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Xushuo chen
English 1101
Ms. Debarati
02.20.13
The Importance of Literacy
Literacy plays a significant role in the current society. It is even more important in
todays world than it was in the past. Years ago, many people did not know how to
read or write and yet were able to live successful lives. In our own time, the situation
is very different. Without the ability to read and write, it is difficult to succeed.
In the reading, family literacy is considered a multifaceted phenomenon
consisting of a frequency or exposure opportunity, an instruction quality facet, a
parent-child cooperation facet, and a social-emotional quality facet. These are four
important elements which affect family literacy, and then I will discuss their meaning.
First of all, literacy opportunity means that people contact learning opportunity
in the daily life. It is worth mentioning that literacy opportunity could be divided into
literacy opportunities inside the home and outside the home. Literacy opportunities
inside the home, it is characterized by a rich presence of print, media, and other
literacy materials ,then people have chance to con tact with reading and writing in
this positive literacy environment. Literacy opportunities outside the home which
mean people can go shopping centers, the library, bookstores, and through a variety
of media, such as flyers and computers. Moreover, the literacy instruction means
instructional strategies, such as procedural utterances, pointing, and explaining
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during parent. What is noticeable is that Yangs parents unique instructional
practices, rooted in their Chinese cultural background, including explicit instructions
using bilingual word lists, worksheets, and rote-learning approaches. For example, his
parents made bilingual word lists in both Chinese and English from some childrens
books they borrowed from public. Yang need to read, memorized, recited, and
copied all the words every day. Furthmore, literacy cooperation means that people
learn something through work with other people. For example, yang had a special
activity-mother-son talk which help yang practice English and dont feel boring in
the process. The last but not least, socio-emotional quality means that people
learning attitude and mentality in the school and outside. For example, plenty of
reasons influence Yangs socio-emotional well-being, such as his limited
English-language ability, his familys social integration, and more significantly, the
cultural differences between home and school became more prominent indicators of
his socio-emotional disposition relative to his literacy learning.
These facts are very meaningful for literacy. I can find that my parents provided
many literacy opportunities to me when I recall my memories of my childhood. They
bought multiple of cartoon story books to let me know the words. There is a world
map which is my parents bought specially on my wall; therefore, they hope I can
build my world outlook in my mind as soon as possible. Secondly, my parents used
the traditional literacy instructions strategies in my childhood. When I acquire new
words, they require me to copy each new word a few times. It is worth mentioning
that my father had been a soldier for a few years so he always required me to write
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criticism text when I made mistakes. Further, my parenting hope that I can build the
students self - study ability and still keep enthusiasm to learn new knowledge. If they
have free time, they will play game with me. For example, they bought the flag of
toys when I was a child, then we answer this is which countrys flag. Addition,
socio-emotional quality is an important element in my home literacy. My parents
think that it is not right for people to shut off from society. My parents told me that I
need to integrate into society as soon as possible. If my school has some activities or
summer camp, my parents will require me to participate in them absolutely.
Our society is much more open and people can choose the career that they want
to pursue. However, many careers are now closed to those who are not literate.
Moreover, literacy is necessary in daily life, no matter what ones occupation is. The
education is widely available, but one needs the ability to read and write in order to
pursue it. And finally, a man who is not literate in our society is looked down upon
and will rarely earn others respect no matter how good he is at other things.For all
of these reasons, I believe that the ability to read and write is more important now
than ever.