student Type
Earned any college credits
Mean # of college credits
Earned any vocational credits
Mean # of vocational credits
Earned a certificate
Earned an associate degree
Earned a certificate or associate degree
I-BEST
90.0%
48.7
87.8%
41.5
54.1%
0.2%
54.2%
Non I-BEST
7.0%
2.3
5.3%
1.4
0.8%
0.0%
0.8%
Non I-BEST Workforce group
64.2%
35.7
59.6%
24.8
17.8%
0.2%
18.0%
Community College Research Center, 2009
According to Table 3, shown above, over the course of two years I-BEST students were much more likely than non I-BEST students to advance to college-level work and to earn college and vocational credits. The non I-BEST workforce students earned more credits than the non I-BEST students but neither earned more than the I-BEST students. In addition, 54 percent of I-BEST students earned a certificate or a degree as opposed to less than one percent of the non I-BEST students and 18 percent of non I-BEST Workforce students.
The I-BEST program is a not only great for the students but has incentives for the community colleges as well. WSBCTC’s Student Achievement Initiative rewards colleges n for enrolling students as well as for supporting them through key milestones that ultimately lead to graduation. The Initiative offers the colleges financial incentives when their students reach certain academic milestones such as completing five credits in college-level math or moving from remedial to college-level courses. These factors have proved to be imperative in successfully completing college.
The State Board of Community and Technical Colleges is planning to extend I-BEST to other colleges in Washington State. This strategy relates to economic development, with I-BEST courses at individual colleges aligning with high-wage, high-demand jobs within their communities. Unemployment and literacy issues will be addressed as a result of these programs in Washington State. However, doing so requires a great deal of funding, planning and training. Running such a program can become costly due to the need for two instructors in every classroom and hiring counselors and job developers to assist in creating pathways from low level jobs to higher skilled and better paying careers. Also, when planning, research teams must be sure that local employment will be in high demand to provide positions for students upon completing the program. However, data on the students' accomplishments is evidence that such a program is highly necessary. In the future, Community College Research Center researchers plan to conduct fieldwork to better understand the process of how students are selected for the program. They will also extend this study by examining degree attainment and workforce outcomes of I-BEST students over a longer period of time, by collecting budget and financial data to estimate program how cost-effective the program is, and by evaluating the practices of I-BEST programs that produce better outcomes.
Works Cited
http://www.ccrc.tc.edu Community College Research Center
http://www.sbct.edu Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, December 2005
http://www.highereducation.org/reports/policy_practice/IBEST.pdf
ENGLC0831/Adult Language and Literacy
Professor Gleason
April 27, 2010
The I-Best Approach to Teaching Adult Literacy
In the current economic state of our country, a college degree has become necessary to obtain a job that pays a decent salary and offers an opportunity to be considered middle class. This will require earning a technical certificate in a field such as construction, health care, or engineering, and/or an associate or bachelor’s degree that will help people with starting a professional career. While more people are attending college now than in the past, there is only a percentage of about half of Americans who earn a college degree or certificate after high school. As a matter of fact, very few students who begin community colleges graduate due to financial responsibilities and/or family obligations. In addition and very importantly, a huge challenge is that too many students in college are under prepared academically. These are non-traditional students who have specific needs and most colleges have limited resources to support them with issues that make it difficult to successfully complete school such as balancing the demands of work, school, and family.
In 2004, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (WSBCTC) piloted an integrated approach to serve low-skills adults. The Integrated Basic Education Skills Training (I-BEST) program was designed for English as a Second Language (ESL) and Adult Basic Education (ABE) students. The I-BEST program is comprised of a classroom team of teachers and specialized professional instructors who co-teach an integrated course that consist of language and vocational skills training simultaneously. The approach was motivated by the idea that incorporating basic skills in the context of materials of subjects that are of strong interest to students can enhance their learning as adults. With this concept in mind and also to address students' employment needs, the I-BEST approach is collaborated with a workforce program.
The state of Washington has experienced an enormous number of non-English speaking immigrants, like many other states in the United States. In addition, the high school drop-out rate also similar to other states is very high. For this reason, the WSBCTC designed the I-BEST program to reach students with limited English proficiency and low skill levels STOP HERE. START NEW SENTENCE that will help them to obtain better employment. Research shows that "between 1990 and 2000, the adult population of non-English speakers more than doubled, growing from 117,000 to 261,000." CITE YOUR SOURCE HERE. It has also been revealed that although many ESL and ABE low-skilled students sought education in either ESL or ABE classes, very few of them were able to successfully transition into high skill jobs.
I-BEST was developed by the WSBCTC and 32 community and technical colleges to better support ESL and ABE students in advancing to certificate and degree completion. The goal is to direct students on a path to earning a higher income for themselves by helping them to achieve 45 college-level credits and a vocational certificate in a career field of their choice. I-BEST classes integrate college credit courses with English language and adult basic skills. I-BEST classes include five hours a week of non-credit Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction. Students can earn a short term certificate for each of these programs. Certificate credits apply to specific associate degrees. There are a variety of majors offered, they include: Architecture/Engineering, Automotive/Engine Repair, Commercial Driver's License/Transportation, Corrections/Law Enforcement, Early Childhood Education, Healthcare, Manufacturing/Trades and Office and Support Technology. Students can earn a certificate for each of these programs. Certificate credits apply to specific associate degrees.
The I-BEST approach involves contextualized instruction and is not appropriate for students with very low levels of English proficiency. Students are assessed on the Washington State Competency System. The range level is from one to six. The average I-BEST student scores a four. Basic skills teachers and career instructors collaboratively design and teach college level "workforce" courses for the adult basic skills students. "Instruction in basic skills is thereby integrated with instruction in college-level career-technical skills. This model challenges the conventional notion that basic skills instruction should be completed by students prior to starting college-level course." Therefore, the approach offers the potential to facilitate the transition of ABE and ESL into college.
I-BEST affords low-skill adult learners the opportunity to develop their literacy skills as they learn vocational skills. As non-traditional college students they spend just as much time on academics as they do gaining knowledge of specific skills in order to pursue careers in high demand fields. Because they are non-traditional students, they are likely to have outside responsibilities that can conflict with the obligations of being a student. Adult learners often have family and/or employment priorities that make it difficult for them to focus and totally commit to school.
An essential component of the I-BEST approach is the supportive services the students are afforded. In addition to having two instructors in the classroom, the I-BEST staff supports students by advising, tutoring and mentoring them in order to address many of the obstacles that can interfere with them completing the program successfully. Some of these issues may include health issues, childcare or transportation. I-BEST administrators emphasize that substantial and intentional planning take place before, during and after the program in order to decrease the possibility of failing. The colleges provide a high level of student services to these non-traditional students to address their needs accordingly.
Although I-BEST is relatively new, results of the program are remarkable. A study was conducted on students who enrolled between 2006-2007 and for students who persisted into the 2007-2008 academic year. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of being in I-BEST as it relates to earning college credits and the amount of them that was earned in vocational courses. The study also examined if the students continued for an additional academic year; whether a certificate or an associate degree was earned; and if the students achieved educational gains on basic skills tests. Comparisons were made on I-BEST, non I-BEST and non I-BEST workforce groups.
