![Improving Literacy Outcomes In Low-Income Areas](https://thefridaytimes.com/digital_images/large/2024-07-11/improving-literacy-outcomes-in-low-income-areas-1720704693-9386.jpg)
Literacy is defined as being able to read and write. It is the process by which reading and writing are taught within the framework of the acquisition and reproduction of signs. This is carried out in schools, where formal education usually uses specific reading and writing methods. Reading and writing are basic skills and for primary school teachers, these are the main basis of their teaching.
Students who lack reading and writing have a hard time in school and other learning areas. Teaching has a major role in accelerating the acquisition of English language, and teaching English has been a point of concern for academicians and practitioners because teaching English is not merely transfusing information to the learners, on the contrary it is to enable them to speak, read and write fluently. Hence, usually it has been observed in Pakistan, particularly in lower income area contexts that graduates coming out of schools have hardly any command on language skills. On the contrary, it has been believed that learners could gain mastery over the language skills if they are exposed to language development activities (Nawab, 2012).
There is a strong correlation between poor reading and poor writing skills, because reading and writing are interconnected. When the acquisition of either one of the skills is compromised from the primary level, a visible reflection is created in the acquisition process of other areas of learning too. The dilemma that children cannot read after years in school is a widespread, global problem. Some reasons for this are obvious: children speak different language at home like Pashto, Punjabi, Siraiki, Sindhi, Balti, Balochi, etc, but they are only taught to read Urdu and English. So, in many schools, children even do not understand Urdu and the translations required to make them understand. Furthermore, students can read English and then explain the gist of it in Urdu, which they have written and memorized based on what the teacher has told them. But they cannot explain what individual sentences mean due to the ineffective pedagogical practices in classrooms (Naviwala, 2019).
Moreover, the understanding of what “reading” is remains grey in low-income area English medium schools. Teachers and school owners alike do not seem to register that children should be able to read an unseen text after years in school, or that reading implies comprehension. It is because high-level officials treated the language issue as a simple inconvenience or a minor, technical issue while they are very much closed with bigger, vague questions of quality (Naviwala, 2019).
The problem occurs largely in the public sector and non-network private sector schools, where the quality of education is compromised due to a multitude of reasons; conventional teaching methods are one of them. Many students cannot comprehend even a simple paragraph written in English; they are unable most of the times to write accurate sentences in English.
It is a fact that student reading and writing requires direct attention and teaching effective reading and writing strategies play a vital role in this regard. Classroom environment and reading techniques used by the teachers to develop interest and build up students' base to decode images are necessary from the primary level, but the majority of students at primary and even secondary school level, struggle in reading and writing. The problem occurs largely in the public sector and non-network private sector schools, where the quality of education is compromised due to a multitude of reasons; conventional teaching methods are one of them. Many students cannot comprehend even a simple paragraph written in English; they are unable most of the times to write accurate sentences in English.
Experts say that reading is a skill that has been maintained for a lifetime and learned at a very young age, and helps individuals to enrich their feelings and thoughts, learn about their own culture and other cultures, think over, criticize, come up with new ideas and share what they learn and they create new connections between what they read. The ability to read and interpret is a part of education programs and teaching these processes is one of the greatest contributions towards making human life meaningful. The reading process provides considerable contribution to the mental growth of learners, as emotions, thoughts and information are transformed into mental concepts, understood and structured in the mind. Therefore, special importance is given to reading in teaching.
Learners' development of reading skills and reading habits are usually shaped at the primary level and particular significance should be given from the first grade. Reading is a language skill which is connected with the other skills: speaking, listening and reading are the only way to acquire knowledge, and knowledge is the basis of writing, which itself is based on reading.
Writing skills comprise the ability to express feelings, thoughts and information in the mind in written form and to frame symbols and signs to convey the message. So, to develop this skill, it is important for learners to understand what they read and what they listen to and to structure it in their minds. This skill tends to the development of the individual's ability to observe the external world along with reading, thinking and writing. The teaching process in the field of writing should be considered in two stages, "acquisition" and "development." Learning how to write letters, syllables, words and phrases is related to the "acquisition" stage. Learning how to use these obtain skills in written form is the "development" stage.
Anticipated difficulties in early learning: reading
The reading process includes three stages: seeing, visualizing, and understanding. In stage 1, if the lines, letters and symbols in the writing are not anticipated correctly, then acquisition and development of the reading ability are affected negatively. It also causes reading difficulties. Studies have indicated that lack of language phonological components in the learning process can become a cause of dyslexia that involves difficulties in reading, and problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). It may decreases reading experiences and creates reading comprehension problems in learners. Therefore, children who have difficulty in reading may make mistakes in adding, skipping, reversing, repeating, pronouncing, pausing.
