Megan Shue ENGL 1101: Mid-Semester Writing

In the ethnographical study of Yang Li, Guofang Li outlined four major aspects of literacy that helped her search deeper into Yangs literacy in- and outside of the home. These four facets are literacy opportunity, instruction, cooperation, and socio-emotional equality. Each of these have their own effect on ones literacy and his or her literacy development. Literacy opportunity refers to the connections one has within the home. Examples of literacy opportunity, as given in the reading, range from observing parents reading and writings to exposure to media to direct contact with printed material. As for me, I had many literacy opportunities within the home including books, media, and interactions with letters from others sent via mail. In terms of instruction in relation to literacy, Li says it refers to direct or indirect guidance provided by parents. She goes on to explain that Leseman and de Jong concluded that literacy instruction is when a parent and child are share reading and the parent points, labels, repeats, explains, and evaluates the reading. My literacy instruction was mainly given by my mom. She helped teach me many new things in life that have helped further my education and literacy. Cooperation, as stated in Family Literacy, includes the participation of the child in events related to literacy; this could be mirrored by the childs acceptance and understanding of his or her role in the activities taking place as well as his or her response to literacy instruction given by parents. I was decently cooperative within events related to literacy. I may not have always liked what the event consisted of, but I always tried my best because I knew it would help me further down the road. Page | 1

Megan Shue ENGL 1101: Mid-Semester Writing

Lastly, the socio-emotional quality of literacy pertains to indicators such as the bond shared by the parents and the child. In this article, Li expands the definition given by Leseman and de Jong and goes on to say that socio-emotional literacy can include the pressures one, specifically Yang, receives from home and from school that affects that persons emotional wellbeing. The socio-emotional part of literacy was always a roller coaster for me. Sometimes the pressures that were put on me had a great effect on my happiness while others did not. A place filled with love, laughter, and comfort; a place where we spend most of our time. Many people manage to be blind to the fact that ones home environment sets the basis for his or her lifelong literacy. In the home, one has the opportunity to develop many literacies both related and unrelated to school. Personally, the home, figuratively speaking, has taught me many things. While growing up, as stated before, my home was filled with books, magazines, newspapers, and different kinds of mail. These all helped increase my literacy opportunity. Along with the above examples, I was also exposed to a ton of media sources such as computers, phones, and iPads. Of course when I was younger I would read and look at picture books that had few words that were simple to understand; this built the foundation of my literacy. As I grew older the books I engaged in were at a much higher level. My family did not keep very many novels in the house. We grew out of the stage where reading was highly encouraged due to other factors that influenced our literacy and time. My mom taught me how to read and write all kinds of things. She has been my main literacy sponsor throughout my whole life. We would read books together, practice writing, and she helped me learn all kinds of new ways to strengthen my literacy. Because of all of this, my literacy instruction has always been the best, at least in my opinion. My dad taught me how to do things outside of schoolwork, like how to cook, play sports, and how to fish. I always loved the Page | 2

Megan Shue ENGL 1101: Mid-Semester Writing

instruction given by my dad because I liked learning how to do things other than just schoolrelated tasks. As a child, I was always cooperative and attentive to the instruction given by my parents, even if I did not want to do what they said. Also when I was younger I always knew my role and position in the tasks they had me do and I understood that they would all make me better in whatever I was doing. Now when I reached middle and high school, this was a different story. Home literacy did not play as big of role as it once did, so my parents did not cooperate well in keeping in touch with being my main literacy providers. Although this held true, they still tried with some things. I never wanted to do what my parents said and never understood why they made me do the things they did. Deep down I knew it was to help me for the future, but most teens are pretty rebellious to what their parents say, and I was one of those teens. As I have said before, my socio-emotional aspect of home literacy has been a roller coaster. I have enjoyed certain things, yet others have really taken a toll on my well-being. I know all of it has helped me even if I did not believe it did at the time it took place. The literacy that has been taught to me has definitely changed me and who I was before I knew many things dealing with literacy. All in all, the four aspects of literacy outlined in Lis article Family Literacy- literacy opportunity, literacy instruction, cooperation, and socio-emotional equality- all play a major role in shaping ones literacy development. They each have their own way of influencing this development, yet all coincide with one another. I honestly believe that literacy opportunity and cooperation both have the biggest influence on how a persons literacy turns out. The more opportunities one has, the stronger his or her literacy will be. Also, the more cooperative a

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Megan Shue ENGL 1101: Mid-Semester Writing

person is with his or her literacy opportunities and instruction, the greater chance he or she is preparing themselves to learn more.

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