Literacy Narrative
Sungin Bhuiyan
Professor Oliver St. John
FIQWIS 10103
September 25, 2019
Academic Literacy
Written academic literacy has consistently been a strong aspect of my education journey. I have always been able to analyze given texts and express myself fully in written format, although some may take a longer amount of time than others. However, I would always find myself struggling when it came to verbally sharing my understandings, until very recently. I would often get anxious and nervous when I had to speak with my peers or share my opinion because of poor communication skills.
I believe one thing that has helped me improve my academic literacy is reading a lot of books. I have always found reading calming and peaceful. It has been a hobby of mine for approximately seven years. Growing up, my family did not have a stable financial condition. I did not have the opportunity to buy expensive toys or gadgets because we could not afford it. I did have a library card, and I spent most of my time their, reading books. Reading books can help one improve their vocabulary, which is a key element of understanding literary work. Whenever I am reading and I come across an unknown word, I look up the meaning and save it on my phone. It helps me grasp the meaning of assigned literary texts faster. The hobby of reading also simply makes reading texts for academic purposes enjoyable, it does not feel like a burden to me. Even though I am comfortable with expressing myself on paper, I used to get extremely nervous when I was required to share it out loud with my peers or instructors. I lacked communication skills and was not confident about sharing my thoughts. One individual who helped me get over my anxiety was my high school AP Literature teacher. He had a one on one session with me where he explained to me that I have good ideas and I should be more outspoken about them. This session helped me gain confidence and volunteer to share my ideas when it is required. I enjoy reading literary work, and one of the reasons why I do so is because I developed a passion for reading as a hobby over the course of time. And even though I used to struggle with sharing my ideas, with the help of my teacher and practicing speaking on my own, I was able to overcome my anxiety and fear.
Although I have decent skills with academic literacy, there are a lot of students who struggle with analyzing and comprehending literary work. This can also lead to these students facing dilemmas even after they have completed their education. They are often not able to grasp the main ideas of a text, even though they have read the text several times. When these problems are not resolved, they gradually become bigger and eventually cause problems in the students’ lives after they have completed their education. It can lead to students blindly accepting any offers without asking questions about it or being fully aware of its consequences and lacking important communication skills. According to Carillo, the root of these problems is colleges and universities focusing on making their writing skills more efficient than helping them with their reading skills. “Instead of drawing on models of early literacy education that focus on teaching reading and writing simultaneously, college and universities largely privilege writing over reading” (Carillo 39). She argues that schools prioritize writing over reading, which is why these students’ reading skills are underdeveloped and they face these problems. Another problem that she stresses, which I could relate to, is the lack of communication skills. Employers consistently vocalize the importance of effective communication skills, they want to hire people who are comfortable with talking to people and voicing their opinions. Although there are students who confidently let their voice be heard, there is a lot of students who struggle with this problem, including myself. Schools, colleges and universities should take a closer look at this problem and try to come up with a solution for it so that they can be prepared to actively engage in the complex work that is expected of citizens because students truly struggle with this issue. One of the ways this problem can be approached is by encouraging students to read books in their spare time, trying to make reading a hobby. It can be a very beneficial hobby, for it can help students get more comfortable with reading and extend their vocabulary. Like I mentioned before, reading books has greatly helped me advance my academic literature understanding and comprehension. Another person who it has greatly helped is Debleena Biswas. She wrote an article about academic literacy, and in this article, she mentioned how passionate she was about reading books and it helped her shape up her life. “Every birthday was a memorable event because the massive Calcutta Book Fair occurred around that time, and I would be allowed to spend the day choosing any and all books I wanted, within a budget” (Biswas 2). Students all over the world should be encouraged to read, especially from a young age so that they can develop the necessary skills for their future.
Exploring literary work can be a challenge, especially if it is full of complex vocabulary and literary components. Carillo mentions many problems that students these days face in her article. She explains how students have a hard time reading and understand the message of a text, which can lead to them having problems in the future after their education is complete. They lack communication skills which gives them a hard time to get a job because employers want someone who is outspoken with great communication skills. I myself have gone through this problem where I would get scared to share out my ideas and thoughts, or simply ask a question. Reading books can a helpful hobby which will help students overcome this problem. It can help them build their vocabulary and communication skills because then they will fully understand the message that the text conveys. It has helped me with my writing, reading, and communication skills, and I am certain it will help others too.
Bibliography:
- Biswas, Debleena. Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives. 2009, http://www.thedaln.org/#/detail/3a0137ea-659a-4323-81df-fbe5b97a5e27.
- Carillo, Ellen. Read And Writing Are Not Connected. fiqws10103.commons.gc.cuny.edu/files/2019/09/Carillo.pdf.
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