The Importance of Academic Literacy, Inculcating a Love of Learning and Seeking Knowledge in Our Young

Hickens, C (2014): A Parent's Guide to Academic Literacy at IAMS: https://slideplayer.com/slide/2547438/

As a former teacher of English as a First Language in an international school in Malaysia, I frequently hear parents saying, "Ah! I am not worried about the subject of English. My child is fluent in the language. He/she speaks English better than his/her own mother tongue". I had to bite my tongue and refrain from pointing out the differences between "academic language" and "social language". Just because a child is relatively fluent in one language does not automatically grant the child with the ability to perform academically in that language.

The language of academic English is different from social English. Generally, there are different types of competencies needed in languages. Most agree that Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) which relates to everyday English is different from Cognitive and Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). It is easy for us to overestimate a child's proficiency level because he/she is proficient in BICS, when in school, what is needed is CALP - the ability to understand and utilize more abstract and specialist language. In fact, even on the aspect of vocabulary alone, linguists have came up with an Academic Word List - a list of words most frequently found in various academic journals across all topics. This list is separate from the General Word List, and ideally all students should be familiar with most of these words and are able to comprehend the different meanings of each word, as well as use them in their writing accurately prior to enrolling in universities.

A study conducted by Harji et. al. (2015) in an institution of higher learning in one of the southern states in Malaysia found that most undergraduates who took part in the productive vocabulary levels test (Nation & Laufer 1999) had the vocabulary level of 2000 words, and almost none was capable of performing at the University Word List section. This means that most of the undergraduates who underwent this study had insufficient vocabulary knowledge to cope with reading academic journals and possibly with studies at university. This finding appears to be confirmed by a study conducted by Ab Manan et. al (2017) who found that most Malaysian undergraduates in the study appear to have a receptive vocabulary of 2,000 to 3,000 word families and the productive vocabulary of 2,000 word families. Only half of the students achieved the basic requirement in the academic word level proposed for tertiary level studies. Numerous other studies conducted among local undergraduates appear to have come to similar findings. These statistics have potential major consequences to the future of our country even as we strive to compete internationally for foreign direct investments in the area of knowledge economy.

While the state of our learners'  and undergraduates' vocabulary levels are worrying, there are also other aspects of academic literacy that we need to be aware of. There are different genres in academic reading and writing, both scientific and literary, and each is imbued with its own characteristics in terms of organization and language. To perform well in school and later on at tertiary level,  the child needs to be aware of these characteristics and present them in their own writing or when making oral presentations. This is on top of comprehending the content and concepts contained in each subject. Not an easy feat for a child / student whose first language is not English.

I believe though that all is not lost, but in order to be competitive with native speakers whose proficiency is undeniable, we need to start with our kids at a young age. Start what? There is a need to start exposing children to the different genres of academic reading and writing, its characteristics and ensure that our students in schools are sufficiently presented with models and are then sufficiently scaffolded in their earlier attempts at producing their versions.

While we may not have all the say in how the teaching and learning is done in school, we can make a difference at home. How?

1. By encouraging our child to read widely, and to read various genres of writing. They should not stop at just reading fiction. A love for knowledge and a thirst for information should be inculcated from young and books / reading resources should be seen as the first sources of reference. When he was young, my son loved to ask questions, and my job was to direct him to the books and paragraphs that would have answers to his questions as much as possible. We would read it together sometimes, or he would find out and tell me the answer to his question.

2. Make each home literacy friendly. Books should be available to read, interesting posters can be placed on bedroom walls. Beautiful storybooks / picture books, quotations can decorate children's rooms rather than toys. Make words come alive from young. Point out signs on the street, on your t-shirt, on cars. Read, read, read together.

2. Teachers and parents themselves need to be aware of the different genres of academic reading and writing be it descriptive, persuasive, expository or narrative. Understand what are the features of each type and get children to be aware and on the lookout to identify how each feature is utilized and its function(s). Discuss these features with them. Commend them when they notice and comment on similarities or differences. Noticing is the first step to learning, and hopefully learners can implement these relevant features in their own writing.

3. I would also start learners from young to make their own books, based on the different genres. Get  children to be the author of their own books on their favourite animals, based on what they read from encyclopedias, picture books, specific non-fiction books on animals that we can borrow from the library. They can also draw or cut pictures from magazines. Let them utilize the use of headings, sub-headings, introduction, body, closing and have fun writing captions on their selected pictures. Make it fun. Or they can write their own fairy tales, or a journal entry on a trip together. Get them to present their work. Display them in pride of place in the house. 

Such simple activities can of course escalate in levels of difficulty, depending on your child's readiness. Just make learning, reading, researching and writing as fun as possible. Parents should always model a love for reading and the ability to seek information from relevant sources because, no matter what, children spend more time at home than in school.

Please remember that, just because a child seems to be fluent in a language, this does not indicate a readiness to assume the demands of the classroom. A love of reading, learning and a thirst for knowledge should be inculcated in our young from the earliest age possible.