Contextualization: The Key to Literacy Education

After reading the essays in Ways of Reading this semester I find validity in the old cliché I still have much to learn. In particular, I thought I knew what major philosophical arguments grounded the field of education however I never realized how many diverse debates are occurring in the field of literacy education. In concluding a theme from the essays, I would suggest a common theme of contextualization and its importance to both writing and education. In Authority and American Usage, David Foster Wallace writes, “you need more than one dialect to get along in school” ( ). Wallace’s quote represents a conclusion of an argument about the role context plays in regards to efficiency with language. In this case Wallace uses the example of a boy who is excellent at rapport with his teachers

but is not able to address his language usage when around his peers. In Evidence, Katherine Schultz talks about the fallacies of our own internal inductive reasoning process; Schultz writes, “you do not need to be one of history’s greatest scientists to combat your own inductive biases,” further, “remembering to attend to counter evidence isn’t difficult; it is simply a habit of mind” ( ). An argument about contextualization’s theme can be made here as well. Whereby, the individual must be present in mind in order to examine the context of their own thoughts and reasoning processes. Lastly, In The “Banking” Concept of Education, Pablo Fiere writes, “the point of departure must always be with men and women in the ‘here and now,’ which constitutes the situation within which they are submerged from which they emerge, and in which they intervene…only by starting from this situation – which determines their perception of it – can they begin to move” (p.

225). Fiere is referring to learning or more broadly inquiry and the educational process in which one begins that inquiry. His classical argument is very common today in such ideas as problem-based learning or student-centered instruction. Again, this is another situation where a theme of contextualization is important and should be evaluated. In summation, I think it is important that teachers, especially new teachers, remain cognizant of the contexts that are at play in their classroom and in their student literacy development. As I have gleamed from Wallace, Schultz and Fiere, context is at the basis of our ability to communicate and also how we ground our arguments. Each student is bringing an individual and unique context to the classroom and that more broadly becomes the overarching context in which we

teach.