Recently I read an article written by Joanne Rooney entitled “Teaching two Literacies,” which was published in March, 2009 in the Educational Leadership. I found the article to be very interesting because she really made me consider the issue of “throwing away the baby with the bathwater.” The baby here refers to the mastery of traditional skills, while the bathwater refers to the acquirement of non-traditional ways of gathering information and communicating instruction such as blogs, wikis, text messaging, Facebook, chat rooms etc.
She centred her attention on teenagers, to whom the new digital age seems to have the greatest lure and expressed the hope that in addition to reading blogs, instant messaging, and other digital technologies, that teenagers would also “relish such experiences as reading a great book, writing a personal letter, or memorizing a poem.”
Such hope stemmed from her belief that although the ways in which we read and communicate may be changing, “the ability to understand, use, and appreciate the written word remains the core quality of an educated person.” She therefore surmised that schools should incorporate the new technologies but insist on mastery of traditional skills. This she refers to as the “Teaching of two Literacies”
Ms. Rooney did not leave the matter there but proceeded to enumerate 3 ways in which this could be done, namely:
1) Continue to encourage students to relish good books, cherish the beauty of expressive writing, and communicate through powerful (and correct) language. Hence “How r u feeln?” must be outlawed.
2) “Redefine” literacy and abandon some archaic teaching methods such as using textbooks as the primary source of information and others.
3) Principals and teachers alike must be adamant about teaching, reading, writing, and thinking in schools.
What do you think?
(Picture retrieved from Bing Images)
An article written by Friess (2003) in the USA Today daily newspaper highlighted some of the same concerns that you have highlighted in your article. Friess stated that teenagers spend approximately 12 hours per week online reading and writing. The Chronicle, another American Newspaper in 2009 quoted Mark Bauerlein as saying, “It is a paradox. Why is it that with young people reading and writing more words than ever before in human history, we find no gains in reading and writing scores?” Other scholars go on to say that the writing styles of teenagers are now “stylistically impoverished” and this is a direct result of the Internet and its unique lingo. However, this topic is highly debatable because some scholars believe that the new writing is more engaged and more connected to an audience while others believe that tweets and blogs encourage bad writing habits and have very little to do with the sustained, focused argument that academic work requires. What I believe is that children should be taught the dynamics of formal writing and when it should be used. The shortcuts used in text messaging etc serve its purpose and have their place but should never be encouraged in formal writings. Students should be able to deftly shift between both just like formal English and dialect.
ReplyDeleteThere wil be always be debate about traditional teaching literacies and new literacies but I belive that both can work in tandem. So I say NO don't throw away the baby with the bath water. The educators responsibilities are manifold and yet we are asked to include in the curriculum so many irrelevant concepts. I heard that Spanish is on borad in the primary school curriculum come 2014. Imagine trying to teach in a multiliterate, special needs environment with the addition of a second language. The educator has to make sensible decisions and offer opportunities for successs rather than focus on the challenges.
ReplyDeleteHi Avril
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed reading your blog as the posts have been very interesting and the design refreshing on the senses.
I have coined my own terminology: Literacy 1.0 to refer to traditional reading and writing and Literacy 2.0 to refer to the new literacies that involve digital tools.I believe the two literacies build upon each other and need to be taught in an integrated manner.
The debate is similar to the one we had about the teaching of creole and standard english. some teachers deny the importance of creole although our students use it and we use it--the students are native speakers of creole and the standard english should be taught as a second language.
The same applies to traditional and digital literacies--our students are digital natives, they use it all the time and we to a limited extent do so also, so we need to teach traditional literacy as though it is a second literacy.
Strange thing.. I told my brother about the Kindle and iBook that Aisha Showed us in class. Of course I was adamant that I must have one. My brother, on the other hand, simply said... 'Nothing can replace the real thing'.Your post brought that back to my mind. Our struggling and reluctant readers may jump into the technology and completely forget about reading books for pleasure.
ReplyDeleteI have students who write text lingo in their essays and even speak in text language to their friends. Even if we use these technologies, they must not outshine the purpose of our lessons.