Tag Archives: literacy

Audiences and Literacy

Blog Post #4: Literacy – More Prominent than Ever

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found at www.avon.k12.ma.us

Literacy, the ability to read and write, is a skill that can be applied to any business or workplace situation. Written communication is a major communication modality used to communicate complex ideas through a relatively fast and easy medium. With the rise of internet technology over the past decade the need to write and interpret texts across the internet has called for an increasing need in individual literacy. The role of textual literacy in the 21st century workplace is more prominent than ever.

“Illiteracy costs United States businesses and society at least $225 billion annually because of lost workforce productivity, crime and unemployment” (Sessoms 2013). Illiteracy in the United States is a growing problem with new forms of communication modalities such as youtube.com and other internet mediums that allow citizens of the United States to acquire information through videos and other non-written forms of communication. Since every form of communication is not found via videos on the internet the need to interpret written texts found outside of these internet platforms is becoming a more pressing issue. Written communication is an everyday occurrence in the workplaces of the United States. My father, a project manager of Macy’s website development team, has to sift through hundreds of emails on a daily basis that consist in written communication. Many other jobs include similar tasks. Even though other forms of communication modalities exist in modern day workplace scenarios, such as oral communication, no other modality thoroughly expresses ideas and information in such a concrete way as written communication. Written communication allows an individual the ability to display information in a specific way that is not replaceable by other forms of communication. This is because written communication allows the user the ability to edit, postulate advanced ideology and cite justification from other written references in an easy and understandable format. Written texts have the ability to last for a longer time than oral communication which can be useful if an individual wants to reference a written text at some point in the future.

In the case of my father, emails consisting of written texts allow for an easy way to understand and respond to any sort of problems that need quick solutions. Written communication allows my father the convenience of understanding quickly what problem he or another person in his development team has encountered and the ability to express clearly and concretely what measures should be used to fix it. If these problems were to pose themselves through another modality of communication such as a video it would take my father a longer time to make a video in response to the problem his team is facing. Fittingly Gail Sessom writes that “Workers who cannot read and interpret basic signs and instructions compromise safety, slow production and cause errors that affect profits” (Sessom 2013). Not being able to read or write in workplace setting can be the decision between whether or not a worker will make a product or deliverable by deadline. If an employee is spending their time interpreting information through a video or audio medium it will take the employee longer to load the video and audio, understand the information and reply to the situation then it would if the information was presented in a written from of communication. In most workplace scenarios written communication is a necessity, no other form of communication modality can display information in such a fast, convenient and proficient way as written communication; therefore, making it one of the most prominent forms of communication in the workplace.

 

Works Cited:

Sessoms, Gail. (2013). Effects of illiteracy on business. Chron. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/effects-illiteracy-business-22898.html

 

Audiences and Literacy, Blog Project Prompts, Blogging and Social Media in the Workplace, Uncategorized

Blog Project: Literacy

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Literacy is one of the oldest hallmarks of civilization itself. The expansion of literacy rates in the United States is a severe problem confronting both our education systems and our work force structure and it will only prove to be of more critical importance the more different forms of communication come into use. Huffington Post reports sobering stats to the effect that literacy rates over all in the U.S have not budged significantly in over a decade. Partially it is to do with education being unequal over the socio-economic boundaries, but also because of an influx of immigrated workers and their descendants would will prove to be the backbone of much of the work force following baby-boomer retirement. As an English major, I feel literacy is of inexpressible importance in order to function in society.

Back in the days of large family farms and apprenticeships, literacy could be done without. As the economic opportunity expanded into machinery and later still into computers it has become no longer possible to live a decent life with knowing little more than how to read and write your name and a few other things. We are no longer framed in an economic structure that would be able to support vast numbers of workers who are illiterate in capacity because it matters as far as getting ahead is concerned. Especially, coming out of this “Great Recession” things will only get worse if something is not done to boost our education. Overall the vast majority of “middle jobs” have been phased out, rendered obsolete by technology or overseas cost. Gone are the days where an A.A would get you a 30-ish thousand dollar steady employment or a B.A would be considered sufficient education for most jobs.  We live in a society at this point where a good chunk of workers are over qualified for the jobs they have because the higher levels are not open to them for various reasons. If these people remain in these positons, there are even fewer options for those who are illiterate to go to where they can still get by which means, at least for some, and perhaps even a majority, the next stop is the welfare system where the economy will only slow further.