In total, 896 I-BEST students were enrolled at 24 Washington state community or technical colleges for the 2006-2007 academic year. 30,182 non I-BEST students were studied as well as 1,356 non I-BEST participants who took a workforce course. It should be noted that while the non-I-BEST workforce group took basic skills and vocational classes, it was not contextualized instruction, nor was it designed to "accelerate the transition from basic skills to college-level workforce programs. However, the non I-BEST workforce program is the most comparable to the I-BEST program.
Table 3. Educational Outcomes of Basic Skills Students Over Two Academic Years, 2006-2008
Student Type
Earned any college credits
Mean # of college credits
Earned any vocational credits
Mean # of vocational credits
Earned a certificate
Earned an associate degree
Earned a certificate or associate degree
I-BEST
90.0%
48.7
87.8%
41.5
54.1%
0.2%
54.2%
Non I-BEST
7.0%
2.3
5.3%
1.4
0.8%
0.0%
0.8%
Non I-BEST Workforce group
64.2%
35.7
59.6%
24.8
17.8%
0.2%
18.0%
Community College Research Center, 2009
According to Table 3, shown above, over the course of two years I-BEST students were much more likely than non I-BEST students to advance to college-level work and to earn college and vocational credits. The non I-BEST workforce students earned more credits than the non I-BEST students but neither earned more than the I-BEST students. In addition, 54 percent of I-BEST students earned a certificate or a degree as opposed to less than one percent of the non I-BEST students and 18 percent of non I-BEST Workforce students.
The I-BEST program is a not only great for the students but has incentives for the community colleges as well. WSBCTC’s Student Achievement Initiative rewards colleges n for enrolling students as well as for supporting them through key milestones that ultimately lead to graduation. The Initiative offers the colleges financial incentives when their students reach certain academic milestones such as completing five credits in college-level math or moving from remedial to college-level courses. These factors have proved to be imperative in successfully completing college.
The State Board of Community and Technical Colleges is planning to extend I-BEST to other colleges in Washington State. This strategy relates to economic development, with I-BEST courses at individual colleges aligning with high-wage, high-demand jobs within their communities. Unemployment and literacy issues will be addressed as a result of these programs in Washington State. However, doing so requires a great deal of funding, planning and training. Running such a program can become costly due to the need for two instructors in every classroom and hiring counselors and job developers to assist in creating pathways from low level jobs to higher skilled and better paying careers. Also, when planning, research teams must be sure that local employment will be in high demand to provide positions for students upon completing the program. However, data on the students' accomplishments is evidence that such a program is highly necessary. In the future, Community College Research Center researchers plan to conduct fieldwork to better understand the process of how students are selected for the program. They will also extend this study by examining degree attainment and workforce outcomes of I-BEST students over a longer period of time, by collecting budget and financial data to estimate program how cost-effective the program is, and by evaluating the practices of I-BEST programs that produce better outcomes.
Works Cited
http://www.ccrc.tc.edu Community College Research Center
http://www.sbct.edu Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, December 2005
http://www.highereducation.org/reports/policy_practice/IBEST.pdf
Lashallah's Adult Learner's course blog posts
Consortium for Worker Education class visit
As mentioned in some of the other comments, Barbara Gleason has mentioned the CWE many, many time during our class discussions. While I had an idea of what the consortium was about, learning about the history and accomplishments of the organization while visiting the facility and meeting Joe McDermott and Eric Shtob was way beyond my expectations. Wow! I was so impressed with the whole idea of supporting and educating working class people. Joe McDermott has extended his hand to the people of NYC and given us opportunities to improve our lives. Although I did not know it before our class visit, I now realize that the consortium's support has helped me too, because I attended and graduated from the College of New Rochelle and we learned that CNR is one of the many educational institutions that the consortium has supported, financially and otherwise. I truly thank Joe McDermott, Eric Shtob and the entire CWE staff for their generous contributions and would also like to congratulate them on their remarkable achievements.
Listening to (and saving) The World's Languages from the NYT.
The things that are preserved are things that are valued, including languages. The work that Professor Kaufman is doing is honorable, yet he and his colleagues have their work cut out for them. America has greatly influenced many parts of the world because of business purposes, migrants flocking to the states in search for better lives, etc. Therefore, English is considered the language of power and one must be competent in it in order to be successful. For this reason, other languages and dialects are drifting towards this dominant language.The only way to preserve other languages and dialects are to do exactly what Professor Kaufman and other linguists are doing and that is to acknowledge and respect all languages. While it's obvious that we need a mainstream language in order to communicate in an organized fashion, is it unrealistic to imagine a society where multiple languages and distinct dialects are respected? As Stacy-Ann mentioned, "Langauge is very close to identity." I believe that if people are made to feel that their native tongues are appreciated they will be able to express themselves more powerfully in a classroom because their thoughts would likely be embedded in confidence rather than shame.
Mike Rose, Lives on The Boundary
Here is a link to an interview of Mike Rose by Bill Moyers about Lives on the Boundary:
Thank you Jane for posting this link. i found Mike Rose's interview with Bill Moyers to be very interesting. They spoke about several compelling facts in regard to education and underprivileged people. One of the issues that stood out for me is society's perception of these particular student's failure. Society tends to find deficiency in impoverished people's language, intellectual capacity and cognitive abilities. Failed performances on standardized tests and/or high school drop-out rates are seen as indication of incompetency. However, Mike Rose questions the causes of failure. He challenges the notion that many students failure is a result of unintelligence and poses that a probable cause is social failure. Rose believes that many students who have been deemed as incapable, has potential and ability that is unseen. Lack of opportunity and strong educational support has proved to be a huge disadvantage. He is compassionate about "inviting" more people into the educational system and doing so in a more productive way. He states that, "not doing so runs counter to our country's story" and I agree that it does not demonstrate equality, liberty or justice for all.
Response to Preparing for Success
"In August 1998, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Title II of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, became law. The AEFLA established accountablitiy requirements for states receiving federal funds for adult education. The NRS became the vehicle for states to report their outcome based performance data."Page 8This particular quote resonates with me because I have been working at an adult literacy program for close to ten years and although I work with and understand the AEFLA program and the National Reporting System (NRS) it was nice to read about the history of these terms. Performance based data provides evidence to the state funders of how the program is operating. Administrative staff such as myself are responsible for reporting the amount of hours students spend in the program, if they acheive any educational gains, obtain or retain employment, recieve a GED or continue on to higher education. Some people feel that the state requires too much and that acquiring the information and necessary documents from students is a tedious paper chase. I agree to an extent but I also see it from a positive perspective. Because of performance based funding, literacy programs are obligated to serve the students appropiately. In addition as a counselor, it enables me to get to know our students in ways that I may not have had the chance to otherwise. I spend a lot of time discussing their personal goals and developing career plans with them. Then at the end of every semester, I report their progress to the state.So although the work is time consuming and detailed,I understand that AEFLA and the Workforce Investment Act ensures that the funds that are provided to serve students is used appropriately.
Ruben Rangel
Ruben Rangel's visit may have changed the dynamics of our class. As a class, we have spend a measurable amount of time together and some of us even spend time together outside of the classroom. Nevertheless, although his Freirian style workshop was intense and maybe uncomfortable for some, I think the true word activity helped to create a stronger bond and strengthened the learning community in our classroom. Like Alex, I too learned new things about our classmates that I did not know. It helped me to feel more comfortable because many of us share the same challenges and goals. Isn't a learning environment more effective when the students are more involved and supportive of one another?I can relate to this method of learning/teaching because as I stated in class I have used this technique with the GED/ESL students that I work with. It helps students to gain a greater respect for one another and realize that they are more alike than unalike. However on the graduate level students usally respect others differences and can work together without this sort of excercise. However, it was interesting experiencing this type of workshop as a student and with others on a graduate level. I seems that our class was more resistant than the students in the literacy program. I am interested to know what factors influence the resistance. Perhaps age, class or status - what do you think?
