Essay Example on Literacy: A Lifetime Learning Process Essential to Education

Literacy is a critical element in assessing the education level of any individual. People have different opinions on literacy; whereby some argue that it is the ability of reading and writing, while others claim that it is a process of learning for the rest of someone's entire life. Moreover, literacy entails listening, speaking, and the ability to calculate and use technology. It also entails making decisions, expressing thoughts and ideas, and solving problems. Teaching and assessing literacy to young Emirati Learners is essential in their lives. It enables them to succeed in all aspects of life because they can make the right decisions and solve arising problems.

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Literacy-rich surrounding plays an essential role in learners since it enables them to engage in activities that facilitate the growth of language and literacy. It allows students to have a great understanding of communication, whether written or oral (Ross, 2019). Exploring different reading materials enables students to acquire new knowledge and ideas and be conscious of print surrounding them. The print-based environment enables young learners to understand oral language and manipulate it into written communication (Foo et al., 2017). A productive environment provides students with knowledge of using symbols and a great understanding of its meaning. It is essential to assess their literacy by prompting them to use logos to communicate, for instance, making markings on their documents to signify ownership.

Engaging the young learners on activities that they will touch will facilitate the learning process. Hands-on activities will enable learners to understand and remember the content they have been taught as this psyches up the learning process minimizing boredom. Using hands to carry out activities enables students to think outside the box and utilize well their learning abilities (Sowa, 2018). Engaging students on activities leads to a better understanding of content as they do not entirely depend on imaginations. Assessing their literacy skills will involve giving out tests that can be tackled by the use of hands.

The world is evolving in terms of technology hence demanding the use of technology in class settings to increase students' motivation and excitement, leading to a better understanding. Literacy skills in young learners will be facilitated by the use of computer technology since it increases students' fluency and vocabulary. Through technology, learners acquire dependency skills and develop the ability to learn from their mistakes. Literacy skills can be assessed by giving out technology-based questions to gauge their understanding.

Different learners have differing intelligence, and they use one or two of those bits of knowledge. When students utilize their skills, they usually become motivated, and this encourages them to learn more. It is, therefore, crucial for teachers to use skills and methods that match their students' strengths. The teachers should understand well the weaknesses of their students and use strategies that satisfy their understanding capabilities. For instance, teachers can play songs to help young learners understand. Assessing their literacy skills will involve the use of these teaching methods.

Learners have different understanding capabilities, and so teaching them different is highly beneficial. The language experience method entails teaching each learner to read words that are different from the other (Dillon & Gallagher, 2019). The reason is that different children have exposure to separate terms, and hence, it is easier for a learner to learn familiar words. This method of teaching enables teachers to use words that a learner is familiar with by creating unique stories. Additionally, this method is effective in enhancing learners' ability to understand the reading. This method is essential since, through continuous use of it, the young Emirati Learners are provided with the required literacy skills, which mark the beginning of developing literacy skills.

In this method, learners are taught how to read words. Learners learn to pronounce words by recognizing and comprehending how they are written. In this method, familiar names are provided, then used in short sentences, and later incorporated in long sentences. This method is so effective since it instills an automatic way of learners knowing the words. It is good to expose children to concepts since they will automatically read them, neglecting unfamiliar words. Young Emirati Learners usually like this method since it is not easy to forget the pronunciation of words, and so given storybooks and other reading materials, they can read the terms which they can comprehend.

A phoneme is an essential part of a word that has a meaning. Sounds are transformed into letters and a combination of letters from words; this occurs mostly in alphabetic language (O'Brien et al., 2018). The phonics approach is useful since it enables learners to decode words into sounds, facilitating reading. It allows learners to break words into sounds and transform sounds into letters. Eventually, the messages are then put together to form words. This approach is one of the effective methods of teaching literacy skills in children. In this method, young Emirati learners use songs like an alphabetical song to know and read letters. The plans, together with a combination of other ways, enable young Emirati learners to develop literacy skills.

Identify Skills

Assessment enables teachers to identify skills that young learners have acquired. It provides essential information on the skills learners have acquired and the ones they have not yet mastered. Since students have different learning abilities, through assessment, teachers know their level of expertise. Young Emirati learners have different understanding skills, and thorough evaluation, it is possible to identify the skills they have acquired. This strategy is beneficial for both teachers and learners.

Master Learners Progress

Assessment enables teachers to have a deep understanding of their students' progress. A teacher can know which learner needs a recap before attempting to cover extra content. The teacher can also know learners who have understood the previous content and are ready to tackle additional content. It is possible to comprehend young Emirati learners' progress through assessment and do the necessary way.

Know the Effectiveness of Instructions

Information acquired from assessment enables teachers to know how practical guidelines they have been providing to their students are. Information learned would allow teachers to provide the learners with appropriate instructions and allocate the best time for giving the instructions (Al Jefri & Areepattamannil, 2019). Through assessment, young Emirati learners can be provided with the right information and those who have no understanding allotted more time for teaching.

References

Al Jefri, H. M., & Areepattamannil, S. (2019). Examining the relations of early literacy activities and skills to reading dispositions, engagement, and achievement among fourth-grade students in the United Arab Emirates. Social Psychology of Education, 22(4), 901-920.Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/education/A-Strategic-Approach-to-Education-and%20Skills-Policies-for-the-United-Arab-Emirates.pdf

Dillon, A. M., & Gallagher, K. (2019). The Experience of Co-Teaching for Emergent Arabic-English Literacy. The Qualitative Report, 24(7), 1556-1576.Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol24/iss7/4/

Foo, S., Majid, S., & Chang, Y. K. (2017). Assessing information literacy skills among young information age students in Singapore. Aslib Journal of Information Management. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317127460_Assessing_Information_Literacy_Skills_Among_Young_Information_Age_Students_in_Singapore

O'Brien, G. E., McCloy, D. R., Kubota, E. C., & Yeatman, J. D. (2018). Reading ability and phoneme categorization. Scientific reports, 8(1), 1-17.Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-34823-8

Ross, A. (2019). Teaching and assessing for information literacy learning: A united Arab emirates case study (Doctoral dissertation, Queensland University of Technology).Retrieved from https://eprints.qut.edu.au/132446/

Sowa, P. A. (2018). Sifting Through Shifting Sands: Confronting the Self in Teaching Bilingual Emirati Preservice Teachers', Self-Study of Language and Literacy Teacher Education Practices (Advances in Research on Teaching, Volume 30).Retrieved from https://emeraldinsight.com/resources/pdfs/chapters/9781787545380-TYPE23-NR2