Abstract
In today’s world, it becomes ever clearer that literacy is a vital skill that people must possess in order to find success as an adult. Particularly in the twenty-first century, advanced literacy is important to navigating the increasingly text-based world in which we live. Most people spend more and more time communicating with people online via instant messaging and text messages, and receive their information through written articles and social media, than ever before. To that end, the problems we currently experience with illiteracy, particularly in the United States, must be addressed in a comprehensive and effective manner. America’s problems with literacy can be accomplished by filling the gaps in academic and disciplinary literacy in particular, as individuals who are able to develop the advanced literacy necessary to operate within these parameters are uniquely capable of operating productively in a modern social and technological climate.
The State of Literacy in America – Online Engagement and Poverty as Factors
Despite advances in education, technology and society in the past few decades, the literacy level of non-Hispanic white children has largely remained the same since the 1960s, with Black and Latino children of comparable ages experiencing slight but negligible improvements (Murnane, Sawhill & Snow 4). In a static society with little change, this would not be as alarming, but the American labor market and its level of technology has undergone dramatic changes in the last several years with the advent of the Internet and the rise of social media and smartphones as a primary means of communication, industry and literacy (Murnane, Sawhill & Snow 4). The education and qualification requirements of the job market are consistently increasing, many jobs requiring postsecondary education and training – this leaves illiterate workers with an even greater disadvantage in even getting the most entry-level or low-paying service jobs (Murnane, Sawhill & Snow 4).
In an international context, America is not alone in trying (and failing) to adequately improve literacy standards. For instance, New Zealand’s National Literary Strategy, conducted for the past 15 years, has attempted to improve methods of teaching and literacy instruction for New Zealand’s education system and beyond (Tunmer et al. 1). Chief among these efforts was a Literacy Taskforce that meant to address literacy achievement gaps with students. Despite some improvements, fundamental gaps in learning and achievement were found in the underprivileged (a common problem in many countries facing literacy problems), and most other English-speaking countries compared significantly outperformed New Zealand in literacy (Tunmer et al. ii). This is thought to be due to the failings in constructivist approaches toward literacy education, an inability to adequately respond to literate cultural capital differences within schools, and problems inherent to restricting teachers’ work in the first year of literacy teaching (Tunmer et al. iii). To that end, it is important to note that literacy instruction is an international problem, not one just at the national level, and that similar issues have plagued other education systems in the past.
The Internet and its popularity has led to a distinct need to explore the effect of online social media interactions on literacy. Research indicates that the novel, more innovative nature of the medium and the differences in subject matter discussed have a major impact on the level of interest and dedication to literacy individuals have within these online spheres (Lee & Wu 168). On the Internet, the objects of literacy are typically divided between social entertainment (e.g. fiction, social media, e-books) and information-seeking activities (e.g. online encyclopedias, political information, news, etc.), with most material falling somewhere between these two categories (Lee & Wu 168). According to research, literacy is much stronger for individuals with information-seeking activities than it is in other avenues like social entertainment, and is much more likely to be associated strongly with metacognitive strategies that predict improved reading literacy (Lee & Wu 168).
Metacognition is an important element of literacy, as it allows readers to identify the ways in which they understand their own reading processes (Wu 252). The proliferation of both information-seeking activities and online social entertainment on the Internet creates two distinct worlds of reading in which one group cultivates better, deeper literacy and another does not. This gap in literacy can also be traced along gender lines, particularly online - for instance, research has shown that girls have demonstrated an improved level of metacognitive strategies, printed reading assessment (PRA) skill and navigation skills than boys, who simply had equivalent skills in electronic reading assessment (ERA) (Wu 252). Printed vs. electronic reading have differing levels of metacognitive strategies in order to fully consume and comprehend them, and as such both men and women must be able to cultivate these skills to become full and productive readers. The higher levels of literacy enjoyed by girls over boys is certainly an issue, as it translates to a significant deficit in learning that boys must be able to overcome in order to have an equivalent level of reading proficiency to their female peers.
More importantly than the online and gender gaps, however, is the class gap, which is a significant issue in cultivating illiteracy in America. According to Murnane, Sawhill & Snow (2012), there are telling literacy gaps between privileged and underprivileged American children, which inherently disrupts the “high rates of intergenerational mobility” that are essential to the “American belief in opportunity” (6). Children and adults in poverty have much lower literacy rates than those in the middle and upper classes, which have a direct correlation to their ability to achieve upward social mobility. This unduly hurts American business, economy and social progress; for instance, statistics indicate that low and high income children with equal academic success rates would allow low income children to gain almost 8 percent more income over their careers than they currently do (Murnane, Sawhill & Snow 6). Because of this, it is incredibly important to create conditions in which literacy in all levels of socioeconomic status is facilitated in a comprehensive and effective way.
Advanced and Academic Literacy
Central to the skill set of a successful adult in the United States is a strong command of advanced literacy. Advanced literacy involves not just the elementary skills of reading text and decoding words, but “the ability to use reading to gain access to the world of knowledge, to synthesize information from different sources, to evaluate arguments, and to learn totally new subjects” (Murnane, Sawhill & Snow 3). In order to do this, literacy must be encouraged from a very early age, and therefore requires significant investment in solving child illiteracy. Literacy development has grown more advanced in recent years, requiring a greater understanding of advanced literacy in order to receive an equivalent education that would permit students to not just read, but comprehend, and use their comprehension of literacy objects to achieve social, political and economic ends within American life.
