Literacy in Multicultural Society - Essay Example

? Literacy in Multicultural Society LITERACY IN MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY Language is a tool used by individuals to communication to one another with the objective of understanding one another’s perspective. All around the world there exists thousands of languages used by billions of people. It is evident that people practicing the same culture will speak the same language. Further more, people who live around the same area will speak the same language. The development and learning of a language starts when a child is still in the infancy stages. At this stage in life, the child emulates the way the parents and people around communicate to each other through language. It is automatic that a child will take up the language spoken by his mother and thus the popular phrase, mother tongue. According to Ruiz (1984) the following are three ways in which language can be viewed, first as a problem, secondly as right and thirdly as a resource. An individual’s language can either be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on location and people in the vicinity. It has been possible for people to overcome the limitation of speaking only one language. Overcoming the limitation is through learning more than one language, also known as bilingualism. This paper will give a discussion of how language is a problem, a right or a resource in relation to literacy in a local and global, multicultural environment. Language Language is a form of communication organized systematically and, it incorporates the use of symbols and signs. Formal languages contain four components semantics, pragmatics, phonology and morphology (Bochner & Jones, 2004). The following are explanations of how language develops in an infant. The first one is cognitive explanation, which puts emphasis, on the relationship between language and cognition. Secondly, behaviorist explanation stresses that an infant develops language from interaction he has with the environment. Lastly, interactional explanation states that children learn through interacting with family members (Bochner & Jones, 2004). Language as a problem Language is a problem when it discriminates against those who do not speak the same language as the native speakers (Haugen 1987). Minorities have suffered their share of discrimination to the extent of denied their human rights. Individuals, whose language is inferior, have also been considered to be of low class. Immigrants have faced language as a problem in many occasions because of the fact that, they find themselves in a new environment in which the native people who are the majority have their own language. The minority language is a problem to the immigrants since they cannot communicate using their own language is not appreciated or acceptable. It is evident that literacy in a multicultural environment involves using certain languages. In educational institutions, only major languages are used in learning, this means that individuals speaking minority language have to learn the major language which is used during the learning process. It is also important to note that, in major academic fields books have only been published using the main languages, local languages have not been considered in this case. Students, speaking minority language with goals of attending major universities on the global scale have employed the strategy of learning the acceptable languages during their early years of education. This has proved to be advantageous to them since they are no longer limited by a language barrier (McIntosh, 1998). In many occasions, the issues faced when language is a problem is solved by bilingualism. Bilingualism entails understanding and speaking more than one language. Language as a problem has gone to the extent to which immigrants miss chances for admission in educational institutions. Social injustice in terms of discrimination due to language has seen to it that foreign language speakers miss the benefit of education. Individuals speaking foreign languages come to the point of abandoning their languages in order to get opportunities in schools and working areas. This is a problem since it is assimilation on the side of the minorities (Welch, 2007). Language as a right Linguistics plays a huge role to a human’s exercising of fundamental rights. Language policies act as bases for formulating rights that are to be enjoyed by people. As a right, it is safe to say that language contains elements of pluralism and individuals are subject to choose the religion they wish to practice. It is also an individual’s right to choose the language to speak and for educational purposes. In the United States, little protection is given to language rights compared to other countries, which have their own official languages (Welch et al, 2010). Considering the case of Canada, minority languages are protected in that the government gives parents from minority groups power to which they can decide on the official language their children can use in school while learning. The international body, United Nations, have a policy which stipulates that individuals all over the world should be educated in school using the local or native language. In most cases, that policy has been violated by countries such the United States. Disregarding of local and native language in the multicultural environment is a form of denial of human rights it is a linguistic assimilation (Byram & Morgan, 1994). Language as a right is ensured through, different groups of people having the freedom to speak their native languages without any prejudice. A number of people who speak the major languages have been privileged in terms of education, in that their first language has been used as the