The Role of Language in the Process of Learning
Abstract
This paper provides some review and analysis on the role of language, literacy and math in the content instruction of high school students in a mathematically challenged educational setting of most schools at present. It will give light on the current issues and problems confronted by the American educational system particularly the issue on the declining literacy rate among American adolescent. Discussions regarding the diverse cultural orientation of most of the high school students, the means and measures applied at present to evaluate and assess the learning capacity and behavior of students and the implications of previous studies delivered to the people in the academe are also presented in this academic endeavor.
Introduction
A number of current articles from different journals have pointed out interesting arguments regarding the issues on language, literacy and math among high school students in the existence of cultural diversity in the education environment. The declining literacy level among the youth is a common concern at present among educators, policy-makers and parents alike. The significance of assessing the performance and learning capacity of adolescents prove its importance on the future of the every student today and the consequent effects it will bring to the overall well-being of the country.
The investigation is geared towards the collection of information regarding the current dilemmas and problems that the education system faces at present, the formulation of a full-blown research activity that will contribute to the understanding of the public issues in the education system and the subsequent solutions it could provide for the necessary improvements. The purpose of the paper is to provide development among adolescents for them to understand, learn and exhaust their potential as students through effective and efficient teaching techniques and methods. This, hopefully, will be able to contribute in the betterment of the whole educational set up and understanding of cultural differences in the American society.
Review of Related Literature
Intense debates about literacy education are long been issues of social importance with its normal wide media coverage. In these debates, we have frequently heard from politicians, policy makers, members of the community, key media representatives, and language educators. Yet the voice that has been largely absent from these debates has been that of teachers. Surprisingly, we have very little recorded findings of what is actually happens in schools and the stakes of teachers regarding literacy education.
In the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, an article entitled Teachers’ Voices, Teachers’ Practices: Insider Perspectives on Literacy Education by Jennifer Hammond and (2001) reported on the outcomes of a research project completed during 1998-1999. The objectives of the study include: to learn more about what is actually going on in the teaching of English in primary schools; to learn more of the ways in which teachers are negotiating competing priorities; to examine how teachers generally are `taking up’ debates about literacy education; to identify the theories that inform their teaching practices; to find out how they are responding to literacy curricula; and to inquire on how they are developing and implementing literacy programs. The project searched to learn more about teachers’ views on a range of topics that are relevant to literacy education: their views on the value (or otherwise) of teaching knowledge about language; the value of teaching grammar (and which kind of grammar); and the kinds of teaching practices they employ in order to go about teaching knowledge about language, including grammar. It also sought to learn about the teachers’ views on the kinds of basic and more advanced competences required by students to meet the communication demands of the twenty-first century; and the extent to which they feel confident in their own knowledge of these competences as well as their ability to teach them. The project involved the completion of a written survey by 126 teachers working in 21 states, 10 independent and 10 Catholic primary schools. The project was restricted to Sydney schools, and only teachers in Years 3 and 5 were asked to participate for practical reasons. Efforts were made to ensure that the selected schools were representative of the range of schools that exist in Sydney. The results provide strong evidence that teachers believe they need to teach literacy “explicitly and systematically” as their students need intervention if they are to be equipped to read and write effectively across the curriculum. Teachers identified explicit teaching about literacy which involves text types and language across the curriculum in combination with skills based approaches as most useful. A consistent refrain in teachers’ survey responses was that their teaching practices were developed in response to students’ needs and therefore, often varied so what worked for one group would needs to be modified for another. Teachers have always drawn on available approaches and methodologies in creative and thoughtful ways that enable them to address the specific needs of the students with whom they work. As a result, their teaching practices are really more eclectic than many of their survey responses suggested. According to the respondents, the survey questions forced them to make choices that they felt did not fully represent the complexity of what they do as teachers. The study further reported that in the current educational context, it is important to recognize the significance of the teachers’ responses, to revisit issues of diversity, and to consider what diversity means for program development and teaching practices in real-life classrooms. The study concluded that teachers are clearly concerned with the ways in which they can draw on theories and methodologies in order to teach effectively to meet the specific and often diverse needs of the students with whom they work. From teachers’ perspectives, current policy initiatives appear to be overly preoccupied with assessment and reporting of literacy standards, and insufficiently concerned with teaching. In addition, policy priorities through their emphasis on large-scale assessment and national reporting systems appear to ignore the fact that Australian school populations are diverse and that the reality of teachers’ lived experiences in the classroom is that diversity is a very real issue in school education. Therefore, according to the teachers, policy makers would do well to recognize what this diversity means in the classroom by taking into account that different groups of students have different needs that require different kinds of literacy programs. Policy would also do well to recognize that diversity means that literacy development does not consist of a single developmental path for all students.