Wynne's Class Presentation
I really enjoyed our class discussion on March 2nd. Wynne did a wonderful job presenting information on the various programs offered at LaGuardia Community College and it was a pleasure having Amy Dalsimer join us.The reading materials that Wynne provided were very interesting, especially on the I-Best approach. This technique offers students contextualized instruction to ensure that their academic needs will be met while they will also acquire specialized skills to obtain employment in specific occupations upon completing the course.Many adult learners, particularly during this current economic crisis, are eager to gain new skills and improve their employment status. The I-Best approach is an ideal, goal driven strategy, that can keep students engaged in the classroom by addressing their immediate learning interests and implementing reading, writing and math skills as well.I would be curious to learn the outcome of such programs. Statistical questions come to mind, such as: How many students are successfully placed in jobs? Also, How many students choose to pursue a more formal education to enhance their career choice after learning the benefits of becoming more educated?
Integrating Vocational and Basic Skills Education
I think a basic skills and vocational training classroom environment would be one where both of these needs of the students are met.Academically, it should offer reading and writing specific to the particular training. This would improve comprehension, build vocabulary and language skills while also better educating students on the vocational subject. In addition, if funding allows, the classroom should be set up to model, as much as possible, the environment in which the students will be seeking employment. For example, if students are studying to be pharmacy technicians, there should be medical books, supplies, measuring tools, etc. provided to give students hands on experience. Instruction outside of the classroom can be helpful too, such as visiting a pharmacy and meeting with professionals in the field.I support this style of teaching and learning. I believe all students, but especially adult learners have a better learning experience when instruction is demonstrated by example or when one is able to grasp the concept tangibly.
As mentioned in some of the other comments, Barbara Gleason has mentioned the CWE many, many time during our class discussions. While I had an idea of what the consortium was about, learning about the history and accomplishments of the organization while visiting the facility and meeting Joe McDermott and Eric Shtob was way beyond my expectations. Wow! I was so impressed with the whole idea of supporting and educating working class people. Joe McDermott has extended his hand to the people of NYC and given us opportunities to improve our lives. Although I did not know it before our class visit, I now realize that the consortium's support has helped me too, because I attended and graduated from the College of New Rochelle and we learned that CNR is one of the many educational institutions that the consortium has supported, financially and otherwise. I truly thank Joe McDermott, Eric Shtob and the entire CWE staff for their generous contributions and would also like to congratulate them on their remarkable achievements.
Listening to (and saving) The World's Languages from the NYT.
The things that are preserved are things that are valued, including languages. The work that Professor Kaufman is doing is honorable, yet he and his colleagues have their work cut out for them. America has greatly influenced many parts of the world because of business purposes, migrants flocking to the states in search for better lives, etc. Therefore, English is considered the language of power and one must be competent in it in order to be successful. For this reason, other languages and dialects are drifting towards this dominant language.The only way to preserve other languages and dialects are to do exactly what Professor Kaufman and other linguists are doing and that is to acknowledge and respect all languages. While it's obvious that we need a mainstream language in order to communicate in an organized fashion, is it unrealistic to imagine a society where multiple languages and distinct dialects are respected? As Stacy-Ann mentioned, "Langauge is very close to identity." I believe that if people are made to feel that their native tongues are appreciated they will be able to express themselves more powerfully in a classroom because their thoughts would likely be embedded in confidence rather than shame.
Mike Rose, Lives on The Boundary
Here is a link to an interview of Mike Rose by Bill Moyers about Lives on the Boundary:
Thank you Jane for posting this link. i found Mike Rose's interview with Bill Moyers to be very interesting. They spoke about several compelling facts in regard to education and underprivileged people. One of the issues that stood out for me is society's perception of these particular student's failure. Society tends to find deficiency in impoverished people's language, intellectual capacity and cognitive abilities. Failed performances on standardized tests and/or high school drop-out rates are seen as indication of incompetency. However, Mike Rose questions the causes of failure. He challenges the notion that many students failure is a result of unintelligence and poses that a probable cause is social failure. Rose believes that many students who have been deemed as incapable, has potential and ability that is unseen. Lack of opportunity and strong educational support has proved to be a huge disadvantage. He is compassionate about "inviting" more people into the educational system and doing so in a more productive way. He states that, "not doing so runs counter to our country's story" and I agree that it does not demonstrate equality, liberty or justice for all.
Response to Preparing for Success
"In August 1998, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Title II of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, became law. The AEFLA established accountablitiy requirements for states receiving federal funds for adult education. The NRS became the vehicle for states to report their outcome based performance data."Page 8This particular quote resonates with me because I have been working at an adult literacy program for close to ten years and although I work with and understand the AEFLA program and the National Reporting System (NRS) it was nice to read about the history of these terms. Performance based data provides evidence to the state funders of how the program is operating. Administrative staff such as myself are responsible for reporting the amount of hours students spend in the program, if they acheive any educational gains, obtain or retain employment, recieve a GED or continue on to higher education. Some people feel that the state requires too much and that acquiring the information and necessary documents from students is a tedious paper chase. I agree to an extent but I also see it from a positive perspective. Because of performance based funding, literacy programs are obligated to serve the students appropiately. In addition as a counselor, it enables me to get to know our students in ways that I may not have had the chance to otherwise. I spend a lot of time discussing their personal goals and developing career plans with them. Then at the end of every semester, I report their progress to the state.So although the work is time consuming and detailed,I understand that AEFLA and the Workforce Investment Act ensures that the funds that are provided to serve students is used appropriately.
Ruben Rangel
Ruben Rangel's visit may have changed the dynamics of our class. As a class, we have spend a measurable amount of time together and some of us even spend time together outside of the classroom. Nevertheless, although his Freirian style workshop was intense and maybe uncomfortable for some, I think the true word activity helped to create a stronger bond and strengthened the learning community in our classroom. Like Alex, I too learned new things about our classmates that I did not know. It helped me to feel more comfortable because many of us share the same challenges and goals. Isn't a learning environment more effective when the students are more involved and supportive of one another?I can relate to this method of learning/teaching because as I stated in class I have used this technique with the GED/ESL students that I work with. It helps students to gain a greater respect for one another and realize that they are more alike than unalike. However on the graduate level students usally respect others differences and can work together without this sort of excercise. However, it was interesting experiencing this type of workshop as a student and with others on a graduate level. I seems that our class was more resistant than the students in the literacy program. I am interested to know what factors influence the resistance. Perhaps age, class or status - what do you think?
Wynne's Class Presentation
I really enjoyed our class discussion on March 2nd. Wynne did a wonderful job presenting information on the various programs offered at LaGuardia Community College and it was a pleasure having Amy Dalsimer join us.The reading materials that Wynne provided were very interesting, especially on the I-Best approach. This technique offers students contextualized instruction to ensure that their academic needs will be met while they will also acquire specialized skills to obtain employment in specific occupations upon completing the course.Many adult learners, particularly during this current economic crisis, are eager to gain new skills and improve their employment status. The I-Best approach is an ideal, goal driven strategy, that can keep students engaged in the classroom by addressing their immediate learning interests and implementing reading, writing and math skills as well.I would be curious to learn the outcome of such programs. Statistical questions come to mind, such as: How many students are successfully placed in jobs? Also, How many students choose to pursue a more formal education to enhance their career choice after learning the benefits of becoming more educated?