Basic word and print literacy is of primary of course because it is so basic and will likely not go anywhere; However, there are now expanded definitions of literacy because is not literacy an expansion of competency? Computers will also grow increasingly important as time goes on. Knowing how to use them is not the advantage it was back in the 80’s, it is expected. I think it is reasonably safe to say that there are several forms of literacy that school systems and immigration programs alike must strive to teach fluency in beyond computers and print; I wish I could think of another good example but to be honest such literacy might just be so common place to myself, I don’t even realize that I use it. (That mentality in itself being a bit of a problem since I would think a majority have no idea how bad our literacy rates really are and thus don’t know there is a problem to begin with.)

Another blog also pointed out that the lack of a standard definition is one of the many problems surrounding this issue, if not the main one. I agree with this and feel that giving out basic standards for what literacy is, is an extremely important step in trying to rectify the problem. Yes, picture graphs and similar info graphs will suffice for many situations to a certain extent, but it does not and will never match the amount of information that can be conveyed by words themselves.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/illiteracy-rate_n_3880355.html

Audiences and Literacy

BLOG POST #4: The importance of being literate

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In recent years The United States has witnessed a steady decline in a variety of areas, calling into question our status as the greatest nation on Earth. Indeed, if one looks at any statistics at all, it becomes pretty clear that we rank #1 in almost nothing of importance. According to people who collect reliable data, we come in a paltry 7th place in literacy rates among adults. The United States’ dismal performance in regards to literacy is one of the biggest reasons for our  “declining standing in the world”(Rogers). It is well known that “completing higher levels of education also often provides access to jobs that involve further learning and more information-processing tasks”(OEDC 34). Yet how can people seek ‘higher’ education if they can’t even read?

I work in a sewing shop, which was started by my father, and to be completely honest, I have serious doubts if everyone I work with could be considered traditionally literate. Yet they can sew things for forty hours a week with zero problems. They have what I have decided to term ‘machine literacy.’ In ‘machine literacy,’ my coworkers all score very high marks indeed.

The problem with this, however, is that we cannot hope for our nation to be great if its people all excel at jobs that don’t even require the basic ability to read and write well. Plus, it won’t be long before my father’s shop gets put out of business due to the systematic disregard for humanity in overseas factories. The types of jobs that we need as a nation are those which incorporate a multitude of literacy types, with a heavy emphasis on traditional literacy. By traditional literacy, I simply mean the ability to read and write well. Even in jobs which emphasize non traditional types of literacy such as designing video games or making movies etc, the ability to understand others and to be understood by others is a crucial factor. Yet how do we go about achieving this?

“Beyond formal education, learning occurs in a range of other settings, including within the family, at the workplace and through self-directed individual activity. For skills to retain their value, they must be continuously developed throughout life”(OECD 36). Ultimately, the responsibility lies on individual parents, not the nation as a whole, even though we are all affected negatively by high rates of illiteracy. We should offer free literacy education throughout the country for all age ranges with the caveat that basic privileges such as voting, getting a driver’s license, and procreating should be suspended until one can pass a basic literacy test.
SOURCES

Rogers, Megan. (2013). Troubling stats on adult literacy. Inside Higher Ed.http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/08/us-adults-rank-below-average-global-survey-basic-education-skills#ixzz2pSf0jtfW

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2013). OECD Skills Outlook for 2013. First results from the survey of adult skills. OECD Publishing.http://skills.oecd.org/documents/OECD_Skills_Outlook_2013.pdf

http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-25-more-signs-that-america-is-not-1-2012-6

http://www.cnet.com/news/riots-suicides-and-other-issues-in-foxconns-iphone-factories/

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/08/us-adults-rank-below-average-global-survey-basic-education-skills#ixzz2pSf0jtfW