official language in educational institutions. Students speaking the major languages have been given first propriety during admission in universities over the other students who speak minority language. Taking the example of English and Spanish languages, students whose first language is English benefit most in universities, in the United States, than those students whose original language is Spanish (Makin et al, 2007). Language as a resource Eradication of hunger and poverty all over the world has been aided by the fact that language has been categorized as a resource. Language policies have handled issues of integration, marginalization, empowerment development and poverty. Language is an important factor in the achievement of primary and secondary education globally. Language has aided in the study and understanding of the environment in which human beings live in. Global literacy in the field of health and science through language has been instrumental in the eradication of diseases. Through language, intervention programs are understood by health care givers. Language expresses local knowledge and traditional environment in other words the conservation of a natural resource depends on protection of a language. Language as a resource is even helpful when bilingualism is mentioned. The understanding of many languages in the global, multicultural environment has made the expansion of knowledge and education possible. Through bilingualism, different perspectives from different societies have been understood, and in turn contributing to the whole pull of knowledge. Language as a resource in the local and global, multicultural environment has contributed in the maintaining of global peace. The achievement of global peace through language comes from its relation with bilingualism. Bilingualism has contributed to the appreciation of other cultures and languages and thus respect of the other culture entails maintaining peaceful coexistence (McIntosh, 1998). Bilingualism Bilingualism is related to multilingualism from the fact that they both entail the skill to speak and use more than one language. Particularly, the Bible has a description of how bilingualism came into existence as it is stated in the story about the tower of Babel. The story describes how the people at that time were determined to build a tower which would go high up and reach heaven. To stop this from happening, God, made all the people speak different languages from each other (Haugen 1987). Individuals capable of speaking more than one language overcome the issue in which language has been seen as a problem. Bilingualism in the global, multicultural environment has enhanced literacy in a large scale development of the academic field of linguistics is as a result of multicultural and bilingualism. Bilingualism in the world today is a very common phenomenon; individuals from the local environment have become well acquainted with local languages. On the other hand, individuals on the global, multicultural environment understand and speak more than one international language. Bilingualism can be developed through interaction or educational means. In interaction bilingualism is achieved through an individual coming into contact with the language spoken by people in the immediate environment. More ever, developing bilingualism through education is a professional process in which an individual enrolls for a linguistic class at a university (Welch et al, 2010). Conclusion Language a core form of communication is an integral part of the daily to daily activities of human beings in the local and global, multicultural environment. Language has its advantages and disadvantages all depending on how it has been used it can either have a positive or a negative effect. The positive and negative effects of language bring us to the point in which, according to the statement of Ruiz, language is seen as a problem, a right or as a resource. That statement is also deciphered by considering the aspects of assimilation and pluralism (Welch et al, 2010). Language can either give or deny individuals rights, this is seen when a group of people speaking a minority language are discriminated against while those who speak the native language enjoy their rights. Language is a matter of choice, but that choice has gone to the extent of being either a privilege or detriment, depending on whether the speaker is a native or foreigner in the area which he lives respectively. Overcoming language as a problem can be achieved through bilingualism this is when an individual learns to speak more than one language. Minorities have embraced this fact and, in the process, they have managed to get admission in education institutions and job opportunities. Bilingualism should not be seen as a way to abandoning a primary language but as a way of bringing integration in the local and global, multicultural environment. Reference Bochner S, Jones J. (2003). Child Language Development: Learning To Talk. Sydney : John Wiley and Sons. Byram M, Graundy P. (2003). Context And Culture In Language Teaching And Learning. London: Multilingual Matters. Byram M, Morgan C. (1994). Teaching-and-Learning Language-and-Culture. London: Multilingual Matters. Haugen E. (1987). Blessings of Babel: Bilingualism and Language Planning : Problems and Pleasures. Hague: Mouton de Gruyter. Makin L, Diaz J, Mclachlan C. (2007). Literacies in Childhood: Changing Views, Challenging Practice. Sydney: Elsevier Australia. McIntosh P. (1998). Unpacking The Invicible Knapsack. New York: Guilford Publication. Welch A. (2007). Cultural Difference and Diversity . London: Oxford University Press. Welch A, Foley D, Bagnall N. (2010). Education, Change and Society. (2nd Revised Edition). London: Oxford University Press. Read More