Integrating Vocational and Basic Skills Education
I think a basic skills and vocational training classroom environment would be one where both of these needs of the students are met.Academically, it should offer reading and writing specific to the particular training. This would improve comprehension, build vocabulary and language skills while also better educating students on the vocational subject. In addition, if funding allows, the classroom should be set up to model, as much as possible, the environment in which the students will be seeking employment. For example, if students are studying to be pharmacy technicians, there should be medical books, supplies, measuring tools, etc. provided to give students hands on experience. Instruction outside of the classroom can be helpful too, such as visiting a pharmacy and meeting with professionals in the field.I support this style of teaching and learning. I believe all students, but especially adult learners have a better learning experience when instruction is demonstrated by example or when one is able to grasp the concept tangibly.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Final Exam Essay
Teaching is one of the most honorable occupations that one can achieve. Imagine how rewarding it is to teach a child to read effectively, it is a skill that he or she will possess for a lifetime. Helping a young adult to become a critical thinker is an attribute that will enhance learning forever. Furthermore, educating adult learners is not only challenging, but also reciprocating, because adults bring a lot of experience into the classroom. Although educators share the common goal of teaching students to become more educated, they oftentimes have very different sometimes even contradicting educational perspectives and teaching styles. I found this to be interesting as I explored the theories of E.D. Hirsch, Rudolph Flesch, and Shirley Brice Heath.
In Cultural Literacy, E.D. Hirsch, Jr. proposes that all citizens of the United States of America obtain a “Universal Literacy” in order to be knowledgeable of significant people, events and milestones of their country. He argues that when individuals are proactive in literacy it has a powerful effect on our society and country as a whole. “Ultimately our aim should be to attain universal literacy at a very high level, to achieve not only greater economic prosperity but also greater social justice and more effective.” However, although I can understand Hirsch’s point of view in regard to raising the standard of education, he seems to have a nostalgic view of what education should look like and does not consider cultural diversity.
Hirsch believes that when students acquire a culturally based foundation of the United States history combined with current mainstream culture, these students will become more proficient readers, critical thinkers and great communicators. “The function of national literacy is to foster effective nationwide communications. Our chief instrument of communication over time and space is the standard national language, which is sustained by national literacy (2).” Hirsch further argues that in order to achieve the goal of becoming a culturally literate nation, the entire educational system would have to be reformed so that all school curricula would become unified.
In the reading, Hirsch reasons that Americans should have a general knowledge of important people and events that take place in our country. He is referring to specifics such as what the “Constitution of the United States” is, or, who are “Susan B. Anthony or Ulysses S. Grant?” It is important that people know when the “Civil Rights War” took place and the results of it. In addition, people of the U.S. would benefit from reading specific literature such as “Shakesphere” etc. because it is historical reading and Americans are assumed to be familiar it. Geography is also something that Hirsch feels that all students must know. For example, specific names and locations of oceans, seas, mountains and regions are important. He adds, “Because literate people mention such names in passing, usually without explanation, children should acquire them as part of their intellectual equipment (30).” My question is, who determines who is literate and who is not.
In my opinion, it is disturbing and also unfortunate that many United States citizens are oblivious to facts that surround American culture. However, America consists of a multitude of cultures. Perhaps, Hirsch makes a reasonable argument that by implementing cultural literacy, in a more structured fashion into curricula, will likely raise the educational standards and literacy levels in our country. On the other hand, because the United States is such a multicultural nation, I wonder how it would be possible to include and equally value multiple cultures in education. In order for educators to teach effectively in multicultural populations, we must recognize that literacy is always very close to identity and that people learn best in an environment where they are respected.
Hirsch’s idea of education reminds me of what education was like many decades ago. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century’s privileged people basically read the same literature, learned the same math and studied the same languages, Greek and Latin. However, that was long ago before the U.S. became so multicultural. Although the U.S. has always been open to immigrants, there have never been as many different cultures in our country as there are today. For this reason people have distinct backgrounds and come to the classroom with various learning experiences and styles.
Many theorists would argue that because students are from different backgrounds they will have inherited particular literate strengths and value some practices over others. “Repeatedly, Goody and Watt (1963), Ong (1967), Goody (1968), and Havelock (1963) are cited as having suggested a dichotomous view of oral and literate societies and as having asserted certain cognitive, social, and linguistic effects of literacy on both the society and the individual. Survey research tracing the invention and diffusion of writing systems across numerous societies (Kroeber, 1948) and positing the effects of the spread of literacy on social and individual memory is cited as supporting a contrastive view of oral and literate social groups.” Therefore, community, culture and social practices are major factors to consider in education. Although every citizen of the United States shares a common culture, not every student has the necessary resources to be included in the mainstream culture.
What constitutes good education, personally, is what I think educators should be questioning. Would this traditional style of education be effective in teaching a modern multicultural society? Obviously, every citizen of their country is expected to know the history of the country, the background of the government, geographical locations, common literacy practices, etc. However, multiculturalism does not seem to be worthy of consideration in E.D. Hirsch’s theory because he only mentions teaching towards a mainstream culture and there is not much diversity there. Furthermore, as I learned this semester, people are literate on different levels according to their needs of literacy. Is it not possible for a literate person on any level to be unfamiliar to certain information just because he or she has not been exposed to it? Many of the details that Hirsch suggests that students should know are not always revealed in a classroom. Oftentimes, facts are learned on family vacations or during discussions with family members or friends within a community. Realistically, not all cultures are exposed to travel or even decent books to read about travel or other subjects for that matter. Therefore, there is a huge disadvantage for students who are underprivileged or unexposed to mainstream culture. E.D. Hirsch’s theory of education is not conducive to all students and he sees the country not as a tapestry but as a melting pot.
Rudolph Flesch’s, Why Johnny Can’t Read and what you can do about it is what he considers to be a “fool-proof method of teaching” based on phonics and the alphabetic code. In the book, Flesch advocates for using direct phonetic instruction for beginning readers as opposed to the “look say” or “whole word” method of teaching. He insists that with this method, “once a child has learned this code, he can read. As a mother of two children, who I actively play a part in their learning to read, I can attest that reading is highly based on phonics. However, while Flesch’s theory is a great concept, it deserves a reasonable degree of flexibility.
Why Johnny Can’t Read, was published in 1955. Rudolph Flesch wrote this book primarily for parents to help their children to read. He later revised the book in 1983 to advocate for direct phonics instruction, a subject he feels strongly about. In the book, he also opposes the “look-say” or “whole word” method of teaching children to read, stating that “It theoretically requires the students to memorize every word as a whole.”
Direct phonics instruction is described as the act of teaching students the twenty six letters of the alphabet along with the forty four sounds of speech that are associated with them. The concept is that letters represent the sounds of speech and that there are relationships between the letters, the sounds and the words.
