Resolution on Communications as a Facet of Literacy
Communication theory and
practices, both small group and interpersonal, should be given a larger portion
of the ELA curriculum than it is currently receiving. The scope of literacy expands beyond reading
and writing. It includes speaking,
seeing, listening, and using electronic media, all of which are addressed in
the study of communications. Literacy
and the understanding thereof is
communication in the broadest sense.
Before technology made
information retrieval easy and accessible, literacy and learning occurred
through the transmission of information from the teacher to the students. A teacher taught her students to read, spell,
and write. The knowledge was the
emphasis. Teachers still teach students to read,
spell, and write, but the emphasis now is to go beyond knowledge into the zone
of analysis and skill, often in collaborative ways with other students and
teachers. The education system must not
neglect basic communication strategies as a type of literacy. All the world and the people in it are a text
to which meaning and interpretation can be assigned.
Communication Skills to Emphasize:
o
Small Group
Communications – Take time to discuss rank and leadership within small groups,
how to stay on task, and how to constructively criticize when working with
literacy.
o
Interpersonal
Communications – Real life, practical theory can be paired with relationships
and conflicts between characters within texts.
It also helps students empathize with characters to deepen their
understanding of what they read.
o
Conflict
Management – Incorporate this into discussions of conflict and management
strategies in literary contexts. Address
the purpose of a position statement in argumentative writing.
o
Technical Writing
– This includes outlines, memos, meeting minutes, instructions, detailed
accounts, and resumes that enhance work-place literacy.
o
Public Speaking –
Formative and summative assessments often include public speaking projects, and
the way something is written for public speech may not be the same way it is
written for print. The rhetorical
situation differs. Instruction on public
speaking builds literacy and confidence.
o
Digital Media –
Digital media is an ever-expanding realm of literacy that is commonplace in the
ELA classroom. It includes print, image,
and audio texts as additional literacy components.
