Acquisition vs Learning

Now, I believe that Gee’s (1992, as cited by Anstey & Bull, 2004) concept of literacy acquisition (subconscious learning) and learning (as a result of explicit teaching) is essential to understanding my personal literacy learning. Students all acquire varying proficiencies at literacy from their home discourses (Gee, 1992, as cited by Anstey & Bull, 2004). I believe I knew my ABCs entering the school system, had acquired them from tv shows, having books read at home, games in preschool, but it was in Kindergarten that I was explicitly taught to read and spell via phonics.

Let’s consider the Literacy Learning Triptych for a moment:

Up to this point in my education, I’d learned of semiotics by learning letters, phonics, colours and their moods, sounds and their tones, and basic words. Much of this was acquired at home. By the time I could read, I was learning through use of semiotics. If we think about it, we can’t deny Anstey & Bull (2004) when saying that the Literacy Learning Triptych acknowledges the usefulness and differences between both acquisition and learning processes as children are exposed to learning literacy. That is to say teachers must take into account student’ prior knowledge before planning explicit literacy learning activities. Remembering that literacies are social practises, Vygotsky provides teachers with an essential theory on how more knowledgeable students can scaffold literacy learning for others:

Thinking back to the paired reading activities and group comprehension exercises, where we would all listen to stories via headphones and read along then answer questions, in first grade, the teacher was using Vygotskian principles whether she intended this or not. Through our chatting, we helped one another learn. Also, from these memories, we see the use of multiliteracies, visual with pictured books, audio readings, and text in the one activity. I’m sure many of us acquired literacy skills and knowledge through these activities by talking together, while other learned through explicit teaching.