Through research, I have learned that there are several forms of phonics. The first is embedded phonics, “It is an instructional approach where letter sounds are taught opportunistically, as the need arises.” This form of phonics is likely to be used with the whole language method of teaching reading. Synthetic phonics, the second form of phonics, is a popular method of teaching phonics. It involves focusing on the close relationship between the letters and sounds and blending them together to form words. The third variant is analytic phonics, it too is a popular method and it is where students learn phonograms (usually the ending part of a word that rhymes). Students are taught multiple words by changing the first letter in front of a phonogram. For example, (m)ake, (b)ake, (t)ake, (r)ake, etc. This is also considered an instructional method of teaching.
According to Flesch, the “look-say” method is not reading but merely word guessing. It entails memorization of the appearance of words or recognizing words by looking at the first and last letters in words such as “The Cat in the Hat.” The “look-say” or “whole word” method of teaching is usually taught by using pictures to demonstrate the word. Children are taught to associate the picture and the whole word with its meaning. This is considered to be a memorization method of teaching reading.
Rudolph Flesch believes that before children are introduced to any other type of reading they should be taught letters and the sounds that are associated to them. He suggests that parents/teachers spend several weeks teaching children to identify letters, write them and then make the corresponding sounds of the letters. He admits that there is a lot of repetition involved in this method, but feels that it will pay off in the end because “once a child has learned this code, he can read.” Flesch also recommends that not until the sounds of letters are mastered, should children be allowed to move on to other reading exercises.
In 1830, the “look-say” method, also known as the “whole word” method was created by Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, the director of the American Asylum. It was designed for the education of the Deaf by teaching them to read by placing a word and a picture side by side. Flesch criticizes this technique of reading to non-deaf children because, “It works on the principle that children learn to read by reading. It starts with little stories containing the most-often-used words in English and gradually builds up a sight vocabulary.” This means that it is easy for children to read words when they see and say them repeatedly. However, it is nearly impossible for a reader to read a larger complex word that they have never seen before.
When my son was learning to read, twelve or thirteen years ago, I was an inexperienced mother and educator. I had no clue of how to teach him to read, but I knew that reading to him regularly is important. So I read to him almost every night, while he was taught phonics instruction at school during the day. I realized that when we read together that he was becoming a good reader because of the way that he sounded out the words. Now that he is a teenager, he is still a good reader but he does not like to read.
I have a never a nephew who is one year older than my son. He apparently learned to read differently. We all have a close relationship and would often read together. I noticed over the years that although my son is younger than my nephew, my nephew’s reading skills were lower than my son’s. Although, I was not an educator at that time, I figured that my nephew’s reading problem was related to his inability to relate the sounds of the letters to the letters. At eighteen years of age, my nephew loves to read, however, he still does not sound out words that are difficult for him to pronounce.
Currently, as a more experienced parent and a graduate student in the Language and Literacy Program, I have a more clear view of various reading strategies. Now, I am aware of exactly what type of teaching methods takes place at my five year old daughter’s school. At home, I am sure to study phonics with her several times per week as re-enforcement of what she is learning in class. Also, during our reading time, I encourage her to phonetically pronounce words. In addition, we use picture cards to study words, however we still sound the words out together. Genesis is only in kindergarten and cannot read quite yet, but she is able to sound letters out and also point out words from stories.
At the adult literacy program where I work, the “look-say,” “whole word,” and “whole language” are the methods of teaching reading that is preferred. When I spoke with my director about why we use this method rather than the direct phonics method she stated, “Phonics is not reading. Reading is a meaning making process. The problem with phonics is that it does not have to be taught directly. However, indirectly students will develop phonemic awareness.” She recognizes the importance of understanding phonics but feels that while teaching reading towards meaning making that people will acquire phonemic awareness.
Flesch’s theory is one based on analysis, principle and instruction but in my opinion it is too one sided. While it is important for students to know the fundamentals of reading by sounding out word, I think a combination of the two approaches of phonics and whole word would make students superb readers.
In Ways with Words, Shirley Brice Heath proves that education is highly based on social practice as opposed to being a body of knowledge. She does this by conducting research on oral and literate practices in three Piedmont, North Carolina towns. Her research is heavily influenced by Dell Hymes’ theory of “Communicative Competence.” Heath is certainly a visionary who challenged prior theories on language during a time when schools in the south had recently been desegregated. Her ethnographic perspective reveals a variety of values attached to language and also how literacy is deeply rooted in social practice.
Communicative competence is Heath’s main argument in Ways with Words. The term can be described as, “A persons combined knowledge of a language in terms of its syntax, phonology, morphology, discourse structures, and strategies of language use appropriate to particular situations.” Dell Hymes is the anthropologist who created the term in 1966. He further developed the concept five years later to challenge Noam Chomsky’s theory on “Language Performance” and “Language Competence.” Chomsky’s theory is based on the idea that we all possess an underlying competency, however, we are not aware or do not use the talents that we have for various reasons which lead to lack of performance.
Heath began her research during the late 1960’s when she was an instructor, teaching courses to teachers on language, culture and education. She taught these classes in North Carolina, where the public schools were deemed as low-performing and segregation had recently ended. Heath worked with both African-American and Caucasian teachers who taught in diverse communities. She became inspired to do extensive research on language socialization because the teachers that she worked with questioned existing research on language differences between people of distinct cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Language socialization is the idea that language is constructed through socialization and that socialization is demonstrated through language. “In other words, part of the meaning of grammatical and conversational structures is sociocultural. These structures are socially organized and hence carry information corning social order… Language is then a major if not the major tool for conveying sociocultural knowledge and a powerful medium of socializations (Ochs 2-3).” For this reason, Heath chose to investigate communities of different cultural and socioeconomic lifestyles to further explore this concept.
For ten years Heath conducted an ethnographic study of language on three towns in Piedmont, North Carolina. She compares the values of oral and literate traditions on the people who live in Trackton, Roadville and Maintown. In Trackton, the residents are mostly African-American and communicate more orally than with written materials. The residents of Roadville are also mainly oral communicators, however predominantly white people live in this town. In Maintown, both black and white people reside here, they are considered to be more middle class than the residents of Trackton and/or Roadville and they value reading and written communication.
Heath examined the language habits and interactions of the people in these communities, with the help of the townspeople in her courses. She studied the way they ate, slept, worked and worshipped in an attempt to better understand their process of language and how it applies to their learning. Her main goal was to determine how the language structures of the different community’s effects the learning in the classroom and at the workplace. “They came to recognize that in schools, commercial establishments, and mills, mainstream language values and skills were the expected norm, and the individuals from communities such as Roadville and Trackton brought different language and values and skills to these situations.” The research resulted in Heath and the assisting teachers becoming more aware of the distinctive ways in which the people of this region communicate and bringing that awareness into the classroom to accommodate their learning styles.
In my view, education is absolutely a social practice. As educators, we must realize that people bring practices and values from their cultures to the classroom. We must also learn to identify their learning styles, strengths, etc. and introduce relative and appropriate concepts for them to explore. I consider Shirley Brice Heath to be a visionary and a pioneer. She saw the significance of investigating this concept and delves into it whole heartedly. In addition, she conducted this research during a fairly unfavorable time. She went into communities where people spoke differently and cared enough to fully examine language socialization. Heath’s research on these communities is profound and has changed the way people think about education.