Experts have indicated that teaching reading is not explicitly taught in many low-income countries as a skill, much less a subject in early grades curricula and kids have not been learning the basics of reading. They point out that the home setting is highly important
Experts state that dyslexic students can learn differently from others. Teachers should be trained and have knowledge about this, and prepare plans for the individual character. There are some strategies that are useful are: the repeated method, where students who have reading difficulties read the text repeatedly in a systematic way for several times under the guidance of an adult, as a result of systematic repetition, there is a decrease in the reading mistakes. Echo reading is a method of direct support and model-based reading. It is based on a word; sentence or short paragraph being read aloud by a teacher or a student who reads well, then the students repeating them. Paired reading involves the teacher and the student reading at the same time and reading out loud. While the teacher pronounces the words correctly and provides the correct reading example, they also adjust their pace according to the student. Student should read every word. When anyone pronounces a word incorrectly, teacher corrects it.
On the other hand, experts have indicated that teaching reading is not explicitly taught in many low-income countries as a skill, much less a subject in early grades curricula and kids have not been learning the basics of reading. They point out that the home setting is highly important on the achievement of reading. There is a meaningful relationship between a student’s reading achievement and the situation provided to them and their socio-economic status. In this regard, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds have a lower reading comprehension achievement than the students from mid and high socio-economic status.
Anticipated difficulties in early learning: writing
Developing and learning fine and correct expression through writing presents problems for most students. Written language is the most difficult of all skills to acquire because its development involves the effective coordination of many different cognitive, linguistic and psycho-motor processes and problems can arise for many students. The number of students with writing difficulties are more than the number experiencing difficulties in reading. It is often stated that, ‘good writing is not only hard work; it is an extremely complex and challenging mental task.’ Students find the task of writing very difficult and their lack of skill results in minimal work output. Gradually, they engage in much less practice in writing and due to lack of practice they do not improve.
There have been observed several major academic and non-academic hurdles in teaching English language reading and writing, which include scarce resources and limited teaching aids, gaps in language policy, unawareness of advanced methods of English Language teaching for reading and writing, low income and education level of teachers and lack of interest from parents’ side.
It has also been observed that teachers do not have enough teaching resources that they can use to make their teaching and learning effective. According to findings, there is no library culture in these schools, which demotivates learners, and these schools fail to produce good readers.
Teaching abstract words at the primary level is challenging because it is necessary to make clear of those words meaning for understating through multiple techniques, but teachers of non-elite and low-income schools hardly make any progress efforts on these metrics, and according to findings, usually preferring instead to using dictionaries and translations without building student understanding. Learners tend to copy those in their notebooks and the task is accomplished. Teachers barely use effective teaching techniques to teach words that shows poor teaching skills. Therefore, the majority of students in grade two are unable to write down a short and simple sentence. Primary level students are also unable to identify the parts of sentences which show ineffective teaching instructions and a lack of involvement by teachers, the administration and parents.
It has also been observed that teachers do not have enough teaching resources that they can use to make their teaching and learning effective. According to findings, there is no library culture in these schools, which demotivates learners, and these schools fail to produce good readers.
In these schools, teachers usually apply the echo method in teaching reading. The main purpose is reading aloud without taking care of pronunciation and understanding the lesson, and due to the lack of mastery of phonics, the majority of students face word recognition problem during reading; students do not even understand teachers’ instruction during learning, which shows a lack of command on teaching skills. This is because these institutions mostly avoid and don’t invest in professional development of teachers.
Teaching the English language, particularly reading and writing, in low-income area schools is very challenging due to certain issues that directly impact children’s learning. This causes further difficulties for their academic, as well as professional life. These difficulties can be overcome by effective pedagogical teaching practices and increasing the quality of education. Language experts have advocated various approaches to make effective pedagogical improvements. It is important to teach children how to draw meaning from their own experience, and classrooms should always be laced with the charts to give them exposure to learning by observation. Language sounds (phonological ability), morphological structure, vocabulary, and discourse level and oral language skills should be explicitly taught to build foundations for literacy acquisition. The world has become globalized, where access to information and learning is not difficult. However, one can polish their English language skills only if their foundations are strong, which is a result of effective classroom teaching. Teachers are assets for society; we should invest in them.