Discuss About The Critical Approaches Literacy In Development.
According to Burke (2017), it can be said that literacy refers to the ability to read, realize and critically appreciate or evaluate different forms of communication. Several kinds of communication forms such as printed text, spoken language, digital and broadcast media are utilized for the leaning programs of children who are into the phase of early childhood (0 to 5 years old). Among the children of the age group of zero to five years old, it is seen that the notion of emerging literacy is specifically significant and historically it has been seen that literacy shows a shift from a readiness perspective that was popular in between the 60s and the 70s of the previous century, to a developmental perspective (Giroux, 2018). In this regard, it can be indicated that definition of literacy must revolve around affective, cognitive, cultural-historical, socio-cultural, aesthetic and creative dimensions. In past few decades, increasing significance has been put on critical literacy within the teaching procedure. Critical literacy is a socio-cultural knowledge perspective based on the emerging societal values and cultural history that can be helpful for children in community learning (Aukerman, 2012). At the same time, critical literacy can be explained as the attitudes, skills and knowledge which are presumed as developing precursors to the traditional forms of reading and writing. Not only that, emergent critical literacy can be considered as the development by ‘play and hands on experiences’ where the children in their early childhood can see and interact with the print as they build an responsiveness of its conventions and functions (Cadiero-Kaplan & Smith, 2002). The purpose of this report is to highlight the debates and the controversies regarding inclusion of critical literacy and popular culture in early childhood education, which has been practiced for years. It can be said that the debate is based on the comparative effectiveness of inserting critical literacy and exhibits apprehension regarding consumerism in different approaches to the development of literacy and instruction (Kim, 2016).
To explain various ways of teaching critical literacy in pre-schools, it can be said that reading texts aloud by the teacher is an important aspect of literacy instructions in the pre-school environment. Learning how to conduct reading aloud featuring high quality books for children will allow the children who are 0 to 5 years old to think regarding the social issues that has an impact on their lives. It can also be pointed out that the teachers of the pre-schools may utilize reading texts aloud in order to develop the background knowledge of the students and also to stimulate their interests in literature which are of high quality (Provenzo & Apple, 2015). Apart from that, read-aloud way of teaching can effectively help the pupils to develop critical thinking along with their comprehension skills. While taking read-aloud sessions the pre-school teachers should provide model strategies that the pupils can follow during their independent reading times. In this regard, it is worthwhile to mention that critical literacy is something more than understanding what the children are reading, as in this, children needs to study deeper to find the underlying cause of the message that the author is trying to project through the texts (Giroux, 2018). It can be said that critical literacy is about looking at various point of views and asking questions about various aspects of any issue. For instance, playing with soft toya is a global notion, but it is surely much different in the aboriginal communities than it is in any metropolitan cities (Case, 1996). Therefore, it is necessary to consider the socio-cultural contexts for making the learning more significant.
The Preschool teachers should understand the fact that motivation is vital for successful learning and teaching experiences within preschool environment and the teachers should be able to engage students with enthusiasm so that they can participate in the process of learning (Provenzo & Apple, 2015). For instance, some students do not show any interest in learning during the initial period of time, but it is the teacher’s job to ensure that the child is gradually motivated and energized in the learning process. Thus in contemporary times, preschool teachers use engaging texts and take up various techniques of teaching along with scientific instructional frameworks in order to plan, organize and teach vital lessons to the pupils (Fajardo, 2015). Teachers need to motivate the pupils to become literate critically because as teachers they should create book-rich environments, give adequate opportunities to choose and promote familiarity with books of different genres and also provides incentives that show the values or the morals of the teaching.
There has been a lot of criticism regarding inclusion of popular culture and critical literacy and learning programs for children of zero to five years old. It is believed that inclusion of popular culture and critical literacy will allow the children to develop a perception or a world view of things which were unknown to them (Morrell, 2015). It would help them to accomplish knowledge for understanding the ignored and marginalized areas of the world which cannot be identified unless an individual provides detailed analysis of the texts. Some of the educators strongly oppose this idea as they believe that the children aged zero to five years should not be exposed towards the harsh realities of life (Norris, Lucas & Prudhoe, 2012). As culture play a significant role in shaping the regular beliefs behind the communication forms and texts, it is necessary to integrate cultural intelligence and cultural literacy within the curriculum. This will help the students to have a profound understanding of the popular societal beliefs and help them to differentiate the right by identifying the socio-cultural biases and injustice present in the society.
