Hsieh, Sheng Kang (Sam)

EDUC 629
Dr. Amy Stornaiuolo
Inquiry #1 2021

Autobiographical Inquiry into Literacy Learning

Although time changes constantly, the importance of literacy for humans

has never changed, and the types of literacy are even more diverse. Adolescents can

reach out to the world not only through books, but also through the Internet, and

social media, Moreover, language plays a huge impact on literacy skills, different

languages influence the way we shape our perception of the world.

I was born and raised in Taiwan, both of my parents are speaking Chinese,

and so do I. Ever Since I entered middle school, almost all the education I have

received was spoon-feeding education. There was an unforgettable English learning

experience for me in middle school, the content of the class on that day was to read an

article, we need to learn fifteen vocabulary, before we started to read it. My teacher

just recited these vocabulary twice without giving any example sentences, after 10

minutes we took the spelling test. Apparently, I was not ready, so I got a bad grade on

the spelling test. From that moment, learning English become a hard time for me, was

filled with frustration, especially I always got confused with the words “adapt”,

“adopt”, and “adept”. Teachers told students what they need to know, and what will

be tested on the exam . It seems that the purpose of learning in Taiwan is having the

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tests, instead of obtaining knowledge, and growth. It is similar to the Banking

concept, proposed by Freire. Teacher as a narrator, turns students into a container to

fill them up. Thus, I tried to get rid of this learning environment, I chose to go to

study English in the UK for two months as an exchange student. This totally changed

the way how I learn and know English.

When I set foot on the land of London, I was attracted by the enormous red

double-decker bus and the elegant British-style building along the streets, even the

name of the subway “Tube” was catching my attention. On the first day of the class,

self-introduction always was a routine no matter where you are. However, the way we

introduced ourselves was different, it was the person who sat next to you would give

the introduction to everyone. This greatly not only decreased my anxiety of

introducing myself in pubic, but also motivated me to meet more new friends. It made

me feel I was capable of communicating with people by speaking English rather than

having a language test only. I benefited from one activity a lot, which was the photo-

taking task, the British English teacher gave us a mission that we need to take pictures

with four different strangers on the street, they have to be a couple, tourist, while the

last person could be chosen by ourselves. We also got an instruction paper, and it

provided some useful information about where can we find these people easily, and

the vocabulary and sentences that we had learned before. Then the group action

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began, unfortunately, things didn’t go well at first, some tourists were reluctant to take

photos with us, because they are worried they'll get ripped off by us. Not until we

explained the reason to them did they take a picture with us friendly. We used the

interrogative sentence “Could I” or “May I” to make the sentence, for instance,

“Could I take the photo with you for our English learning lesson.”. This activity

involved the literacy skills with reading and cultural understanding. It was the way

our British teacher expected us to do, we were given an opportunity to apply the

contents we learned to real life, so that English was able to use in authentic

communication. Even now I cannot remember the words “adept”, “adopt”, and

“adapt”, but I still remember everything that happened during the activity.

Banking education resists dialogue; Problem-solving method regards

dialogue as indispensable to the act of cognition which unveils reality (Freire, 1970).

It is not hard to tell the differences between how I learned English in Taiwan and the

UK. One is close to the Banking concept, the other is Problem-solving method. I

memorized the vocabulary to take the test and read the textbook, nothing contributed

to my English learning. While Problem-solving method are using English abundantly

through task-based activities such as games, role-plays, and so on.

There are seven ways to kill students’ Motivation, “prepare them for tests” is

the biggest culprit. If those tests and grades are mostly focused on memorizing facts

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and mastering mechanical skills, you’ve won the Triple Crown at creating a roomful

of nonreaders (Kohn, 2010). I can boldly assume that teachers in Taiwan almost are

good at creating a roomful of nonreaders. Taiwanese adolescents are not interested in

reading because they lack the desire to learn. As Kohn (2010) noted that supporting

students’ autonomy is to meet their need to be in control of their own lives, offer

opportunities to decide along with the necessary guidance and encouragement, to

minimize the salience of evaluative pressure. Thus, teacher must know what students

exactly needed, and support their autonomy, instead of always helping them to make

decisions. Besides, over-focusing on skills is also a way to lower students’ motivation,

for me spelling the words correctly was the skill I practiced, school in teaches that

literacy is about a set of skills, not a way to engage a part of the world (Kohn, 2010).

It leads to the consequence of reading is a requirement by school rather than learning

what learners are interested in. Looking back on these two experiences I had, it makes

me reflect on as an educator what could I bring to my students in the future, either the

skill of having tests or the ability to read the world through learning English. I hope

the latter one not only can produce more inspiration and possibilities for learners to

learn English, but also make adolescents read and learn actively.

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 References

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum Publishers.

Kohn, A. (2010). How to create nonreaders: Reflections on motivation, learning, and.

sharing power. English Journal, 100(1), 16–22.