Throughout this assessment, the focused discussions will be on my understanding of the diversity of English across time, geography, culture, and class, and explaining why it is essential for teachers today in the twenty-first century to be aware of multiliteracies and language variation. These topics will be discussed further by the use of the weekly readings and further research gained. To gain a better understanding of these topics, firstly there is a need to understand the meaning of Language and literacy. According to Gee (2011) language can consist of things such as cognitive phenomenon, physical (speech, recordings, and writings- material objects), …show more content…
English has changed throughout time, according to Gee (2011) the meaning of English is language. How has language evolved? Throughout the ages, there have been many influences to cause languages evolution. Such influences as people residing in many countries and continents, either migrating or in previous centuries colonisation, for example, today’s English speaking people would be more inclined to use the Spanish word “loco” to describe another person who is “crazy” (Zazulak, 2016). Other influences can include people knowing one language coming in contact with other people who speak a different language to themselves. These people do not speak identically, people that reside within the same community there may be variations of language. These variations can be according to the person’s age, gender, ethnicity, culture and social and educational background, for example, the word used for “courting” has now evolved to “dating” (Zazulak, 2016). Zazulak (2016) discusses how English has evolved throughout the …show more content…
It is important to understand the diversity of English across time, geography, culture and class, and also multiliteracies as these topics play an important role for educators to be effective in their classrooms. English has evolved throughout the ages; such evolution has involved influences such as where people are residing in other countries and continents, migration, colonisation, and people coming into contact with other people who speak different languages to themselves (Zazulak, 2016). Variations may also be within the same community and may be due to a person’s age, gender, ethnicity, culture, social and educational backgrounds (Zazulak, 2016). Intercultural is part of the Australian curriculum taught within schools; the ACARA (n.d) discusses English also influenced by different cultural groups, languages, speakers, and writers.Learning opportunities are provided to students to engage with literature ranging from a wide range of cultures, where they can explore the role of myth, symbolism and life matters in perspectives of other people and their ideas, from the past and present (ACARA, n.d). Educators can build bridges from a students cultural and language ‘funds of knowledge’ and minimise the ‘insularity of the language of the classroom’ to