Practices make your literacy perfect

Lam,W.S.E(2004).Second Language socialization in a bilingual chat room:Global and local considerations.http://llt.msu.edu/vol8num3/pdf/lam.pdf
In Gee’s view, discourses are not mastered by overt instruction, given the largely implicit cultural assumptions and beliefs that operate with any specific use of literacy, but by enculturation into social practices through scaffolded and supported interaction with people who had already mastered the discourse. According to this article, the author describes that the experimenters was afraid to communicate with NS before chatting at Hong Kong chat room. Yu Quing also mentioned that “We don’t know how to speak and we don’t dare to speak……..we don’t feel like they are Chinese. (interview, February 18,2001).” It seems that they feel depressed when they communicate with NS. When they are in HK chat room, they would like to use code-switching to share the experiences with each other primarily and after that they dared to interact with each other. So I absolutely consent to this point. When I arrived in Taiwan, I also have this kind of situation as Yu Quing and Tsu Ying. Firstly, I attempt to interact with Taiwanese and learning their usages what are different from my country. Practice and learning from peers are the important process in our learning in order to enhance our literacy which is never just reading and writing in isolation, but is a part of a set of practices. It is important to note that language practices don’t exist in isolation from each other, just as cultures and communities don’t exist as discrete entities, but rather interact with each other in various degrees of complementarity or conflict (Rampton, Roberts, Leung, & Harris, 2002).