Reflecting on Learning a Second Language with Low Literacy Skills

When looking at a page of text written in Nepalese, I could not decode it without any knowledge of the symbols. My undeveloped reading and writing skills in Nepalese resulted in using only the pictures to guess at what the text may be trying to explain. Attempting to decode and comprehend this text was time consuming and exhausting. The material was incomprehensible and overwhelming leading me to become disengaged quickly.

To improve my literacy skills in Nepalese, I would first need to hear and speak simple sentences. After practicing listening and speaking common phrases and vocabulary; the next step would be to learn the sound symbol relationships and how they are written. In order to ensure the input remains comprehensible when beginning to read and write the new language, the text should be short with visual support. My motivation to learn would be heightened if topics meaningful and relevant to my work and daily living were used to teach the language. Since I have developed reading and writing skills in English, I could transfer knowledge of these strategies and meta-cognitive strategies when learning Nepalese. Learners who have undeveloped reading, writing and meta-cognitive strategies in their first language may need to be taught and/or reminded to transfer these skills when acquiring a second language.