Literacy Abbreviations

Literacy is the learning process usually developed in the early years, where one learns to read and write . With this, the individual becomes able to communicate with others.

Even though this skill is described as acquired in a child’s early years, there are those who start late in school, even at a very advanced stage, such as those who learn to read and write after their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s or 60s. years old.

Regarding the school initiation period, educators pay more attention to students at this stage, as it is when they are discovering the world around them and learning the skills necessary to develop verbal and non-verbal communication .

Literacy involves, in addition to learning the alphabet and numbers, also the development of motor coordination and the formation of syllables, later also the formation of words and sentences.

The term literacy comes from “to alphabetize” which, in turn, comes from alphabet.

And literacy is fundamental for every individual, because knowing how to read and write is important for this individual to find his way, both in his professional life and in his personal life. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) defines literacy as a process for the acquisition of basic cognitive skills that are crucial for the socioeconomic development of society’s awareness capacity and also of critical reflection that is essential for personal and social change.

Learning to read and write is a precursor to the development of the autonomous and critical capacity of the human being .

Literacy process
The literacy process comprises a set of activities aimed at developing reading and writing skills. In addition, such activities contribute to the individual also developing skills of understanding texts and language in general, which also includes operations with number, something that is essential for the student to advance to the next levels of learning.

But the literacy process also helps the individual to develop their socialization skills. Being in an environment with other individuals, it is possible to have a close interaction, with exchanges of ideas and experiences, something that also facilitates access to other cultures.

The condition where the individual is unable to acquire the ability to read and write is known as illiteracy (or also illiteracy). A group of people classified as lacking in literacy also receives this name, not because of their incapacity, but due to different factors, such as the lack of access to schools in the place where they live. For example: “illiteracy in that city is very high”.

There is also what is called functional illiteracy or semi-illiteracy, which is the inability to understand simple texts.

Even though reading and writing are developed together in the early school years, integrating the same learning process, there are those who argue that they are different concepts, classified as literacy and literacy.

In the case of literacy , it is described that it is the process in which the individual develops skills to organize speeches, make reflections, interpretations and also the ability to understand texts. In this, the student develops skills such as letter recognition, memorization of the alphabet, learns syllables and uses them in word formation, uses words to form sentences and texts, etc.

On the other hand , literacy is described as the process of encoding and decoding writing as well as numbers. It goes beyond learning written letters and symbols, but is about the individual’s understanding of them, interpreting and applying the language in their practices in society.

Note that in each of these there are different activities involved.

Thus, it is concluded, based on this idea , that a literate child would not necessarily be a literate child. The same would happen in the case of a literate child, not necessarily being a literate child (unless he went through both processes).

Ideal age to start being literate
It has been proven by science that the ideal age for a child to start studying is from the age of 6. It is said that at this age the child already has the ability to develop reading and writing skills.

It is necessary to use physical resources for this, such as paper , pencils, coloring pencils, drawings, etc. to help in this literacy process, as well as educational activities and games. All this will help in the development of the child.

Digital literacy
There is also the concept of digital literacy , which is about starting an individual to use computer resources. And so the child or adult starts to use the tools and resources made available by the digital world. Digital literacy is also important for digital inclusion programs.

List of Acronyms Related to Literacy