Lexicon

Lexicon of particular terms used.

Literacy is reading, writing, speaking and listening, and involves the knowledge and skills required to engage in activities required for effective functioning in the community //Media literacy// is the process of accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms. It uses an inquiry-based instructional model that encourages people to ask questions about what they watch, see and read. Media literacy education is one means of developing media literacy. It provides tools to help people critically analyze messages to detect propaganda, censorship, and bias in news and public affairs. //Visual literacy// is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading. The term “visual literacy” (VL) is credited to John Debes, who in 1969 offered a tentative definition of the concept: “Visual literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a human being can develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiences.”1 However, because multiple disciplines such as education, art history and criticism, rhetoric, semiotics, philosophy, information design, and graphic design make use of the term visual literacy, arriving at a common definition of visual literacy has been contested since its first appearance in professional publications.
 * Literacy**

//Beginning - 0 - 3 years // Words - Begins to Scribble Reading - Handles a book, turns pages and looks at pictures Writing - Pretends to write on paper, understands that signs and symbols tell a message //Early - Emergent - 3 - 5 years // Words - Uses scribble with random letters and numerals, uses P for people Reading - Chooses favourite books, joins in by reading aloud, memorises books, understands directionality Writing - Scribble containing drawing and writing, invents letters and copies letters //Emergent - P - Kindergarten // Words - Records the initial and final sounds in a word Reading - Begins to grasp the concept of words, reads word by word matching spoken word to print. Writing - writing letters and words, leaves spaces, some sentence and punctuation structure. //Early - K - Year 1 // Words - Can write many high frequency words, builds vocabulary Reading - May still read word by word, uses self correction, can retell text in sequence Writing - Writes about topics that are meaningful, can write simple sentences. //Transitional - Year 1 - 2 // Words - Uses phonics, morphology to write words, understanding that a sound can be made by two letters. Reading - Reads with more fluency in phrases, reads silently, can retell and summarise. Writing - Can write several sentences with ideas and punctuation, checks spelling, speed of writing increases. //Extending - Year 2 - 4 // Words - Extends of vocabulary to suit different genres, descriptive language increases Reading - Changes style of reading to suit genre, uses a range of strategies to identify new words and comprehension. Writing - Writes in a range of text types for different audiences, revises, edits proof reads and check for fluency, uses a range of punctuation conventions, can use paragraphs and link sentences.
 * Phases in literacy development**

The zone of proximal development, often abbreviated //ZPD//, is the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help. It is a concept developed by the Russian psychologist and social constructivist Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky maintained that a child follows an adult's example and gradually develops the ability to do certain tasks without help or assistance. Vygotsky's often-quoted definition of zone of proximal development presents it as 'the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers' (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86).
 * Zone of proximal development**