discussion #2

According to Szwed, the five elements of literacy are text, context, function, participants, and motivation. Reading motivation varies depending on the person and the content that they’re reading. Reading motivation factors can include the types of topics, time spent, boredom, reasons why they have to read. Most people would rather read something that interests them, rather than read something that they have no interest in becomes boring and may discourage them.

Szwed recommends using the studying method of ethnography. He believes that this way helps to understand the culture and background of the study. The purpose is to gain an understanding of a certain group of people and to see their point of views.

When Szwed writes, “we must come to terms with the lives of people without patronizing them” means that we shouldn’t belittle a certain group of people because of the way they do things, rather see from their point of view of why they do things the way they do.

If I were a teacher at a high school in the Bronx teaching literacy, using Szwed’s advice I would take my classes outside to conduct a study of how certain people do things. For example, we could go to the park and observe how children play together, like their personalities and their preferences.

According to Elizabeth Baker, the sociocultural perspective of literacy is that social gathering and cultural is needed to encourage sociocultural literacy. The four characteristics of literacy that Baker suggests we use are semiotic, public, transitory, and product oriented.

I learned that literacy is the ability to read and write, while orality is verbal communication rather than using writing as communication. Orality is mostly used in communities where literacy is not taught.

In the TED Talk by John Trischitti, he explains how he was brought up in a low-income family, single parent household and how he wasn’t the best student, but he read. He explained that most people coming from homes with those factors have low literacy. By him being literate and was able to turn his life around has helped him become successful and not just a statistic.

Literacy standards are created to help students to meet their literacy levels and challenges. These can include reading, writing, listening and language skills.