Essay Example on Literacy Skills: A Key to Success and Quality of Life

Introduction

Literacy skills help individuals succeed in life in their careers and improve the quality of their life. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, literacy is the ability to read and write. I, however, believe scholarship is more than just being able to read and write. According to Read (2006), literacy is the ability to use written information in our daily activities. The scholarship has a significant impact on how people think, work, and fit in society. Literacy helps individuals to communicate through reading and writing. Literacy is a fundamental tool for success and improvement of life and culture. Because of these benefits, there is a need to invest in effective methods to teach literacy skills to young learners so that they can engage fully in the society and learning activities using different forms of language and range of texts useful and valuable to the society. With the changing styles of communication, and the sharing of information, modern principles of teaching and assessment apply to young learners. This document will assess the policies that are needed to teach young learners literacy skills effectively. Literacy teachers require exceptional teaching and assessment principles to influence the literacy skills of young learners.

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Teaching and Assessment Principles for Young Learners

Pleasant And Relaxed Atmosphere

The schools need to create an environment that makes young learners feel comfortable and happy to be in. This environment will motivate the learners by reducing the anxiety related to learning. According to Test et al., (ND), a tense atmosphere lowers the motivation of the student by making them anxious, thus affecting their learning process. The teachers should create a positive environment in which the students feel free to share their ideas. The class should be a community of learners through which the students have shared goals, needs, and concerns. Each young student will cooperate and collaborate with others to achieve their goals. Young learners in this type of atmosphere develop a positive attitude on learning activity and develop a great sense of self-confidence. The atmosphere also includes the use of appropriate resources and materials for literacy learning. Posters and leaflets assist the learners in doing certain activities and reducing the conflicts between learners and teachers.

Attractive Presentation of Tasks

Young learners in Emirati will develop practical literacy skills if their attention is in the tasks the teachers are presenting. One of the best ways to perform tasks, according to Aldabbus (2012), is by the use of activities that the learners love. The job should, however, be meaning-focused so that the learners can use their existing resources to learn. Teachers can attract the learner's attention using videotapes, games, and other activities so that the learners can have a positive attitude towards work. This manner of task presentation will also break the routine that the learners expect from their teachers, thus reducing the chances of becoming bored. According to Read (2006), learning activities should be enjoyable and fun, which can only occur when the learners are interested and motivated.

Scaffolding

This teaching principle involves the collaboration of young learners to more knowledgeable partners, such as parents and guardians. The partner helps the learners to complete tasks when the teachers are not around. The learners can easily access these partners, thus making the learning process continues, whether in school or at home. The more the young learners are engaged, the more they can develop literacy skills. For example, a parent can help children in matching a sound with the word that describes that sound (Morrow, 2005). These partners should not give differing information from the teacher to avoid confusing the learners. Scaffolding can also be useful to a parent and teachers to assess the literacy levels of their children while they are learning. The challenges that the students face emerge through scaffolding. For example, through scaffolding, the teacher can read aloud, demonstrating how a good reader should read. The parent can also assist the students in reading words that are difficult for the students.

Adopting Technology to the Classroom

Technology has led to the development of new ways to read and write through the use of words, images, and sound. The improve the teaching activities in Emirati, the teachers should use modern information and communication technologies such as word processing, video cams, and networking sites. The young learners can learn new ways of communicating through reading and writing through the use of digital technology (Aldabbus, 2012). The importance of using technology in literacy classes is to enable the students to use the materials available to them to learn. The teachers should, however, ensure that the themes and topics are on the same level as the students. Technological elements allow the teachers to maximize the resources and materials available to them. I believe Young learners will be more attracted to the content and information provided to them through technology. Young learners will show more attention and improvement in the learning activities through the use of computers and tablets in their learning process.

Frequent Assessment and Evaluation

In determining whether the strategies applied are effective in improving the literacy skills of young learners, a constant assessment would point out issues to be improved. Aldabbus (2012) argues that the evaluation of young learners can be crucial in measuring the learner's knowledge, identifying where needs intervention and can be a platform of allowing the learners to demonstrate their proficiency. Although the students do not welcome much welcome some of the strategies such as tests, the assessments are valid in most cases. I believe standardized reading tests, error analysis methods, and observations are useful to identify problems. Students have, however, different reactions when exposed to tests. Young learners find themselves in tense situations when they realize their literacy skills are being assessed (Wu et al., 2014). There are effective methods such as the use of technology to gamify the reading experience of the students for a quick and easy way of evaluating and monitoring the students.

Conclusion

Literacy skills are developed in the early stages of individuals and play a vital role in their adult life. To sure those young learners have acquired the needed literacy skills, there is a need to adopt principles that are effective in early education. Literacy skills are useful if the teachers will choose policies such as a pleasant environment, present tasks in an attractive manner, connect students to other individuals with knowledge, use technology and assess the skills of the student. Teachers who adopt these principles have a greater impact on the learning experience and future life of young learners than any other teachers. The skills determine how the learners will work and engage in social activities through writing and reading.

References

Aldabbus, S. (2012). Teaching Young Learners: theories and principles. Journal of Education, 1(6). Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/50807029/Teaching_Young_Learners.pdf?response-content-disposition

Morrow, L. M. (2005). Literacy activities for early childhood classrooms-Supplement for literacy development in the early years: Helping children read and write.

Read, C. (2006). Scaffolding children's talk and learning. Current Trends and Future Directions in ELT. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e8a6/6473dd65b9470347e1a0b55b2ec8f1c54a3b.pdf

Test, A., Carlson, C., King, D., & Bender, S. (ND). Creating a Literate Classroom Environment. Retrieved from https://caes.osceolaschools.net/UserFiles/Servers/Server_608213/File/Staff%20Docs/Creating%20a%20Literate%20Classroom%20Environment.pdf

Wu, W. W. Y., Chu, S. K. W., Chan, H., Wong, J., Tse, S. K., Tavares, N. J., & Mok, S. W. S. (2014). Strengthening students' reading comprehension ability (both Chinese and English) through developing children's literature e-quiz banks on the cloud. Paper Presented at 19th International Education and Technology Conference, Hong Kong. Retrieved fromhttps://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c001/b67a4bae8ece657254be1b5cbca7a8eeb908.pdf