The Importance of Defining Literacy and its Impact on Students’ Success
How to Define Literacy
Be a critical reader and think about the way you define literacy. Ask others how they define the term and record their responses.
Reading comprehension is essential to students’ success in all learning areas. It can also help them maintain a positive attitude towards school and prevent negative reactions such as poor scores on standardized tests and truancy.
Definition
UNESCO defines literacy as “the ability to use all the tools and modes of communication to read, write, listen, speak, understand, curate, analyze and create.” Students who are considered literate have the skills to participate effectively in a networked world.
For example, a student who has trouble with reading comprehension may be unable to follow the directions for an assignment in science or math class. These difficulties can have serious consequences for the student’s life and career prospects.
Students who lack literacy skills are less likely to complete high school, fail college courses and struggle with jobs. This makes the teaching of literacy an important issue in schools. A common definition of health literacy is that it entails people’s motivation and competences to access, understand, appraise and apply health information to make judgments and take decisions in daily life that are related to health, disease prevention and the maintenance of good health throughout the life course.
Common Core State Standards
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are academic standards for students that are designed to help them achieve college and career readiness. They were developed by states, with support from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers, in collaboration with educators, parents, experts, and the public. These standards provide a foundation for curriculum and instruction in English language arts and math.
In addition to rigorous content, the CCSS emphasize the application of knowledge through higher-order thinking skills. They include reading complex texts that use academic language, such as essays, novels and short stories; writing in a variety of genres and formats; and working with informational text.
Although educators generally support the CCSS, they express some concern about their implementation. Achieve has released two briefs that highlight educators’ views about the challenges they face with these ambitious standards. One brief reports on research that shows how the CCSS is impacting teacher professional development. The other highlights an ongoing survey that measures teachers’ perceptions about the CCSS’s impact on their classrooms.
Assessment
There are many types of literacy assessments. They can be informal or formal, formative or summative and screenings or diagnostic. These assessments can provide data at a single point in time or measure progress over time. Regardless of the type of assessment, teachers must always keep in mind that decisions that follow any assessment have educational consequences for learners. Assessments are most useful when they provide comprehensible feedback and support learners in meeting learning goals.
A universal literacy screening assesses a student’s ability to read words with accuracy and fluency. The student reads a passage and then answers open-ended questions about the vocabulary in the reading. This assessment is best administered one-on-one and in a non-distracting environment.
Running records assess a student’s rate and accuracy of reading grade level texts or passages in English and the student’s primary language. The teacher will give the student a passage and record their speed, accuracy and comprehension. The results can be used to determine a reading level and to monitor a student’s progress.
Instruction
Students learn how to become literate by being exposed to texts in a variety of modes. This includes listening and speaking; reading and viewing; writing and creating. These different text-based modes help students understand that literacy is a continuum of learning and that they must engage in the full range of strategies for becoming proficient readers and writers.
These skills are crucial for life in modern society, as they allow people to access information and achieve their educational goals. They also help reduce gender, race and nationality-based inequality in access to education, property, employment, health care and legal rights.
Students who are taught a strong foundation in reading and writing develop an understanding of the importance of developing their own literacy skills throughout their lives, as well as how to teach these skills to the students they will encounter in educational field placements and later in their career as teachers. EL Education believes that sustained engagement with a worthy topic is a more effective way for students to grow their reading and thinking skills than a series of isolated short texts.
How to Define Literacy Be a critical reader and think about the way you define literacy. Ask others how they define the term and record their responses. Reading comprehension is essential to students’ success in all learning areas. It can also help them maintain a positive attitude towards school and prevent negative reactions such as poor scores on standardized tests and truancy. Definition UNESCO defines literacy as “the ability to use all the tools and modes of communication to read, write, listen, speak, understand, curate, analyze and create.” Students who are considered literate have the skills to participate effectively in a networked world. For example, a student who has trouble with reading comprehension may be unable to follow the directions for an assignment in science or math class. These difficulties can have serious consequences for the student’s life and career prospects. Students who lack literacy skills are less likely to complete high school, fail college courses and struggle with jobs. This makes the teaching of literacy an important issue in schools. A common definition of health literacy is that it entails people’s motivation and competences to access, understand, appraise and apply health information to make judgments and take decisions in daily life that are related to health, disease prevention and the maintenance of good health throughout the life course. Common Core State Standards The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are academic standards for students that are designed to help them achieve college and career readiness. They were developed by states, with support from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers, in collaboration with educators, parents, experts, and the public. These standards provide a foundation for curriculum and instruction in English language arts and math. In addition to rigorous content, the CCSS emphasize the application of knowledge through higher-order thinking skills. They include reading complex texts that use academic language, such as essays, novels and short stories; writing in a variety of genres and formats; and working with informational text. Although educators generally support the CCSS, they express some concern about their implementation. Achieve has released two briefs that highlight educators’ views about the challenges they face with these ambitious standards. One brief reports on research that shows how the CCSS is impacting teacher professional development. The other highlights an ongoing survey that measures teachers’ perceptions about the CCSS’s impact on their classrooms. Assessment There are many types of literacy assessments. They can be informal or formal, formative or summative and screenings or diagnostic. These assessments can provide data at a single point in time or measure progress over time. Regardless of the type of assessment, teachers must always keep in mind that decisions that follow any assessment have educational consequences for learners. Assessments are most useful when they provide comprehensible feedback and support learners in meeting learning goals. A universal literacy screening assesses a student’s ability to read words with accuracy and fluency. The student reads a passage and then answers open-ended questions about the vocabulary in the reading. This assessment is best administered one-on-one and in a non-distracting environment. Running records assess a student’s rate and accuracy of reading grade level texts or passages in English and the student’s primary language. The teacher will give the student a passage and record their speed, accuracy and comprehension. The results can be used to determine a reading level and to monitor a student’s progress. Instruction Students learn how to become literate by being exposed to texts in a variety of modes. This includes listening and speaking; reading and viewing; writing and creating. These different text-based modes help students understand that literacy is a continuum of learning and that they must engage in the full range of strategies for becoming proficient readers and writers. These skills are crucial for life in modern society, as they allow people to access information and achieve their educational goals. They also help reduce gender, race and nationality-based inequality in access to education, property, employment, health care and legal rights. Students who are taught a strong foundation in reading and writing develop an understanding of the importance of developing their own literacy skills throughout their lives, as well as how to teach these skills to the students they will encounter in educational field placements and later in their career as teachers. EL Education believes that sustained engagement with a worthy topic is a more effective way for students to grow their reading and thinking skills than a series of isolated short texts. Walk back to the main page