In this context, it can be said that the teachers in the preschool can incorporate popular culture in the learning program for the children who are in their early childhood (Morrell, 2015). The teachers can surely include socio-cultural beliefs within the classroom environment as making it a path for the learners to explore various themes and the world views from the fictional readings they have assigned by the curriculum (Ladson-Billings, 1994). It can be said that more popular culture artifacts exhibit more sociopolitical issues and for an example, it can be said that American comedy-drama series like ‘Fresh off the Boat’ and ‘Black-ish’ provide compact and rich storylines that makes the pupils understand the critical social issues related to class, immigration, race and gender (Alvermann, 2018). Teachers can enhance the pupil’s understanding of the social issues by helping them to connect with more social issues and contemporary social issues (Lennox, 2013). In this regard it can be said that the teachers can make a plan for a particular core text and then may connect a theme from that text to a popular culture so that the students can easily connect with that and gets a better understanding of the situation or the perception.
To explain how critical literacy impacts critical development, it can be said that critical literacy has its roots in the critical theory. Along with that, it also lies in the belief that a justice sense is present within the power relation that is asymmetric in nature and it is also present within the society. It can be observed that critical literacy positions literacy and language as a central figure in creation and continues the power relations (Comber & Nixon, 1999). Apart from that, critical literacy focuses on reading more than comprehension and decoding of texts; therefore portrays it as a critical social practice. In a simple manner, it can be said that critical literacy is dependent on the idea that through literacy and language, individuals understand and then express the world view of others and themselves (Lewison, Flint & Van Sluys, 2002). At times, such world views are referred to as ideologies or discourses. In fact, these may also be explained as recognized and socially constructed ways of being in the world which regulates and integrates various manners of thinking, acting, believing, feeling, using languages and most importantly valuing. It is a matter of fact, that as there are numerous groups in the society with diverse cultural and social experiences there are various views of the world, and however not all the views or perceptions get voiced in an equal manner. It can be categorized as the views of those particular groups present in the society who have more power to dominate (Provenzo & Apple, 2015). Critical literacy emphasizes the vital role that literacy plays in the extent to that various perceptions and world views are strengthened, heard, silenced or ignored. It is a matter of fact that specialists of critical literacy often use the term ‘text’ to refer to a huge number of expressive media, that includes drama, book, corporate media, posters, websites and many more. When a child goes through a text without the critical thinking, the world view presented in the text is dominating; therefore it seems to be naturally right. Therefore sometimes, the contrasting views are entirely overlooked. In this way, the language and literacy can act as a way of increasing dominance on specific social groups for disempowering others.
Critical literacy focuses on the importance of looking at all the texts as primarily biased. In this regard, it can be said that all the texts are motivating and there can be no specific position from which a text can be read, written or interpreted. The preschool students being taught in critical thinking can be able to critically analyze the texts for realizing the world views presented by the author and to consider the facts which are ignored and can consider its impact on oneself and other individuals (Luke, 2018). It is seen that critical literacy is steeped in with the belief that the readers of the texts should be encouraged to challenge and comment on through in depth analysis and investigate in the ways in which texts and language function for marginalizing and providing more advantages for any social group (Steinberg, 2011). These understanding can serve to empower people to change their lives. It also indicates that critical literacy focuses on social change by transforming traditional language and social practices and assumptions for the best interest of the children in their early childhoods and also for the entire society in long term (Arthur et al., 2017). Incorporating critical literacy within the classroom environment will help the students to understand diverse situations and they will also be capable of identifying both the similarities and differences amongst each other.
In the contemporary preschools, children are taught when they get engaged in daily practices under a variety of cultural and societal contexts in their communities and families. In developed countries, various audio-visual technologies like television and computer plays a vital role in societal practices of information, entertainment and communication (Aukerman, 2012). The multimodal and various interactive features of CDs, DVDs, various computer software and internet sites as well as their association to the trendy culture makes the above mentioned technologies more attractive to the children of zero to five (Fajardo, 2015). Apart from that, the media promotion and commoditization of products and programs associated to the licensed characters like Winnie the Pooh extends pupil’s preferred program into every stages of their daily lives. In most cases, children like the popular culture narratives, which are more enjoyable and then they recognize the characters by discussing the plots and characters with their peers and then they gain the ability to establish a sense of shared understanding and a concept of community (Arthur et al., 2017). Thus it can be said that the stylish media culture plays a vital role in everyday’s life experiences of children and become funds for knowledge for the majority of the children who falls under the age group of zero to five years (Provenzo & Apple, 2015).
Conclusion
Thus to conclude, it can be said that inclusion of popular culture and critical literacy in the learning programs for children of zero to five years and it would assist the children to get a world view and various perceptions. This will significantly help them to develop their knowledge base and will help them to develop as an individual with a mindset that would look at things in a broader manner. Therefore, the idea of critical literacy requires more research to include more advanced frameworks in the teaching approaches.
References
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