Claire M. Wyatt-Smith (2000) in the article entitled Exploring the Relationship between Large-Scale Literacy Testing Programs and Classroom-Based Assessment: A Focus on Teachers’ Accounts, inquired into the balancing of instructional-measurement goals in the practice of education; the playing-out of the goals in classrooms, especially in relation to issues of diversity, equity and inclusive curriculum; the understanding of the relationship between state-based standardized literacy testing programs in Years 3, 5 and 7 and the routine classroom assessments under the control of the teacher as well as the possibilities for congruence between the two; and the nature and function of teacher judgment and standards in these different assessment approaches. The remainder of the paper presents the findings of a study that addressed these issues of interest by examining teachers’ classroom-based assessment practices and their spoken accounts, recorded in interviews, of being involved with the state-based literacy testing program in Queensland. Seven teachers from three schools participated in the study. The three schools selected were all part of Education Queensland’s Special Program Schools Scheme, a Commonwealth-funded, state-administered program designed to measurably improve literacy and numeric outcomes for educationally disadvantaged students, including students from low socio-economic backgrounds. All three schools catered for students from Years 1 to 7 and had state pre-schools attached. Additionally, all three schools had a high proportion of students whose main language spoken at home was not English. Other noteworthy characteristics of the student population at School 2, identified by the teachers themselves, were the high turnover of students at the school and the high proportion of students with identified learning difficulties. The study found out that the education community needs to be clear about the purposes of various assessment programs and how the purposes of such programs relate to one to the other by effectively using teacher judgment to investigate and examine the links between the school assessment program and the standard test program. There is also a need to invest in teacher judgment training through professional development programs focusing sharply on assessment and through system support mechanisms including those provided through internal and external moderation networks. The testing programs themselves can be used as a professional development opportunity by feeding back to schools not only quantitative reports, but also reports about the features of good assessment task design at various year levels. Finally, there is a need to be mindful that all assessment activities are contextualized and value-laden. In conclusion, the challenge for the educational community is to ward off divergent priorities and goals of key education stakeholders focusing instead on providing support for the long-term professional development change necessary to effect actual pedagogical change and improved outcomes. Teachers must be key players in instigating, developing, implementing and reviewing systems of assessment reform and as all teachers know only too well, assessment procedures, of themselves, do not necessarily lead to improvement.
A review of relevant literature on the relationship between literacy and identity reveals that relationship is two-way or bidirectional: Identity mediates the process of becoming literate and the types of literate behaviors that one subsequently engages in, while literacy education also influences and shapes an individual’s sense of identity (Feldman, 1990). The relationship is explicitly connected to issues of math as well. In an ethnographic study that examined the implementation of a multiethnic literature curriculum in two urban 10th-grade classrooms, Athanasius (1998) found that students often experienced a heightened sense of pride and identity validation when identifying mathematically with people and events within literary works. It is apparent that the relationship between literature and students’ cultural worlds needs to be further explored (Rosenblatt, 1995) and that detailed analysis of students’ written and oral responses to their readings of multiethnic literature clearly illustrates the need to examine additional promising contexts in which literacy can foster students’ thinking about issues related to literature, math, and identity.
