Literacy narrative: language and understanding - Essay Example

Literacy narrative- language and understanding Introduction Language plays a pivotal role in almost every aspect of human life. Whether one is business man or a taxi driver, communication and understanding of one another’s point of view are conveyed with the use of language. It is the use and understanding of language that have really shaped the entire human life structure into a stable pattern. This pattern supports in a variety of way. For instance, imagine this world filled with the current number of people living globally but without any language between or among them. Right after this thought, one would question the existence of humans on the face of the earth. Life is only sustained with the presence and use of language. And, it is only this use of language that has really shaped many cultures. In the early period of human evolution, people used to live in caves and mountains where they were in limited numbers. And, they had rare communication with people belonging to different tribes living away from them. And within these tribes, different languages were developing and people used to communicate with. Without any doubt, it was the role of language that considerably played its role to develop culture inside the tribe. Since then, language and culture are mostly intertwined; collectively they shape different ideologies, behaviors and attitudes of people living in different towns, cities provinces and countries. However, when it comes to comprehend the basic linguistic structures of a language in the modern era, for most of us, including me, it is not always going to be easy to understand the small threads of language. In the subsequent parts of this reflective essay, first, I have included my first meeting with the English Language and its different linguistic threads such as grammar and so on. Second, my observations about the internet literacy are accounted for, and it is followed by the summary of this reflective essay. Thesis statement Understanding how to write is more important than remembering the grammar words such as adverb, preposition and so on. Anecdote This event is attached to my memory when I was just 8-9 year old. My teacher was teaching us the parts of speech-noun, pronoun and so on. There were many classes on this topic. And, in each class, all students were required to memorize and recall the learned lesson of the previous class. In each class, we had to recall them; I was so frustrated many times that I could hardly remember the definitions and uses of these words. Due to this frustration, I was unable to concentrate properly in the class. And, at the same time, memorizing such words and recalling these words in the class became a growing problem for me. One day, I asked my teacher which one was more important-remembering the words of parts of speech or knowing how to write? She replied that the ultimate objective was to know how to write. This answer greatly helped me. Prior to the answer, I used to remain under heavy pressure to memorize them instead of focusing on the use of these words for the purpose of enhancing the skill of writing: My entire concentration consumed to memorize and recall them. Due to this fact, my writing was not receiving the due time and necessary efforts. Soon after the answer, I considerably shifted my focus from the activity of memorizing the parts of speech towards understanding the writing skills. The internet literacy and my observations The internet literacy is indelible necessity in this era. Urry ( 2000) argues that we can no longer articulate the social in terms of geographically restricted different communities, due to technology mediated environments. The Internet literacy enables students and other learners to get full knowhow about the Internet and its conceptual backgrounds along with the online skills to become an Internet literate. Many basic concepts concerning different soft wares are also significant as it would enable students to understand and operate them in case of any need. However, the Internet literacy does not facilitate to students’ objectives as much we perceive about it. In this regard, Poster (1997) has criticized modernists for taking the Internet as simply an efficient tool. First, the presence of a vast array of information is considered to be an easy way to access required piece of information. However, I personally observe that there remain many questions concerning the reliability of the information available on the land of the Internet. Second, one needs to become fully capable enough to separate the reliable from un-reliable information available on the Internet. Besides, this process of separating reliable from un-reliable information is not going to be an easy process rather complex. Under such condition, having the Internet literacy is not enough; one must be equipped with such skills that enable us to differentiate between a reliable and non-reliable piece of information. Conclusion Language possesses a paramount importance. It is presence and use of different languages that have facilitated communication between people belonging to different cultures and countries. With the use of language, people can understand each other; they can put across their message easily; they can talk on sensitive issues and at the same time; they can resolve their differences amicably. It is the use of language that offers people to talk on issues rather than adopting any other way to resolve their issues. Historically, people living in different tribes had observed the influence of language over their culture. As a result, language and culture have collectively sustained throughout the history. However, with the passage of time, language does not remain the same; it has observed the inclusion of linguistic threads such as parts of speech in English Language. And, my experience with parts of speech was not good as I had very tough time to memorizing and recalling them. And, this problem greatly increased my frustration in learning parts of speech. However, the answer that I received from my teacher greatly relieved me. As the answer greatly helped me to shift my focus from memorization and recalling of parts of speech, my subsequent life observed a considerable amount of concentration towards understanding and developing writing skills. Works cited page Poster, Mark. 1997. Cyber Democracy: Internet and the public sphere,In Internet culture, ed. D. Porter. London and New York: Routledge. Urry, John. 2000. Sociology beyond societies: Nobilities for the twenty-first century. 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