Definition of Literacy for the UAE Context

The Importance of Literacy in the 21st Century

Write a short essay (minimum 400 words) defining and explaining a key concept in your major. In your explanation, you should: Quote two different definitions of the term from different sources and comment on how it is defined, highlighting the key concepts involved. Explain the different aspects or types of this concept and/or how the term is related to other concepts. Explain the significance of the term for your major.

Use the term to describe an example from the local context and/or from your own experience. Your Definition Submission should: be written in clear, accurate, academic English. Include evidence from 3 reliable sources. contain clear in-text citations of your sources in APA style. Include a clear references list in APA style at the end of your paper. The keyword of my project is Entrepreneurship in UAE I have added a sample of the project in the files below.

Definition of Literacy for the UAE Context

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), literacy is “more than reading and writing—it is about how we communicate in society. It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language, and culture” (as cited in Wickens & Sandlin, 2007, p. 283). In addition, according to Literacy Advance of Houston (2019), literacy is the “ability to also use numeracy and technology, at a level that enables people to… participate fully in their community” (para. 1).

These definitions highlight important aspects of literacy in the 21^st century. They do not specifically refer to literacy as the knowledge of reading and writing but to communication altogether, encompassing the needs that societies today demand, including the knowledge of technology and numeracy, and the need to be active citizens in the community. This is an important concept in Education because we can see persistent gaps in literacy achievement between various cultural groups in our society today. Therefore, teachers must act as promoters of multiple literacies and include popular culture, sociocultural language pedagogies, and youth participatory action in their classroom literacy instruction (Morrell, 2011).

I strongly believe this definition applies greatly to citizens and residents of the UAE today due to the UAE’s advanced technological-multilingual-diverse and educated society. For example, residents are encouraged to not only be literate in reading and writing but also, to a certain degree, to be knowledgeable of other cultures in order to live in harmony. The UAE is also very dependent on technology: therefore, it is important to acquire basic knowledge of technology and numeracy, which is evident in simple daily tasks like paying for parking. I would also include to this definition the ability to interpret critical visual literacy, which refers to the “understanding of the role and function of images in representation and communication” (Newfield, 2011, p. 82).

Today, due to the wide range of exposure to information and technology, students are seen to have multimodal learning styles. This stresses the importance for educators to integrate multimodal learning into their teaching and undertake a balanced literacy approach. This means that educators must not only depend on textbooks as the main source of knowledge but also integrate multiple literacies, such as using iPads in the classroom, taking students for field trips to expose them to new information, and overall diversifying the exposure to literacy in their classrooms.