What I found so interesting about this short excerpt was how surprising it was to me. My language seemed so personal to me; they are, after all, my words. I think of them and I say them. But were they always mine? No. Someone else taught me to speak. My vocabulary extends from my love of reading. Every time I encountered a “new” word, I looked it up in the dictionary. Just because it was new to me, however, did not mean that it was a new word. I did not, after all, invent the words. So reading from someone else that language first exists “in other people’s mouths” (5) was surprising for me.
In general, I think this means that literacy is a very socially dependent process. Perhaps this is why we place so much emphasis on it in school. Many of the educational psychologists, like Albert Bandura, have determined that a great deal of learning happens in the social context. We mimic our peers and we learn from each other. I believe the same will apply to literacy. In its base definition of being able to write, read, and subsequently communicate effectively what we know, this entire process will happen in a social context. We will learn basic communication from our parents, grandparents, siblings, and other family members. We will then form our own language based on the other people we meet, our peers, and others we happen to encounter.
For my own literacy, I’d never before considered how important the social aspect was. I’ve always loved reading and yet I was never sure how this developed. I’m sure it was because my mother placed an emphasis on it and always ensured that I had access to the library. My father, mother, brother, or sister were never as passionate about reading as I was. This is why I was so excited to meet my stepmother, who was just as much of a book geek as I am. She often took me to Border’s, my favorite place in the world, and we would spend hours there, perusing the shelves and picking up books. Many of my friends enjoyed reading, and so this literacy was shaped by the people in my life who supported it. This is just one example from many I could think of, but many of my blog posts are longer than I think my classmates’ are.
To close, I would like to share my favorite quote from the excerpt we read. “How we are saying what to whom affects what we can and will say.” This is so true in any context, especially a social one.
Your blogs are always such a job to read, Jilian. You really raise a lot of important points that I would love to touch on, but for the sake of time I’ll just mention two.
First, I’m happy to see you reflecting so much in general. It seems like you really are considering what you’re reading and how it relates to you. This is very encouraging for me to see, as a teacher.
Second, your point about the social nature of literacy and language development is great. You really seem to understand the quote and reading put them into terms that are relevant to you. Nice work.
Comment by bcottri — February 8, 2009 @ 7:57 pm