Literacy Demands in the Contemporary English Classroom

Personal Statement

As an educator, I am constantly concerned about improving the effectiveness of education sessions. Why, because I believe that without an effective mode of delivery and learning the curriculum may be of no use. One of the literacy demands that I believe to be effective for the Austrian Curriculum is collaborative learning, the method allows for synchronization of interpretation of a literal work. Another literacy demand is technology; some of the educative technology prove to be more effective literacy in delivery than the traditional approaches. I will use the Four Resources Model to evaluate, an effective application of the model help in delivery approach.

Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning is an approach to learning and teaching that allows students to explore the literal content together. They explore the material to create a meaningful content. A group of student exploring the content in face-to-face learning or with the aid of internet is an example of collaborative learning. In order for a collaborative learning to be an effective means of passing knowledge, the Four Resource Model must be in play. The learners must exhibit the four roles of an effective learning; these are code breaking, text participation, text user and textual analysis. Taking for instance when learning from a chart on the rate of global warming, the learners must be in a position to decode the symbols used to present the information. Whether chart uses letters or graphics, the learners must understand what each symbol means independently (ACARA, 2017a). The same applies when learning from illustrations such as signboards and contexts presented in the form of an image. The figure below shows how the role of a code breaker when deciphering information from a chart applies. For instance, the students need to understand what these images mean; the symbols and the textual content, in a collaborative learning, student decode the codes as a group and come up with a uniform understanding. The student employs their backgrounds and experiences to understand the content of a literal work. As learners interact with the texts, they might arrive at areas that require input from the teacher. In collaborative learning, a student from two different backgrounds may have a completely different interpretation of the same content. Some of the challenges encountered in such instance include new vocabulary, new symbols, and slang; Students are able to reach a unifying point in a collaborative learning with much ease, this help in the unification of knowledge contained in the Curriculum. Being aware of text content and the author intended to use the symbol to pass information is critical to the understanding of the literal work. Knowing that people can read the recipe in different ways compels the author or the teacher to take into consideration. The Australian Curriculum favors the unification of content; it is possible to create a uniform understanding of content through collaborative learning since each student makes an input to the interpretation (ACARA, 2017a). For instance, when reading a recipe book, some readers may only be interested in the ingredients and leave out the procedure, whichever approach use makes learning incomplete. However, collaborative learning provides multiple views of the same thing thus complementing each other to achieve complete learning. At the use stage, the reader may ask a question such as what is the purpose of the texts and symbol, how is the presentation, what I should use it for and the many interpretations. The three facts of learning English in Australian curriculum include language, literacy, and literature (ACARA, 2017a). Students in the lower grades must learn certain skills that aid the application of the three literacy areas. In the processes of learning language, students must go through the process of reading and viewing of literal work, writing and speaking and listening. Under reading and viewing, the learners must acquire skills related to how different author use language or graphics to make meaning, they also identify a feature of all language platforms that enhance their readability. The curriculum focus on making sure that students understand the use of language. The literacy requirement at reading and viewing stage is the identification and explanation of how the literal work makes meaning, its characteristics and consideration that the author employ (Ludwig, 2003). Finally, they must understand how language becomes cohesive, meanings, application of language tools. The result is the development of a comprehensive understanding of English. With the aid of collaborative learning, primary students can take advantage of the diversity manifested by each of them to come assist in the learning of language, the reading and viewing stage will often feature students ascribing to a different meaning of the same elements of language, this diversity impedes communication. The Australian curriculum focuses on the unification of literal work and the generation of a communion meaning to literal work regardless of the author (ACARA, 2017b).

Technology

Technology is becoming a fundamental part of Australian curriculum, its application in learning traverse all the areas. One of the features that make technology and important literacy demand is its diversity, ease of access and nitrous application (Seely et al, 2014). With technological improvements in all sectors, learning of language must respond. At early stages of education, focus in on helping the students to acquire knowledge that facilitates learning at higher levels, introduction to technology is therefore important. In most cases, the language used over forms of technology is neither universal nor hold regular meaning, but conveys information that only those with knowledge of such technology can understand. At the core of content description of Australian curriculum under viewing and reading is that the students must be able to understand the online text, navigation, links and graphics, all these are new dimensions brought into education with global advancements that tend to bring all cultures together. Technology as a literacy demand agrees with the Four Resource Model in learning and teaching. According to the four-resource model, learning of language, whether reading and viewing, writing or speaking and listening, it begins with the ability of the learner to decode the meaning of the symbols (ACARA, 2017a). Whether texts, graphics or symbols on an online page, it is critical that students can identify each code, this is the code breaker stage of learning the language. Symbols or text carry different meaning depending on how the author uses such them. The curriculum requires developing the ability to go beyond just the ability to classify the content of an online page, but also go deeper into understanding the context of its application. Technological devices offer an easy way to teach different application of symbols, graphics, text, and the corresponding meaning than the traditional approaches to learning the language. After breaking the code, the learners can go into the second stage of the four resource model, they can place the information into context depending on their life experience, while the interpretation may be diverse, it is essential that students are in a position to give meaning to the literal work, this satisfies the literature part of language. Understanding of literacy also improves at the text user role, being is text used is the condition of awareness on the how the author used the text and possible meaning that the audience can derive from the literal work (Ludwig, 2003). Knowing that a symbol can carry different meaning under varied context allows the author of the text to create an environment that assists the audience to pick the right meaning. Students ask questions such as what is the purpose of the text, graphic or symbol and how does it apply to the context of its creation. When students can develop their own literal work and convey meaning, then they satisfy the writing goal outlined in the curriculum. Such abilities also mean that learner’s literacy skills are satisfactory and can proceed to higher levels of learning. The final stage according to the Four-Resource Model is the text analysis role. At this stage, learners can employ their knowledge to analyze a literal work by identifying bias or asking questions about its authenticity. Good performance at the fourth resource is a manifestation of literacy (Ludwig, 2003). At the completion of all stages, the learners are ready to learn complex content.

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