Literacy is proposed as comprising five interrelated processes: reading (the process of making meaning); writing (use of orthography); speaking (act of communication through vocabulary,signing and other); listening (that is, attending to, and different from hearing) and the almost overlooked process of viewing (attending to concepts conveyed by visual representations).

– Standard for the English Language Arts Publication (1996), a joint project of the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.

LITERACY is a critical pillar of national development. But in order for this pillar to perform its function, intervening social, emotional, cognitive, physical and educational factors must not be downplayed.

The extent to which literacy emerges is dependent on the social and emotional environments. It is expedient that the home, being the first school, nurture an environment that is conducive to its young members’ development into literate citizens. If the child is expected to be a member of the “literacy club” then the community must allow him the freedom of taking risks. He is to be tended and befriended without undue pressure. If the environment is not conducive to literacy growth and development, the young member of the “club” might embrace negative behaviours. It is important to remind ourselves that the social and emotional environments will either militate against or enhance the strength of the pillar for national development.

Cognitive ability impacts literacy development in ways we might not be aware of. There are children who will be sent to schools seven days for the week and twice on Sundays or Saturdays but who will never learn to read or write and will show depressed rate of vocabulary and have a low level of language development.

The relationship between literacy and cognitive growth is reciprocal according to Rater (1993). Rater further postulated that it is likely that linguistic and cognitive ability develop in parallel, moreover, reading leads to fuller development in syntax and may also promote cognitive efficiency.

As children grow, their capacity to encode, store and retrieve material increases. Among the physical factors influencing literacy development and growth are auditory, visual, and oral language abilities. Speech articulation problems may, to a greater or lesser extent, contribute to low literacy performance. It is to be understood, however, that the inability of readers to articulate specific sounds does not necessarily mean they cannot make sense of words in which the sound appears, although many readers with articulation problems also have language disorders.

Visual processing plays a surprising role in literacy development. This may be a complicating factor where orientation or rotation error (b for d and p for q), mirror image ( _ for E ) and transportation error (was for saw) cause confusions. An awareness of these factors should contribute to the manner in which instructions are facilitated in an attempt to enhance literacy development.

The instructional programmes that are implemented in our schools can in some way militate against, or positively influence literacy growth. Diversity exists in our classrooms and sometimes students will not benefit from ‘one size fits all’ educational instruction. Inappropriate material, ineffective instructions and inadequate classroom management are important factors that might affect the support the pillar is intended to offer.

The essential pillar of literacy can, and should support national development if all the building partners are aware of the roles the social, emotional, cognitive, physical and educational factors play in this process.

Viola Fider is the assistant professor of Literacy Education at Northern Caribbean University. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching of Reading and Language Arts (MAT) from Oakland University, Michigan.