In conclusion, education comes in many forms. However, it is important for educators to remember that balance and flexibility are key in teaching. Because people have different learning styles and come from different backgrounds, it is imperative to consider students individuality and uniqueness. While E.D. Hirsch and Rudolph Flesch are logical in their arguments, they both seem to ignore that learning involves more than skills, it also depends on attitude, desire and access to learning. In my opinion, Shirley Brice Heath’s ethnographic perspective is the most effective way to approach teaching. Culture, socioeconomics and linguistics all are major factors when assessing a student’s performance. Heath makes this clear when she states, “The information to be gained from any prolonged look at oral and written uses of language through literacy events may enable us to accept the protean shapes of oral and literate traditions and language, and move us away from current tendencies to classify communities as being at one or another point along a hypothetical continuum which has no societal reality (370).” This validates the idea that literacy is deeply rooted in social practice and very close to people’s identity.
In Cultural Literacy, E.D. Hirsch, Jr. proposes that all citizens of the United States of America obtain a “Universal Literacy” in order to be knowledgeable of significant people, events and milestones of their country. He argues that when individuals are proactive in literacy it has a powerful effect on our society and country as a whole. “Ultimately our aim should be to attain universal literacy at a very high level, to achieve not only greater economic prosperity but also greater social justice and more effective.” However, although I can understand Hirsch’s point of view in regard to raising the standard of education, he seems to have a nostalgic view of what education should look like and does not consider cultural diversity.
Hirsch believes that when students acquire a culturally based foundation of the United States history combined with current mainstream culture, these students will become more proficient readers, critical thinkers and great communicators. “The function of national literacy is to foster effective nationwide communications. Our chief instrument of communication over time and space is the standard national language, which is sustained by national literacy (2).” Hirsch further argues that in order to achieve the goal of becoming a culturally literate nation, the entire educational system would have to be reformed so that all school curricula would become unified.
In the reading, Hirsch reasons that Americans should have a general knowledge of important people and events that take place in our country. He is referring to specifics such as what the “Constitution of the United States” is, or, who are “Susan B. Anthony or Ulysses S. Grant?” It is important that people know when the “Civil Rights War” took place and the results of it. In addition, people of the U.S. would benefit from reading specific literature such as “Shakesphere” etc. because it is historical reading and Americans are assumed to be familiar it. Geography is also something that Hirsch feels that all students must know. For example, specific names and locations of oceans, seas, mountains and regions are important. He adds, “Because literate people mention such names in passing, usually without explanation, children should acquire them as part of their intellectual equipment (30).” My question is, who determines who is literate and who is not.
In my opinion, it is disturbing and also unfortunate that many United States citizens are oblivious to facts that surround American culture. However, America consists of a multitude of cultures. Perhaps, Hirsch makes a reasonable argument that by implementing cultural literacy, in a more structured fashion into curricula, will likely raise the educational standards and literacy levels in our country. On the other hand, because the United States is such a multicultural nation, I wonder how it would be possible to include and equally value multiple cultures in education. In order for educators to teach effectively in multicultural populations, we must recognize that literacy is always very close to identity and that people learn best in an environment where they are respected.
Hirsch’s idea of education reminds me of what education was like many decades ago. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century’s privileged people basically read the same literature, learned the same math and studied the same languages, Greek and Latin. However, that was long ago before the U.S. became so multicultural. Although the U.S. has always been open to immigrants, there have never been as many different cultures in our country as there are today. For this reason people have distinct backgrounds and come to the classroom with various learning experiences and styles.
Many theorists would argue that because students are from different backgrounds they will have inherited particular literate strengths and value some practices over others. “Repeatedly, Goody and Watt (1963), Ong (1967), Goody (1968), and Havelock (1963) are cited as having suggested a dichotomous view of oral and literate societies and as having asserted certain cognitive, social, and linguistic effects of literacy on both the society and the individual. Survey research tracing the invention and diffusion of writing systems across numerous societies (Kroeber, 1948) and positing the effects of the spread of literacy on social and individual memory is cited as supporting a contrastive view of oral and literate social groups.” Therefore, community, culture and social practices are major factors to consider in education. Although every citizen of the United States shares a common culture, not every student has the necessary resources to be included in the mainstream culture.
What constitutes good education, personally, is what I think educators should be questioning. Would this traditional style of education be effective in teaching a modern multicultural society? Obviously, every citizen of their country is expected to know the history of the country, the background of the government, geographical locations, common literacy practices, etc. However, multiculturalism does not seem to be worthy of consideration in E.D. Hirsch’s theory because he only mentions teaching towards a mainstream culture and there is not much diversity there. Furthermore, as I learned this semester, people are literate on different levels according to their needs of literacy. Is it not possible for a literate person on any level to be unfamiliar to certain information just because he or she has not been exposed to it? Many of the details that Hirsch suggests that students should know are not always revealed in a classroom. Oftentimes, facts are learned on family vacations or during discussions with family members or friends within a community. Realistically, not all cultures are exposed to travel or even decent books to read about travel or other subjects for that matter. Therefore, there is a huge disadvantage for students who are underprivileged or unexposed to mainstream culture. E.D. Hirsch’s theory of education is not conducive to all students and he sees the country not as a tapestry but as a melting pot.
Rudolph Flesch’s, Why Johnny Can’t Read and what you can do about it is what he considers to be a “fool-proof method of teaching” based on phonics and the alphabetic code. In the book, Flesch advocates for using direct phonetic instruction for beginning readers as opposed to the “look say” or “whole word” method of teaching. He insists that with this method, “once a child has learned this code, he can read. As a mother of two children, who I actively play a part in their learning to read, I can attest that reading is highly based on phonics. However, while Flesch’s theory is a great concept, it deserves a reasonable degree of flexibility.
Why Johnny Can’t Read, was published in 1955. Rudolph Flesch wrote this book primarily for parents to help their children to read. He later revised the book in 1983 to advocate for direct phonics instruction, a subject he feels strongly about. In the book, he also opposes the “look-say” or “whole word” method of teaching children to read, stating that “It theoretically requires the students to memorize every word as a whole.”
Direct phonics instruction is described as the act of teaching students the twenty six letters of the alphabet along with the forty four sounds of speech that are associated with them. The concept is that letters represent the sounds of speech and that there are relationships between the letters, the sounds and the words.
Through research, I have learned that there are several forms of phonics. The first is embedded phonics, “It is an instructional approach where letter sounds are taught opportunistically, as the need arises.” This form of phonics is likely to be used with the whole language method of teaching reading. Synthetic phonics, the second form of phonics, is a popular method of teaching phonics. It involves focusing on the close relationship between the letters and sounds and blending them together to form words. The third variant is analytic phonics, it too is a popular method and it is where students learn phonograms (usually the ending part of a word that rhymes). Students are taught multiple words by changing the first letter in front of a phonogram. For example, (m)ake, (b)ake, (t)ake, (r)ake, etc. This is also considered an instructional method of teaching.
According to Flesch, the “look-say” method is not reading but merely word guessing. It entails memorization of the appearance of words or recognizing words by looking at the first and last letters in words such as “The Cat in the Hat.” The “look-say” or “whole word” method of teaching is usually taught by using pictures to demonstrate the word. Children are taught to associate the picture and the whole word with its meaning. This is considered to be a memorization method of teaching reading.
Rudolph Flesch believes that before children are introduced to any other type of reading they should be taught letters and the sounds that are associated to them. He suggests that parents/teachers spend several weeks teaching children to identify letters, write them and then make the corresponding sounds of the letters. He admits that there is a lot of repetition involved in this method, but feels that it will pay off in the end because “once a child has learned this code, he can read.” Flesch also recommends that not until the sounds of letters are mastered, should children be allowed to move on to other reading exercises.
