Mastering Literacy: The Four Levels of Written Language

Mastering Literacy and Writing Proficiency

UNESCO defines functional literacy as follows: A functional illiterate is a person who cannot undertake those activities in which literacy is required for the efficient functioning of their group and community, and which should enable them to continue to use reading, writing, and arithmetic in the service of their own development and that of the community.

In short, being literate means having the ability to act effectively within one's group. This involves being able to fill out, without anybody's help, the form to renew a passport, being able to read and interpret a notice from a utility company (such as light or water), and writing a personal letter. That is to say, it is the ability to function with autonomy in an increasingly urbanized society where the written word prevails.

Clearly, literacy is more than just acquiring the ability to associate sounds and lettering or interpreting and using a code in this modern and developed society. If the goal of education is to train students so that they become creative thinkers and active communicators, we can only accept a literacy model that recognizes the importance of the epistemic dimension.

The Four Levels of Written Language Acquisition

The author Gordon Wells identifies four levels in the acquisition and mastery of written language, which are integrated with each other:

• Executive Level: The ability to translate a message from the spoken to the written mode and vice versa. It implies the domain of the code, which the school works on almost exclusively through reading aloud, dictation, and spelling exercises.
• Functional Level: This conceives of written language as a fact of interpersonal communication that solves daily demands. It implies knowledge of the characteristics of certain types of texts and allows us to use language and written signs in everyday life, such as writing a resume or a letter of complaint.
• Instrumental Level: The ability to register and find information via written or oral means. It provides access to knowledge and learning; it is the process of making the language an instrument, which is hardly present in the school system. An example of this is solving math problems.
• Epistemic Level: Refers to the realm of writing as a way of thinking and using language creatively and critically. This distinguishes human communication from that of animals. It is the level through which we help children develop their creative abilities through oral and written language.

Integrating Literacy in Education

These four levels should work seamlessly and simultaneously, integrating them into the understanding of daily schedules. At school, the second and third levels are often present, although it is difficult to find the joint application of all four levels simultaneously. Learning should be structured so that students do not have to wait for the results of the former levels before engaging with the others.