Reading together

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Time photoOur course invites you to work with data collection and analysis, readings, and discussion around the field of literacy studies

Blog1 Lina Dong

Blog1 Lina Dong

Hi friends~

I am Lina Dong, a graduate student in Teaching International Languages program in School of Education. I am an international student from China. I got my bachelor in Chinese linguistics and literature; I decided to get an education master in USA when I found myself more interested in teaching and helping students. I like Chico, and I have tried all kinds of stuff in Chico that I had never thought about before. It is a great experience and I have met a lot of great nice people here.

When I re-examine what I read and write in both of English and Chinese, I find that there is mismatch between reading and writing. Chinese: I read for fun, like novels, stories, news, for certain purpose, I read finding a solution to a problem; I write for daily casual conversation with my Chinese friends or important notes. English: I read for study, courses, thesis; I write for work, study and thesis. Apparently,  English is more an academic language for me while Chinese is more a casual language. With different purposes, these two languages work in different areas and parts in my life. I also tried to use Chinese for academic purpose and English for daily conversation, but it turned out that I cannot get so much fun. Purpose and social environment are really important for reading and writing, which is I read from Szwed. The needs can be considered as the internal motivation; sometimes, the needs are the purpose of reading and writing. However, in academic environment, it is hard to see what we can do with the reading and writing sometimes and reading and writing are meaningless.

Szwed has several interesting opinions that I agree. “The focus should be on the school and its relation to the community’s needs and wishes, on the school’s knowledge of these needs and wishes, and on the community’s resources.” (429) When people read ans write, their needs and wishes determine the content they read and the way they do it. When people make decisions, the environment around him/her plays an important role. As Szwed said, “…the social meaning of literacy: that is. the roles these abilities (reading and writing) play in social life;…and the manner in which they are interpreted and tested, not by experts, but by ordinary people in ordinary activities” (422) The people in the community are ordinary people; if the student chooses to be in another community, what he/she reads and writes are influenced by the people in the community or the community itself. I think this would be a  reason that Szwed made this statement “The definition of reading and writing, then, must include social context and function (use) as well as the reader and the text of what is being read and written”. (423)

“It is not only the assumption of a single standard that we must question, but also the assumption of a single, proper learning progression, such that one can only ‘violate’ the rules when one has mastered them.” (426) I totally agree. There are all kinds of semantic examples saying that native speakers can play with their native language by breaking rules. I believe people are learning languages by using them; leaning and using occur at the same time.

 

One Reply to “Blog1 Lina Dong”

  1. Great insights here Lina. And I’m thrilled that you can share your experiences in two languages; this will add a lot of depth to our conversations in class.

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