In 1830, the “look-say” method, also known as the “whole word” method was created by Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, the director of the American Asylum. It was designed for the education of the Deaf by teaching them to read by placing a word and a picture side by side. Flesch criticizes this technique of reading to non-deaf children because, “It works on the principle that children learn to read by reading. It starts with little stories containing the most-often-used words in English and gradually builds up a sight vocabulary.” This means that it is easy for children to read words when they see and say them repeatedly. However, it is nearly impossible for a reader to read a larger complex word that they have never seen before.
When my son was learning to read, twelve or thirteen years ago, I was an inexperienced mother and educator. I had no clue of how to teach him to read, but I knew that reading to him regularly is important. So I read to him almost every night, while he was taught phonics instruction at school during the day. I realized that when we read together that he was becoming a good reader because of the way that he sounded out the words. Now that he is a teenager, he is still a good reader but he does not like to read.
I have a never a nephew who is one year older than my son. He apparently learned to read differently. We all have a close relationship and would often read together. I noticed over the years that although my son is younger than my nephew, my nephew’s reading skills were lower than my son’s. Although, I was not an educator at that time, I figured that my nephew’s reading problem was related to his inability to relate the sounds of the letters to the letters. At eighteen years of age, my nephew loves to read, however, he still does not sound out words that are difficult for him to pronounce.
Currently, as a more experienced parent and a graduate student in the Language and Literacy Program, I have a more clear view of various reading strategies. Now, I am aware of exactly what type of teaching methods takes place at my five year old daughter’s school. At home, I am sure to study phonics with her several times per week as re-enforcement of what she is learning in class. Also, during our reading time, I encourage her to phonetically pronounce words. In addition, we use picture cards to study words, however we still sound the words out together. Genesis is only in kindergarten and cannot read quite yet, but she is able to sound letters out and also point out words from stories.
At the adult literacy program where I work, the “look-say,” “whole word,” and “whole language” are the methods of teaching reading that is preferred. When I spoke with my director about why we use this method rather than the direct phonics method she stated, “Phonics is not reading. Reading is a meaning making process. The problem with phonics is that it does not have to be taught directly. However, indirectly students will develop phonemic awareness.” She recognizes the importance of understanding phonics but feels that while teaching reading towards meaning making that people will acquire phonemic awareness.
Flesch’s theory is one based on analysis, principle and instruction but in my opinion it is too one sided. While it is important for students to know the fundamentals of reading by sounding out word, I think a combination of the two approaches of phonics and whole word would make students superb readers.
In Ways with Words, Shirley Brice Heath proves that education is highly based on social practice as opposed to being a body of knowledge. She does this by conducting research on oral and literate practices in three Piedmont, North Carolina towns. Her research is heavily influenced by Dell Hymes’ theory of “Communicative Competence.” Heath is certainly a visionary who challenged prior theories on language during a time when schools in the south had recently been desegregated. Her ethnographic perspective reveals a variety of values attached to language and also how literacy is deeply rooted in social practice.
Communicative competence is Heath’s main argument in Ways with Words. The term can be described as, “A persons combined knowledge of a language in terms of its syntax, phonology, morphology, discourse structures, and strategies of language use appropriate to particular situations.” Dell Hymes is the anthropologist who created the term in 1966. He further developed the concept five years later to challenge Noam Chomsky’s theory on “Language Performance” and “Language Competence.” Chomsky’s theory is based on the idea that we all possess an underlying competency, however, we are not aware or do not use the talents that we have for various reasons which lead to lack of performance.
Heath began her research during the late 1960’s when she was an instructor, teaching courses to teachers on language, culture and education. She taught these classes in North Carolina, where the public schools were deemed as low-performing and segregation had recently ended. Heath worked with both African-American and Caucasian teachers who taught in diverse communities. She became inspired to do extensive research on language socialization because the teachers that she worked with questioned existing research on language differences between people of distinct cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Language socialization is the idea that language is constructed through socialization and that socialization is demonstrated through language. “In other words, part of the meaning of grammatical and conversational structures is sociocultural. These structures are socially organized and hence carry information corning social order… Language is then a major if not the major tool for conveying sociocultural knowledge and a powerful medium of socializations (Ochs 2-3).” For this reason, Heath chose to investigate communities of different cultural and socioeconomic lifestyles to further explore this concept.
For ten years Heath conducted an ethnographic study of language on three towns in Piedmont, North Carolina. She compares the values of oral and literate traditions on the people who live in Trackton, Roadville and Maintown. In Trackton, the residents are mostly African-American and communicate more orally than with written materials. The residents of Roadville are also mainly oral communicators, however predominantly white people live in this town. In Maintown, both black and white people reside here, they are considered to be more middle class than the residents of Trackton and/or Roadville and they value reading and written communication.
Heath examined the language habits and interactions of the people in these communities, with the help of the townspeople in her courses. She studied the way they ate, slept, worked and worshipped in an attempt to better understand their process of language and how it applies to their learning. Her main goal was to determine how the language structures of the different community’s effects the learning in the classroom and at the workplace. “They came to recognize that in schools, commercial establishments, and mills, mainstream language values and skills were the expected norm, and the individuals from communities such as Roadville and Trackton brought different language and values and skills to these situations.” The research resulted in Heath and the assisting teachers becoming more aware of the distinctive ways in which the people of this region communicate and bringing that awareness into the classroom to accommodate their learning styles.
In my view, education is absolutely a social practice. As educators, we must realize that people bring practices and values from their cultures to the classroom. We must also learn to identify their learning styles, strengths, etc. and introduce relative and appropriate concepts for them to explore. I consider Shirley Brice Heath to be a visionary and a pioneer. She saw the significance of investigating this concept and delves into it whole heartedly. In addition, she conducted this research during a fairly unfavorable time. She went into communities where people spoke differently and cared enough to fully examine language socialization. Heath’s research on these communities is profound and has changed the way people think about education.
In conclusion, education comes in many forms. However, it is important for educators to remember that balance and flexibility are key in teaching. Because people have different learning styles and come from different backgrounds, it is imperative to consider students individuality and uniqueness. While E.D. Hirsch and Rudolph Flesch are logical in their arguments, they both seem to ignore that learning involves more than skills, it also depends on attitude, desire and access to learning. In my opinion, Shirley Brice Heath’s ethnographic perspective is the most effective way to approach teaching. Culture, socioeconomics and linguistics all are major factors when assessing a student’s performance. Heath makes this clear when she states, “The information to be gained from any prolonged look at oral and written uses of language through literacy events may enable us to accept the protean shapes of oral and literate traditions and language, and move us away from current tendencies to classify communities as being at one or another point along a hypothetical continuum which has no societal reality (370).” This validates the idea that literacy is deeply rooted in social practice and very close to people’s identity.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Mid-term Essay - Functional Literacy
Functional Literacy
A functional literate person can be described as someone who has the reading and writing ability and knowledge that enables him or her to utilize the print of his or her world. Individuals are proficient in literacy on various levels. Literacy proficiency levels are determined by educational background and attainment. People with low levels of literacy are able to function mostly by using environmental print. If the majority of those who are responsible for children’s education, such as parents and teachers, were serious and collaborative, perhaps the levels of low functional literacy would be at a minimum.
