Literacies and ESL Learners

As we’ve learned in class, it is difficult to define literacy as just one universal thing. That is why the term literacies is more accurate because the plural term looks at how reading and writing emerge in specific socioeconomic situations and does not just imply that everyone will need the same cookie cutter version. This got me thinking about how someone learning English as a second language might value specific aspects of English literacy differently. I remember when I was helping out in ESL classes at Howard Area Community Center they had courses specifically created for adult learner goals. There was a computer class, a gardening class, a job interview class and a conversation class designed especially for low-level English learners, all outside their regular ESL classes. I think this is important because it helps meet specific needs and does not confine adult learners who(some who may have had important degrees in their home country (to child-like basics. I know from conversation, some mothers wanted to learn specific words to be able to communicate with their kids teachers, some wanted to get the terminology to interview well in a job. I think this is a good example as to why literacies are too complex to just be confined to one version.