The essential components of effective literacy program - Essay Example

Running Head: The Essential Components of Effective Literacy The Essential Components of Effective Literacy Program Student A. Sample Grand Canyon University December 2008 Abstract This paper highlights the five essential components of effective literacy program. Literacy has been defined as individual's ability to read and write. The term also embraces other operational definitions such as computer and multimedia operations as well as understanding health concepts. The five essential key areas of effective literacy according to the US National Reading Panel include the phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, the fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. All these are predictors of effective literacy among individuals and needed to be properly assessed for an objective measure of students' learning outcomes. Introduction The skills in communication are vital in the life and development of a person. Success during childhood as well as later stage in life is usually dependent on the individual's ability to read, write and grasp learning about complex situations. Acquiring literacy is a complex task and in fact, nations across the globe are confronted with so many issues in relation to severity of literacy problem. In the estimates of UNESCO (Rotary International, 2007), there are nearly 800 million people globally over the age of fifteen (15) have insufficient basic reading and writing skills. Added to that, over 64% percent of the world's population is illiterate women and children. Literacy is traditionally defined as the ability of an individual to read and write. It may also encompass other functional abilities, such as operating computer, understanding disease prevention, or reading signs in a market (Rotary Club, 2008). Former President Bill Clinton once said in his speech, ""Literacy is not a luxury; it is a right and a responsibility... if our world is to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century we must harness the energy and creativity of all our citizens" (Better World Quotes, 2008). Consequently, comprehensive reviews on the problem on literacy have created demand for programs that attributes to the improvement of students' skills in reading and writing (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2004). Components of Effective Literacy According to the United States National Reading Panel (2000), there are five essential key areas or components of effective literacy that can fit into a school's literacy program. The said five key areas are the: phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, the fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension.These elements must be considered in literacy programs. Phonemic awareness is the ability of the individual to hear, recognize and manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It does not include visual recognition of the alphabet letters, only their sounds. To build this, the instructor may strategize teaching through the use of poems, nursery rhymes, wordplay in songs, literatures and the use of oral language. On the other hand, alphabet letters and sounds being represented are introduced in phonics instruction. This will enable the individual to successfully recognize words and spelling. There are several ways in which phonics can be built, examples include letter-sound correspondence or letter naming and letter blending or putting together multiple letters sounds. Indoor games like picture shows, spelling bee, word factory, scrabble, message relay and puzzles may be encouraged by instructors in their respective classes. In addition, fluency is defined as the ability to read texts or sentences accurately and smoothly. The use of guided and repeated oral reading, audio recording (play back and repeat listening of voices) and echo reading are some ways in building fluency. In English classes, speech choir, role playing activities and theatrical shows may be required by the teacher. Similarly, vocabulary refers to the definitions of words that are heard and read. It is very essential for comprehension. Explicit teaching of the words' meaning, defining terms prior to reading process, and pausing for a while for the unknown words to be defined are examples by which vocabulary can be built. Text comprehension in the same way is the ability to create meaning from text that is reading's ultimate goal. Good readers basically think about what they are reading. They are also usually aware if they don't understand something. This is a great way to start building up a student's comprehension (City Lakes ArmiCorps, 2006). Literacy programs should enable students to engage in activities like small group discussions, story telling, film analyses, article analysis reporting, brain storming or question and answer and interaction to computer technology to enhance their reading as well as their comprehension skills. Based on students and educators' actual learning experiences, most students easily get bored when teaching strategies are routine and monotonous. The students appreciate learning by action in which, something extraordinary for them and more concepts or topics are interactive and has element of newness. Blanton, Moorman, Hayes, and Warner (1997) discovered that children loved working with computers. It is one venue where they actually socialized, planned, talked, and collaborated than any other traditional play materials. Multimedia resources can be made available to arouse the interest among students, and will result to a more effective learning. Rochelle, Pea, Hoadley, Gordin, and Means (2000) emphasized that the only one factor in effective early childhood literacy education is the computer-based technology. There are evidences documented that, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and achievement among learners significantly increases when young children interact with technology. Effective assessment cannot be separated from good teaching and learning. Effective literacy programs normally utilize assessments before and/or after the program implementation. Assessment activities are carried out variably to evaluate if students are learning. It is important instrument for promoting desirable learning. Recent research in education concentrates about the creative use of assessment to enhance teaching and learning (Gibbs, 1995). Results of assessments provide feedback on the effectiveness of the literacy programs, which ultimately becomes the basis for intervention. Learning process in every programs obviously become meaningful if both the learner and teacher engage in variety of literacy experiences and by interacting with literate persons. Teaching literacy should be part of the curriculum and developers must first understand the issues and the mechanisms as to how students can effectively develop. The curriculum itself should be focused on the learner, rather than teacher, content and methods of instruction. While more researches are required to be done in the area of enhancing literacy among people, literacy intervention programs are significantly becoming large. Today students are opted to be expert readers, writers, and critical thinkers in order that they can compete and succeed in the world economy. Educational institutions must invest by providing a supportive academic climate for their students. In the end, nations produce only quality and competent leaders of the society. REFERENCES Better World. Literacy and education quotes. Retrieved 27 November 2008 from http://www.betterworld.net/quotes/literacy-quotes.htm Blanton, W.E., Wood, K.D., & Moorman, G.B. (1990). The role of purpose in reading instruction. The Reading Teacher, 43, 486-493. City of Lakes Aerators (2006) Our vision for academic success. City of Lakes Aerators Tutoring Manual. Americorps, Minnesota, USA. Kamil, Michael L. (2003) Adolescents and literacy reading for the 21st century. Alliance for Excellent Education. Publication manual p. 1-41. Gibbs, G. (1995). Assessing student-centred courses. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff Development. Huba, M.E., & Freed, J.E. (2000). Learner-centered assessment on college campuses: Shifting the focus from teaching to learning. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Rochelle, J., Pea, R., Hoadley, C., Gordin, D., & Means, B. (2000). Changing how and what children learn in school with computer-based technologies. The Future of Children, 10(2), 76-101. Rotary International and International Reading Association (2002) Every school a star. A Literacy Tool Kit. 1560 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201-3698 USA, p. 3. Read More