Linguist, anthropologist, and teaching professionals from kindergarten through college level, have a common interest in the word literacy. Interestingly, not many people agree on one definition of the term. “We have scholarly articles and public debates on functional literacy, on full literacy, on semi-literacy, on pre-literacy…” (Pattison 4). One thing that is agreed upon universally in regard to literacy is that it involves some form of reading and writing.
According to Mike Rose, “Functional literacy in the 1930’s meant having three or more years of schooling. During World War II it meant completion of the fourth grade, in 1960, completion of the eighth grade. In the late 1970’s, some defined functional literacy as completion of high school. In later years, this definition proved too simplistic.” Functional literacy is now defined by statisticians on various skill levels. These include the literacy proficiency levels as defined in “Digest of Education Statistics.” 1992:
A functional literate person can be described as someone who has the reading and writing ability and knowledge that enables him or her to utilize the print of his or her world. Individuals are proficient in literacy on various levels. Literacy proficiency levels are determined by educational background and attainment. People with low levels of literacy are able to function mostly by using environmental print. If the majority of those who are responsible for children’s education, such as parents and teachers, were serious and collaborative, perhaps the levels of low functional literacy would be at a minimum.
Linguist, anthropologist, and teaching professionals from kindergarten through college level, have a common interest in the word literacy. Interestingly, not many people agree on one definition of the term. “We have scholarly articles and public debates on functional literacy, on full literacy, on semi-literacy, on pre-literacy…” (Pattison 4). One thing that is agreed upon universally in regard to literacy is that it involves some form of reading and writing.
According to Mike Rose, “Functional literacy in the 1930’s meant having three or more years of schooling. During World War II it meant completion of the fourth grade, in 1960, completion of the eighth grade. In the late 1970’s, some defined functional literacy as completion of high school. In later years, this definition proved too simplistic.” Functional literacy is now defined by statisticians on various skill levels. These include the literacy proficiency levels as defined in “Digest of Education Statistics.” 1992:
Level 1: Able to follow brief written directions and select phrases to describe pictures.Example: Locate time or place of a meeting on a form.
Level 2: Able to understand combined ideas and make references based on short uncomplicated passages about specific or sequentially related information.Example: Enter background information on an employment form.
Level 3: Able to search for specific information, interrelate ideas, and make generalizations about literature, science and social studies materials.Example: Integrate information from long, dense texts or documents.
Level 4: Able to find, understand, summarize, and explain relatively complicated literary and informational material.Example: Research and write a college-level term paper with footnote references.
Level 5: Able to understand the links between ideas even when those links are not explicitly stated and to make appropriate generalizations even when the texts lack clear instructions or explanations.
Example: Read and comprehend the themes in a classical play or novel such as Hamlet or War and Peace.
Previously, the definition has changed numerously overtime and also increased in expectation. However, Rose’s theory on literacy offers more elasticity and is less standardized.
Parents and teachers play a very important role in children’s education and ultimately in the lack or sufficiency of literacy. A reading and writing teacher is responsible for ensuring that their students are taught the concepts of reading and writing. “As primary students learn to decode words through phonemic and phonological awareness activities, they must also be exposed to authentic literature and taught explicitly concepts of print such as directionality, return sweep, use of punctuation, and the differentiation between letters, words and sentences” (Watson 46). In addition, in order for these concepts to become cohesive, there should be ongoing practice on the part of the young learner.
Although parents are not in the class room while their children are learning to read and write, their role is vital in encouraging good learning and studying habits. Parents who are actively involved with their children’s learning can and will enhance their literacy skills by re-inforcing what is being taught at school. In addition, their support also sends a message to their child, as well as the teacher, that education and their child is important to them and participating actively usually encourages diligence on the student’s part.
As one might imagine, functional literacy levels increase when educational attainment increases. An analysis conducted by the National Assessment of Adult Literacy examined how, “literacy scores rose with successive levels of educational attainment; they were lowest across the three scales for adults who did not complete high school and highest for adults with graduate study or a graduate degree.” Table 3-2 shown below illustrates the average prose, document, and quantitative literacy scores of adults by highest educational attainment between the years of 1992 and 2003.
Table 3-2. Average prose, document, and quantitative literacy scores of adults, by highest educational attainment: 1992 and 2003
Educational Attainment Prose Document Quantitative
1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003
Still in High School 268 262 270 265 263 261
Some High School 216 207 * 211 208 209 211
GED/H.S Equivalency 265 260 259 257 265 265
High School Graduate 268 262* 261 258 267 269
Some College 292 287* 288 280* 295 294
Associate’s Degree 306 298* 301 291* 305 305
Bachelor’s Degree 325 314* 317 303* 324 323
Graduate Degree 340 327* 328 311* 336 332
*Significantly different from 1992
Note: Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households or prisons. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003 and 4 percent in 1992) are excluded from this table.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Educational Statistics, 1992 National Adult Literacy survey and 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.
Other statistics from the ‘National Adult Literacy Survey in 1992’ shows that:
Those with less than a high school diploma performed 35% of the literacy tasks correctly; those with a college degree performed 65% of the tasks correctly. Ninety-five percent of those with less than a high school diploma functioned at the two lowest levels. This group had less than 1% functioning at the highest levels. Those with a college degree had the highest percentage functioning at the highest two levels (53%). However, 14% of those with a college degree function at the two lowest levels of proficiency. Surprising! Adults who are proficient at levels one and two are considered, by some, to be functionally illiterate. In 1992, this included 90 million adults (48% of the adult population).
People who have low literacy proficiency levels are able to function by using things in their environment to help them better understand the world around them. Objects such as posters, street/traffic signs, pictures and big words on a menu or a cereal box are some examples of environmental print. When people are able to interpret this type of print, it affords an opportunity of basic reading and discovery for learners. More importantly, the reading of environmental print enables individuals to become functionally literate to some extent. Also, according to Rose’s theory, people are able to increase their literacy proficiency levels according to the amount of time spent on educating themselves.
In conclusion, there is no one definition for the term functional literacy or even literacy for that matter. Even professionals are ambiguous on the matter. Through my research, one thing that is clear in regard to functional literacy is that it involves an unidentified amount of reading and writing. Rose’s theory seems to be the most appropriate, that literacy proficiency can be found on different levels and not at one standard. If literacy is the ability to read and write, and all people perform this act on various levels, then does it make sense to have a standard that determines if a person is functionally literate?
The proficiency levels included in this essay are a realistic and considerate approach to how people function with literacy. It does not demand that all people meet the same standard. Oftentimes, this is not possible due to disabilities, socioeconomic reasons, etc. In addition, acknowledging various proficiency levels sends a message that learning is not a threshold but a continuum.
Bibliography
Courts, Patricia. Literacy and Empowerment. Bergin and Garvey: New York, Westport, Connecticut and London, 1991. Print.
Dodd, Wescott Anne and Konzel, Jean L. Making Our High Schools Better. St. Martin’s Press: New York, 1999. Print.
National Center for Education Statistics. Literacy in Everyday Life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. Washington, DC, 2007.
Pattison, Robert. On Literacy: The Politics of the Word from Homer to the Age of Rock. Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York, Toronto, Melbourne, 1982.
Rose, Mike. Lives on the Boundary: The Struggles and Achievements of America's Underprepared. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1999. Print.
Watson, Dwight. Reading the World: Supporting the Functional Literacy Abilities of Urban Learners.
www.education.wisc.edu/.../dwightWatson-Readingtheworld.pdf
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