Adolescent Literacy

Adolescent literacy is concerned with learners’ identities as the learners are at a stage where they are trying to position themselves within the society that they live in. When learners progress to Grade 10, the language of learning becomes a basis of developing their career paths and social positionality. The NCS implies that in this highly competitive technological world and in the development of entrepreneurship, achieving this goal depends on the learner’s language competency (DoE, 2003:12). This reflects that the element of language competency plays a pivotal role in shaping the futures of learners at an adolescent stage.

Although the data reveals that a number of learners in Grade 9 are still lagging behind in English, they still experience social pressure to be able to use the language for various purposes in their lives. For instance, they have to use English when using multimedia as they communicate with their peers who do not necessarily speak their mother tongue. Literacy is also used as means of constructing their social identities in English as it is used around their communities. Therefore they need basic proficiency, so that they are able to participate fully

at school and in society. Meltzer et al. (2001:7) comments that learners at this stage need good literacy skills especially reading and writing in order to participate fully and claim their rights and fulfil their responsibilities. Failure to acquire these skills results in a high rate of school dropouts, unemployment and an increase in socio–economic problems.

There is an indication from the findings that our learners have low-self esteem in expressing themselves not only in English but also in front of their classmates. This demotivation is escalated also by the lack of basic reading and writing skills. It is clear from most of the learners in this study that their literacy skills were not developed at a primary level. Peer support then becomes a preferred way of boosting their self-esteem and getting necessary help without being ridiculed in the classroom, as indicated from the data. This could be one of the best practices which could be used to assist learners in improving their language skills.

There are literacy practices that are most popular amongst the learners, which are seen as the means of defining themselves and tackling issues that are of concern in their lives. For instance, learners have a preference for writing poems, reading magazines and writing music instead of being confined to literary texts that do not address the socio- economic challenges that they face in their communities and those that do not have any relevance to their well- being. These literacy practices that are preferred, act as a way of constructing their social identities. At the same time they create space for free expression without any criticism or judgement. Also these practices could address any discomforts that exist in their society. Although these practices are not entirely accepted in a classroom environment, they could be a key in unleashing their capabilities and draw interest in reading and writing. Alvermann (2001:3) states that young people’s literacy skills are not keeping pace with societal demands of living in an information age that change rapidly. In order to close this literacy gap, we need to accept practices that are popular among adolescents and encourage the use of multimedia to enhance their language skills.

The challenge of teenagers who are still lagging behind is a common sight in South Africa especially in township schools, as we have a language policy that is not properly implemented and which is disadvantaging the learners because English is not necessarily their First Additional Language, as they come from multilingual backgrounds. Also socio- economic background of these learners does not necessarily facilitate any assistance in uplifting or

developing their literacy skills, as most of them come from squatter camps where poverty is prevalent . Also, a finding of this study was that some of the learners who started learning English in Grade 6 come from the rural parts of the Eastern Cape. It is a known trend in Cape Town that each year there are number of learners who move from the rural parts of the Eastern Cape to seek better educational opportunities.

In adolescence there is an urgency of acquiring a language for academic purposes as they are supposed to be preparing for tertiary education. In the case of this research, it becomes a reality that most learners in this study have not acquired enough language skills to prepare for tertiary level. The classroom environment does not accommodate the “marginalised readers” in assisting in unleashing other practices from them that could be beneficial to their language improvement. This means the classroom environment does not allow alternative literacy practices that might come from the learners themselves, especially literacy practices that are inter-connected with their cultural practices.

The learners’ progress in literacy is often assessed at a classroom level, so as to monitor their progress and give support where there are barriers. The language barriers are a reality to these learners as it hinders their progression not only to the next grade, but also to tertiary level. Learners, who proceed to tertiary with limited academic language proficiency, are likely to find difficulty in their studies which may result in high levels of school dropouts, which is prevalent among teenagers.