Barriers to Literacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Barriers to Literacy - Essay Example Over the years different legislations have been passed by government to facilitate the literacy and learning environment but at times these laws become a barrier as laws are difficult to understand and implement. Also, there could be administrative barriers at school, college, university, and district and state levels. Multicultural environments pose barriers to learning and literacy as students seek companionship with the people of same background and language. Interactions among classmates who are from vastly diverse linguistic backgrounds are different from the students with mainly same ethnic or linguistic background. â€Å"Traditionally, some of the factors that restrict access to full literacy for language-minority students have included (a) xenophobic English-only movements (Donahue, 1995); (b) limited resources and personnel within ESL (August & Hakuta, 1997); (c) controversy about bilingual education (Faltis & Hudelson, 1998; Krashen, 1996); (d) differences about the durati on and type of language services children should receive (Collier, 1987); and (e) cultural and linguistic deficit models (Luke, 1986)† (Grant & Wong, 2003). Motivation of individuals for stirring the process of literacy and human development is considered one of the main barriers to learning. â€Å"For adult learners, however, learning is not usually an externally imposed, secondary role, but one that they freely choose. Adults learn to achieve both intrinsic (Bruner, 1966) and extrinsic rewards† (Dinmore, 1997).