Academic literacy – i.e. the ability students have to read their school-related assignments and literature - is particularly important to instill in early childhood education and within adolescents, and creates its own set of problems. For instance, some major barriers to academic literacy in adolescents include motivation, classroom-related contexts and gaps in achievement – students do not feel appropriately motivated to read, feel stifled in the limited and hierarchical environment of the classroom, and do not get an appropriate sense of fulfillment or achievement from their efforts (Guthrie, Klauda & Morrison 1). In terms of motivation, students often fail to translate whatever temporary interest they have in a written work into long-term motivation that feeds sustained learning (Guthrie, Klauda & Morrison 4). This is due to a gap in understanding between instructors and students as to what the goals, beliefs, dispositions, and values of students are, and finding proper ways to engage with them in an appropriate way.
One major overarching theme of children and young students and their challenges in reading relates to their level of dedication to reading (Guthrie, Klauda & Morrison 14). In essence, the level of “persistence, effort, and time spent reading” is a consistent issue with young people, and a prominent theme in those students who have high levels of academic literacy (14). Dedication is closely related to self-efficacy, or one’s confidence in their own abilities; if students do not feel confident in their ability to read, for instance, they will not be as dedicated to the practice of reading, and therefore will not put in the time and effort needed to achieve literacy (15). This can also come with a deficit in interest, as students who do not see reading as compatible with their long-term goals will not invest effort and persistence in reading as well. As such, the problems of class engagement and dedication, as well as motivation, toward reading must be evaluated in a comprehensive manner in order to properly address these problems.
Potential Solutions to Illiteracy
Addressing these problems mostly requires two major approaches: first, finding ways to comprehensively “prepare students for twenty-first century literacy demands,” and secondly to lower literacy outcome disparities between the privileged and underprivileged (Murnane, Sawhill & Snow 3). The Internet and online education can provide a solution in some ways, with the advent of e-Reading and online educational infrastructures; this can create educational systems that are more affordable and accessible to low-income students, permitting them a high quality education without the intrinsic costs of physical schooling (14).
Guthrie, Klauda, & Morrison (2012) establish several major frameworks that establish methods to improve motivation for academic literacy. Chief among these is self-determination theory, in which student development is encouraged toward embracing the goal or aspiration of reading for its own sake, self-identifying as a reader and consequently governing one’s own reading habits as a way to facilitate pleasure – an inherent motivator (4). This creates an intrinsic motivation for students and adolescents to read, rather than operating in a prescriptive, transactional manner with an authority figure (teachers, parents) which can end up being counterproductive. By tying motivation to achievement in this way, literacy may be able to improve in academic contexts among students.
In order to improve instructional quality in literacy education, Cohen & Bhatt (2012) make several suggestions as well, identifying six major approaches including state/federal reform policies, rebuilding educational infrastructure, expanding knowledge of effective instructional practices, improving teacher education, shifting toward privatized or charter schools and the recent Common Core State Standards. As a matrix, these approaches may be enough to address many of the major problems inherent to literacy education in America. For instance, accountability could be improved through the facilitation of these federal/state standards (such as Common Core) and the greater education and evaluation of literacy teachers. Facilitating high-quality knowledge production and dissemination is doubly important, providing instructors with the curriculum by which literacy can be instilled in students most effectively (Cohen & Blatt). By improving the human capital of literacy instructors, students can receive a more high-quality education from qualified, motivated teachers. While the efficacy of market-based reforms like charter schools and the implementation of Common Core State Standards have yet to be truly evaluated for their effectiveness, their presence also provides potential alternatives for school systems that can address the existing problems in American literacy education.
One potential method for improving literacy education is to implement individualized literacy instruction for students, particularly in early grades. Connor et al. (2013) conducted a study in which this intervention was applied to first through third grade students, half of which lived in poverty, and outcomes were very favorable. Individualized reading instruction has the benefit of being tailor-made to an individual student’s particular reading and literacy gaps, so as to properly address them in a systemic manner that is individualized to the student’s needs (Connor et al., 2013). As compared to comprehensive education that is meant to apply to larger groups of students, individualized education manages to address more specific literacy deficits, as many students can easily fall behind in larger group education when their problems are not considered. This is particularly useful for students who attend schools with higher poverty populations, as inadequate instruction and loss of school benefits can accumulate to lower reading outcomes (Connor et al., 2013). If individualized literacy instruction for low-income students and others suffering from specific deficits in literacy (such as dyslexia and other developmental disabilities), this can serve to improve literacy in the most vulnerable populations in the nation.
Conclusion
Works Cited
Cohen, David K., and Monica P. Bhatt. "Journal Issue: Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First
Century Volume 22 Number 2 Fall 2012." Journal Issue: Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First Century Volume 22.2 (2012).
Connor, Carol McDonald, et al. "A longitudinal cluster-randomized controlled study on the
accumulating effects of individualized literacy instruction on students’ reading from first through third grade." Psychological Science 24.8 (2013): 1408-1419.
Guthrie, John T., Allan Wigfield, and Susan Lutz Klauda. "Adolescents’ engagement in
academic literacy." Adolescents’ engagement in academic literacy. Sharjah: UAE: Bentham Science Publishers (2012).
Lee, Yuan-Hsuan, and Jiun-Yu Wu. "The indirect effects of online social entertainment and
information seeking activities on reading literacy."Computers & Education 67 (2013): 168-177.
Murnane, Richard, Isabel Sawhill, and Catherine Snow. "Literacy challenges for the twenty-first
century: Introducing the issue." The Future of Children22.2 (2012): 3-15.
Tunmer, William E., et al. "Why the New Zealand National Literacy Strategy has failed and
what can be done about it: Evidence from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 and Reading Recovery monitoring reports." Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties 18.2 (2013): 139-180.
Wu, J‐Y. "Gender differences in online reading engagement, metacognitive strategies, navigation
skills and reading literacy." Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 30.3 (2014): 252-271.