Sana Visa (2004) in the article entitled Exploring Bicultural Identities of Asian High School Students through the Analytic Window of a Literature Club: Literacy Activities Supported Bicultural Identity-Making Processes in an after School Asian Literature Club focused his study on Asian American high school students’ expressions of identity in the context of an after-school literature club which served as an analytic window into students’ bicultural identity-making processes in addition to being a “safe place” where students could discuss issues related to home and school discontinuities. He examined the relationship between literacy (i.e., reading, writing, oral discussion, and media literacy) and identity in the setting of an after-school literature club for high school students of Asian descent specifically on the role of literacy in supporting students’ processes of bicultural identity making between their home and school worlds, given that participation in these two contexts might lead to the development of discontinuities in their daily lives. The study involved 7 high school students who were interested in exploring Asian cultural issues and stated in preliminary interviews that they liked to read literature and express themselves in writing. Three of the girl students were considered “core participants,” as they attended club meetings consistently over a period of four and a half months. The others, including all of the male participants, were more peripheral participants, and their attendance at club meetings was inconsistent. The research site was a public high school in an upper middle class suburb in the state of Michigan. This suburb is located near a large state university, and so a vast majority of students at the school are affiliated with the university through parents or older siblings. Students of Asian descent make up 7% of the total student population at this particular high school, which is 86% European American. The results of the study indicated that participation in literacy activities helped shed light on students’ bicultural identity-making processes. Literacy activities provided some insight on students’ personal interpretations and beliefs, particularly when students placed themselves in certain characters’ roles or attempted to understand characters’ intentions by analyzing their actions and behaviors. Literacy activities also served as an analytic window into students’ personal decisions and choices, which became evident in the meaningful connections they made between literacy activities and their experiences with family members, personal relationships, and the world at large. Furthermore, Visa concluded the importance of encouraging students to make personal connections to literature that they read both within and outside of formal school settings and that the use of literature proved to be an effective means for learning about students’ identity choices and decisions. It is likely that without the use of literature as a window, uncovering students’ identity-making experiences would have been a more challenging process.
Discussion
According to recent U.S. census reports, while the population of the United States increased by 10%, the population speaking languages other than English at home increased by 38% between 1980 and 1990. Furthermore, one in six of all youth in the United States, ages 14 to 19, either speaks a language other than English at home, was born in a foreign country, or both (Waggoner, 1999). America has always been known to be a country that places great value to education as an important characteristic in maintaining the democracy being upheld by their Constitution. The significance of education has long been hailed through the innovations in science and technology pioneered in the United States by its intellectual citizens. The traits shared in general by Americans such as the value they place on urgency and efficiency, directed their thinking to the liberal and radical principles of dealing with their everyday life struggle. Being individualist made the people of America to place importance to the concept of independence which is evident in their family structure at the same time advocating the relevance of individual freedom.
It is apparent from the reviewed literature that literacy assessment employed by educational institutions should be contextualized due to the diverse cultural environment among schools. In classroom interactions, math plays a significant role in the learning process of the students. The diversity that exist in schools cannot be put aside as an important variable in the literacy skills of the students, how they are able to cope with their surroundings, their lessons and their aptitude and openness to be educated. Evaluation student performance based on standardized test programs across the states should be examined thoroughly so as to give valid and reliable data that reflect the real education setting that teachers and students experience. The opinions and role of teachers should be given importance in dealing with issues that beset the educational community for they alone have the full picture of what is happening within the walls of the classroom. The integration of language, literacy and content instruction for better learning environment should be maintained in the education system. Teachers and the whole of the educators’ league should recognize this aspect in pursuing educational setting in schools so as to foster conducive learning as well as teaching environment to students and teachers alike.
Educational Implications
For the teachers and other people in the academe, the results of the reviewed articles should be a constant reminder to the subsequent steps and measures that will be applied and implemented in the schools in relation to the consequences brought by changes in the educational system. Instructors should be sensitive enough in dealing with every student due to differences in cultural orientation by conceptualizing better means on how to exhaust the learning abilities and capacity of the students incorporating teaching materials that students can relate and incorporate themselves to. They should also realize the significant role they play in the continuous development and improvement of the educational environment in the country by taking their stance on issues that are best dealt by educators rather than the involvement of politics.
For the students in the school, it is always important to be open to new ideas and skills being provided by teachers. Taking part and contributing on the studies that can provide improvements in the education system of the country for the betterment of the future social community should be emphasized among students. Their role as successors of the future society should be realized and inculcated early on. Recognizing the importance of education not just a means of completing a stage in this existence but by realizing the advantages and added value that learning provides to each individual should be a motivation and driving force to become a person worthy of appreciation in the future.
This paper should enlighten the individuals who are interested in pursuing a career in education and upholding quality and literate youth for them to be productive and ideal citizens of the country in the future. The issues that were presented in the paper should be fully considered as part of the challenge in their entrance to the education system. The inevitable problems that are confronted at present which are in need of immediate acknowledgement and solution should be considered as noble goal among future educators.
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