QUESTION & RATIONALE

QUESTION

This teaching demonstration is an exploratory question. It is a continued conversation with text in exploring, extrapolating and reflecting on the balance of oracy and literacy in learning and teaching.

The goal is to bring an awareness of respect for oral language in relationship to literate language and explore how to balance both perspectives in a biased school culture.

Working within the Navajo culture as a teacher, I began to understand this duality better through talking with others, reading and thinking about my own teaching and learning styles. Come to find out I am a storyteller, too, and I could relate. In college, my academic papers were returned with comments: not organized, get to your point, interesting approach to the assignment. It was an instructor who recognized my storytelling voice distinct from the academic voice. It was all about audience and communicating within a cultural perspective in mind.

The balance of oracy (listening and speaking; oral, aural) to literacy (reading and writing) is not recognized or validated in our school culture that values literacy above orality. In this way, we are leaving out many voices that have something to contribute and valuable perspectival insight as learning strengths not recognized in our school culture.

Language is not neutral and writing and reading represent historical social, critical and political contexts of a status of power. For example, legally denying certain groups of people the right to read and write and therefore, limiting their equitable access of information is embedded within the historical fabric of our nation, such as Jim Crow Laws. From a critical pedagogical perspective, those who are master manipulators of the written word, gain respect within the dominant society.

Now in our over zealousness to teach everyone to read and write as the paradigm of literacy, we are forgetting about the rich cultural funds of knowledge that children bring to school.  Many children come from rich oral backgrounds wherein their primary knowledge and learning strength is oracy. In general, this knowledge is not recognized as being worthy of passing standardized tests and shuffled to more superficial occasions as Black History, Hispanic or Native American History Months.

Language Arts includes, listenning, speaking, reading, writing and thinking. The efficacy of future reading and writing skills is contingent upon a strong foundation of listening and speaking skills. There needs to be a more balanced approach to oracy and literacy in our school culture because diversity landscape in our schools is ever increasing.

Kabagarama (1997) predicts the future trend of diversity represented in our demographics. By the year 2050, our nation will be a majority-minority with no one racial or ethnic group predominating (p. 11).