Running Head; LITERACY MATTERS 1
Power of Language: Literacy Matters
Melissa Ralls
Los Angeles Pacific University
English 420: Principles of Language
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Twenty first century citizenship is often described as the readiness of youth to enter
college, career roles and civic citizenship. It is the job of our teachers and caregivers to guide
children to help them become informed and actively engaged members of their community.
Literacy is important to shape the future of the world. It allows our communities to stay
economically strong and gives us the opportunity for innovation that could change the world
(Warrick, 2014). For these reasons teachers have a moral obligation to provide their students
with a comprehensive education that strongly develops the students reading and writing abilities.
Language is uniquely human and because studies show there is no such thing as
spontaneous language, adults must make a special investment into the literacy of the children in
their community. A great deal of learning about language and learning to read is actually done
before a child even steps in a classroom. Between infancy and just two years of age, a child goes
from babbling (ba-ba-ba) to telegraphic speech with sentence building capacity (mama go
bye-bye). It is important for caregivers to speak excessively with the baby during this period. By
about three years of age, children are often using inflectional and functional morphemes. It is
important for children to be read to because during this period of life they begin having
phonemic awareness. In this stage adults can have a huge impact on developmental growth, as
children are actively learning from what is said to them and around them (Yule, 2017). As one
might say, children are little sponges. During this time frame children also learn about syntax
and semantics, by forming questions, using negatives and building their vocabulary. Until
children can attend school it is important that they are introduced to a high literacy environment
at home. Caregivers can achieve this by spending time having many conversations with the child
and providing abundant access to literature. They should also limit screen time so that the child
can self soothe which will help them in the classroom.
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Teachers, unfortunately, can not control what a student has or has not learned before
coming into their classroom. Usually by school age children are considered accomplished users
of their first language, however children from lower socio-economic status (SES) hear an
average of 30 million less words than their peers. What this leaves is a large variation in
readiness levels among students. There have been initiatives to help reduce discrepancies, such
as No Child Left Behind, but still the gap is present. In 2009, 21 million American students were
considered functionally illiterate (Biddle, 2011). Those students are more likely to drop out of
school and/or engage in criminal activity in their lifetime thus poorly affecting their community.
Most teachers will face the challenging task of teaching students who are struggling, others who
are learning a second language and some who are excelling in literacy, in the same classroom.
What a teacher can do is create lesson plans that are progressive in nature so that all students can
learn in a constructive way. If students continue to struggle the teacher should implement daily
reading and interactive games like ones found on scholastic.com or pbs.
In Kindergarten students should master print concepts such as understanding what
chapters and indexes are. They should also master areas in phonics, such as knowing all the
sounds letters can make. A teacher can help facilitate these skills by having teacher lead reading
time and asking follow up questions. Teachers of this level should also provide a lot of activities
that give the students a chance to speak. One idea is to assign a student a letter or group of letters
and let them create a presentation to introduce words to their classmates. This can be done on
posters to help writing abilities or digitally to help students learn to use technology.
By second grade students should have an increased understanding surrounding the
concepts of phonemic awareness. Students should be mastering their knowledge of syllables and
elements of morphology, helping them to read larger words. Students should be exposed to
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lessons and activities that help them to understand root words, prefixes and suffixes which will
help them to greatly expand their vocabulary. Teachers should utilize spelling instruction to
continuously demonstrate and practice morphology and decoding skills (Reid Lyon, 1997).
During this learning period an emphasis should be made on pragmatics as that will help students
to utilize context clues and decoding when they encounter new words while reading to assist
them with comprehension. Teachers should ask a lot of reflective questions to allow students to
think complexly about the information they received while reading. Learning about pragmatics
will also teach them about the value of formal, or professional, language. Not everything about
language is as exciting as reading, like learning grammar rules and a way for teachers to aid in
engagement is to create a culture of explanation (Fioriello, P. 2020). It is important for students
to know why what they are learning is important to them and how it applies to real life. This will
help them to feel important in the community and excited about learning. By the end of third
grade students should be fluent in their reading comprehension and vocabulary building skills,
allowing them to focus on other subjects that utilize and strengthen their language skills like
history and science.
Biddle states (2011), “A child who struggles to read is one at risk of becoming an adult
unable to participate meaningfully in society.” What we must take into consideration is that
everyone develops at their own pace. I will strive to have a selection of reading material
available to my students that is fit for many different levels. It is important to remember that if a
student can not read ninety percent of the book themselves they may get frustrated and “hate”
reading, which would be detrimental to their literary growth. I believe the most important thing
is for the student to not give up hope that they can reach their literary goals, even if they are
temporarily struggling. In my classroom I will utilize Class Dojo to include interactive activities
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to improve literacy and their ability to utilize technology. I hope that in my classroom we will be
allowed to have one field trip and one service activity a semester so that I can facilitate my
students finding their place in the community.
Literacy will allow students to gain a broader perspective on life than they could with
their own singular stories, which will help them help their communities. If a student can read and
write well they will grow up with confidence that they have the ability to be productive for their
family and community. They will be able to understand important public announcements, make
smarter health choices, and make informed decisions while voting. These adults are more likely
to stay out of trouble and instead be a solution, perhaps an innovator or a politician. A teacher’s
purpose is to encourage students to become compassionate and productive members of society.
Helping them learn to read is the first and most important step in that direction.
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References
Biddle, R. (2011). The Moral Imperative of Literacy. Retrieved from: The Moral Imperative of
Literacy – Dropout Nation
Fioriello, Dr. P. 2020. 10 Easy Strategies to Engage Students in Every Classroom. School
Resources For Teachers.
https://drpfconsults.com/10-easy-strategies-to-engage-students-in-every-classroom/
Reid Lyon, G. (1997). How Do Children Learn to Read? Retrieved from: How Do Children
Learn to Read? | Reading Rockets
Teach Thought Staff. 2020. Student Engagement: 10 Technology Tools to Engage Students in
the Classroom. Teachthought.com.
https://www.teachthought.com/technology/9-technology-tools-engage-students-classroo
m/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20best%20ways%20to%20engage%20all,universally%2
0accessible%20%28and%20free%29%20methods%20is%20Google%20Forms.
Warrick, T. (2014). 21st Century Education and 21st Century Citizenship. Retrieved from: 21st
Century Education and 21st Century Citizenship | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public
School Insights (learningfirst.org)
