Reading Journal 5 “Literacy and Identity”

Euis Fauziah Ramadhani (17070835002)

Literacy in Education

Who are you? It may be a simplest question for some people, but tricky for others
who faced identity crisis or for those who are not able to show their true identities for
specified reasons. Literacy and identity remain interwoven in very complex ways for
adolescents as they attempt to make sense and meaning from in and out of school
experiences. The teacher should consider literacy as tightly bound up with the students’
evolving sense of identity rather than think of literacy simply as a set of skill.

The need of the existence of third space which is filled by students’ identities is
needed in order to engage the students to meaningful learning. The teachers sometimes are
very focused on a skill-based view of literacy, but it is useful to take boarder view of
literacy advocated by literacy and identity, where how much and what the students choose
to read, go are an integral part of who they and other people think they are. Because identity
is a social rather than individual construction, it is in play in any and social interaction
specifically in the classroom. It can be viewed by what stories that they choose to be told
within interaction.

The strict rules in the implementation of Indonesia’s Education system are the main
barricade where the students are not able to show their identity. They are given limited time
and space to practice and to explore their knowledge in their own ways. Moreover, the rigid
way of teachers’ teaching in the classroom are lack in motivating students to love reading,
writing, and learning. They tend to monopolize the classroom, stick on the book and
sometimes give examples that students do not familiar with. It is also argued that teaching
and learning are much less effective if educator and learner cultural values conflict, and if
school literacy learning does not connect with personal experience. It becomes an unsolved
homework yet for teachers in constructing students’ identity as students who identically
love to read and write as well as appreciating students’ formed identity beyond the school
through engaging them in the classroom.

In the higher performing schools, students are relentlessly invigorated to go beyond

the basic learning experiences in exciting and enriching ways. Involving popular culture
those students familiar with like hip hop can be adapted in the teaching and learning process
which aims to engage the students to meaningful learning. Doing a rap project which tells
about their live and experiences and adapting rap rhyme by changing the lyric of the rap
based on the materials and objectives are some ways to involve their identity in the literacy
practices in the classroom.

Because hip hop forces discussion boarder than school, about race, poverty, identity,
family, and hate, which commonly worried by students, it can be as space of practice that
challenges some notions in education such as place learning pedagogy as well as pedagogical
resource for constructing world views. Through involving hip hop in education it can create a
third space for the students, because using hip hop in the classroom has opportunity to
acknowledge pain, hate, anger, and injustice which the students may face in the real life
instead of the homework. It is also an action where the teacher is reaching into a world that
students are familiar with instead of pulling them into teacher’s world. They will see you
playing and engaging with them instead of retreating in fear. Teacher is showing respect for
something that Theirs (students’ have) in the classroom. In short, Life trajectories, personal
interest, funds of knowledge, communities of practices, and identity are playing a significant
role in it.

To deepen understanding in the interrelation between literacy and identity which can
increase students’ identity recognition in the classroom, the teachers are challenged to create
third space which is filled by students’ identity in the teaching and learning process. These
are the recommendation books that must be read in order to dig out the understanding about
literacy and identity connection.

The first book is Literacy and Education by Kate Pahl and Jennifer Rowsell chapter 5.
The chapter highlight at how meaning-makers set in parts of themselves in their literacy
discharge and how identities embed as they cross sites where identity breathes life into
literacy. The way how students express their identity is not only through their dress, accent,
gesture or way of talking, but also through language. Identities play an initial role in our
students’ literacy enlargement and the other way around where literacy practices may change
or create new identity for students because the way we see the world is part of our identity
which is useful as filter through which we present ourselves to the world. Thus, it is
important to make a link between home and school literacy practices by paying attention or
observing the artefacts as the trace of identity. By recognizing and honouring students’
experience in their social life also means as bringing their identities into the classroom and
creates a third space which is filled with students’ identity.

Suara dari Marjin Literacy sebagai Praktik Sosial chapter 5 defined some examples
related to literacy and identity where someone may have more than one identity. It cannot be
determined by the occupation but through what they are doing. In this chapter shows the
domestic workers’ identity despite of her profession which has close relation and influence to
and by her literacy practices. The inspiring domestic worker is able to do her jobs’ obligation
as well as writing digital stories about her daily life and experiences which are posted in her
blog. She shows that there is no firm connection between occupation and identity because it
is based on what we are doing in our live. For instance, we are English department students,
but we do not do what the students have to do like instead of reading English book we are
more confortable to read Bahasa Indonesia book, it means that we have not own the English
department students’ identity. Conversely, Riri the domestic worker has higher capability in
writing and able to unconsciously hide her status as domestic worker because of her ability.
Writing is not merely as reflection of us, yet it can change and form new identities.

Bronwyn T. Williams and Amy A. Zenger book entitle Representation of Literacy

and Identity can boarder our understanding and literacy practices interest by seeing them in
the literary work like in the movie and novel. It shows that literacy do not only happen in the
education field but everywhere even in the critical moment of live. For example, the character
Meggie is able to escape from heart-breaking event which can destroy her life because she is
able to read the contract and able to do refusing action in avoiding to sign it. This book shows
some connections between literacy, identity, gender, political, etc.