How One’s Literacy Develops

Literacy is an integral part of any person’s life nowadays. Indeed, it is difficult to find a person in the modern civilized world who would not be able to read and write. Literacy level is extremely important since the way one speaks and writes can be characteristic of an individual’s development. It is a demonstration not only of the general command of language but also the level of one’s culture and intelligence. According to the saying, as many languages you know, so many separate individuals you are worth. There are two languages that I have mastered in my life. The first one is English and another one - Chinese. Although the ways of mastering these two languages and cultures are different from each other, they both contributed to my formation as a person. First of all, it should be stated that my native language is Chinese, and I enjoy using it, as well as it was interesting to learn it. However, it is generally considered to be one of the most difficult languages in the world. Mandarin is also known as the most widely spoken Chinese dialect. Nevertheless, there exist so many variations of Chinese to an extent that they are sometimes mutually unintelligible. To tell the truth, it was not easy to master it. The story of acquiring Chinese literacy comes from my childhood. I grew up in a family that values China as a country, its language and culture. My parents are proud to be Chinese and can be considered patriots. They passed this attitude to me. Since my childhood, I enjoyed learning about my ancestors as well as the meaning of being Chinese. Thus, the language was a key aspect that united our family and the people around us. Thus, I was taught not only to write and speak in this language but to think Chinese, as well. It should be noted that teaching children Chinese is not as most people imagine. Unlike many nations, Chinese parents have to pass the set of tones to their children. In fact, the Chinese language is about mastering the system of tones of which each has a particular meaning. Therefore, I, as a child had to differentiate between the tones before starting to study the written language. At times, it was not easy because different adults had peculiar manners of speaking and pronunciation. I faced this issue for the first time when during our visit to my grandparents in Wuhan. On the first day of our arrival, I had to guess the meaning of some words from the context. Thus, I asked my mother why grandma spoke so weirdly. She comforted me with the explanation that the speech of old people might sound unusual because they used the old vocabulary. Back then, this explanation was enough. Being a child, I perceived the tones as the music and written characters as pictures. However, at that moment, I understood that I needed to learn more about the language to understand all the people I interact with, as well as gain a better understanding of this culture, in general. When at school, I discovered a written form of the Chinese language. It was a pleasant discovery because of the two reasons. On the one hand, writing appeared to be easier then speaking. It turned to be clearer and less confusing. This While many Chinese dialects exist, the written language is a common form of communication. Thus, even when I could not understand people’s speech, I could understand them in writing. On the other hand, the school itself encouraged me to master the written language. Chinese students must request to speak by raising their hand. Though Chinese students are respectful of their teachers and highly motivated to speak out during the class, they find it difficult to engage in discussions. Therefore, written language is the top priority skill that Chinese students master. In fact, there is a lot of material to study since there are thousands of hieroglyphs. To read a newspaper one must be able to recognize at least 2000 characters. Sometimes, even native speakers do not know the meaning of all of them. Therefore, the main emphasis when learning is laid on correct writing. I remember my first dictation test. I spent much time preparing for it but so did our teacher. She deliberately mixed words with synonyms that had a similar appearance. When I had my dictation graded, I felt frustrated. My teacher corrected many mistakes. It was noticeable from the first sight that there were more corrections than I expected. When I brought my dictation sheet home, I did not dare to show it to my mother. I doubted and wagered before showing it to her on her request. My mother saw the result and said, “Well, you should have prepared better,” and I knew she was right. The feeling of shame seized me, and I promised I would always put maximum efforts to master my native language. From that day, I decided to practice even more. I asked my parents to get children’s books and magazines to improve my reading proficiency. Besides, I bought the dictionary of synonyms and started checking the writing of the words. Consequently, I wrote greeting cards to my relatives all around China. In my cards, I wished them all the best, but also I asked people to indicate my mistakes if noticed. Thus, I worked on my writing literacy. Meanwhile, life forced me to improve my speech. I noticed that other people were better speakers than I was. They seemed to be very intelligent, and I wanted to imitate them. I aspired to learn as many grammar rules as I could to write and speak properly. As I mentioned earlier, a language a person speaks and writes reveal their culture and background. I wanted to make a positive impression on people, and so I needed to become more literate in spoken language. Thus, I started to work not only on my pronunciation but also tried to improve my skills of raising and lowering the tone and intonation. My efforts brought positive results since my speaking literacy improved. I hope, I still maintain my speaking literacy at the appropriate level. Another important aspect of my literacy development is learning English. Living in China constitutes a favorable environment for studying English. Children living in the cities usually begin studying it in the third grade. Apart from math and Chinese, it is one of the three core subjects in both elementary and high school. Besides, whatever the field a student chooses in the future, English proficiency test is obligatory for entering any university and graduating. At the same time, Chinese consider education as a high value, which is essential for the success. Children who do not demonstrate outstanding academic success are viewed as failures and bringing shame upon their families. Needless to say, I did not want to be a failure and studied English with particular diligence. We had English classes three times a week with many listening, speaking, writing and reading activities being an essential part of the studying process. I enjoyed learning English, and I did as many exercises as was needed and even more. I tried to read many English books. I listened to the music, trying to catch the meaning of the texts. Also, I watched BBC news channel. Thus, I thought that my knowledge of English was sufficient. Nevertheless, communication with native speakers proved that I was wrong. I understood that I did not have the right pronunciation. To make it even worse, I made many mistakes in oral speech and writing. Thus, I had to improve my reading literacy to know how to speak and write properly. I downloaded reading exercises and started practicing them. I had to improve my knowledge of reading vowels in the syllables, which comprised the greatest difficulty to me. Thus, I had yet to discover the regularities in their reading. As a result, I got to know about the open and closed syllables in English. Possessing the knowledge of the underlying regularity in reading, I was no longer confused by the new words in writing. I also knew how to pronounce them. Besides, my writing improved, as well. I was able to decode what the speaker meant to say. However, I have to admit that I remain quite illiterate in English slang. I am face difficulties in making constructions with the verb “get,” as well as using idioms. My friends often tease me because of my bad command of slang. Thus, I prefer to avoid using these words and phrases in my speech. However, I believe that this gap will decrease in the future since it is a matter of time and practice. So far, I try to use the environment as the source of knowledge. To conclude, the more languages one knows the better it is for their development. Nevertheless, good command of language implies literacy, both written and spoken. My family and environment inspired me to learn Chinese when I was a child. I wanted to understand other people better but also I wanted them to understand me. At the same time, I wished to create a favorable image of my personality. I am quite proficient in Chinese now; however, I have a long way to go to become literate in English; but I hope to improve it in the future. The article was written by Kelly Rise, a leading researcher at the company https://essayslab.com/exclusive-vip-writing-service.html.