Literacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Literacy - Essay Example e along a variety that includes of reading, writing and skill in both digital and print environments together with the critical understanding and decision-making abilities they need in their lives. Nonetheless, a culture creates a definition of this aspect, literacy is connected to most of the attributes in individuals’ and community life and remains an important basis for learning through life and should always be considered as a human right. Literacy involves an long-term and academic procedure of achieving meaning as a result of critical understanding of text or written text. The main characteristic of all literacy is the development of reading, which is a development of skills that start with the ability to understand spoken words and interpret written words that ends in a better understanding of the text. The development of reading abilities involves a variety of complicated language foundations such as being aware of speech sounds, patterns of spelling, meaning of words, grammar as well as the patterns used in forming words to provide a necessary stand that leads to ease in reading and ability to understand text. When these skills are acquired, the person who is reading can achieve full language literary that includes the capacity to critically explore printed material, conclude and create, write accurately and reasonably, and use the information and understanding from the text as the basis for informed choices and creative thoughts. An inability to achieve all this aspects is referred to as illiteracy. The English language has gone through a lot of significant changes throughout history and in the previous decade alone, the level of literacy of students has increased past the traditional characteristics such as reading, ability to understand, grammar and writing to encompass applications that are more digital and interactive. With the present learners experiencing numerous traditional and digital literacies, parents are left with the question of how they

The Development of Maiolica across Islam and Christian Cultures Research Paper

The Development of Maiolica across Islam and Christian Cultures - Research Paper Example Anthropology, and more importantly archaeology which is a sub-field of anthropology studies the material culture of human civilization. Pottery is one of the more important material possessions for studying ancient cultures because in areas where pottery is found ways exist to date the area, study the meanings of symbols by what is on the pottery, and to discover something about the way in which pottery represents the living culture of that society. Maiolica pottery exists across Islam and Christian cultures. Maiolica is tin-glazed earthenware ceramic that is made opaque because there is an addition of tin oxide in the lead glaze foundation or in its background coat. Lead is no longer used making ceramics because it is an unsafe product. Maiolica has a dense, white glassy covering which does not become liquid when fired. This means that the decorations do not become runny or blurred on the whitish background. When the ceramic piece is fired at a low temperature the decorations become set and the piece has a unique white glow that comes from the tin oxide in the lead glaze (Mussachio 9). Maiolica was transported to Pisa via Majorca, which is likely how the pottery got its name. It was brought in by the Spanish Moors who brought the technique to the Italians in about the 14th century. The first evidence of this technology comes from around the 9th century Baghdad. Islamic pottery of this type began to spread by the 11th century and was used in buildings that were both religious and civic (Figure 1). The Crusaders likely introduced the pottery in Europe as a symbol of their victory over the ‘pagans’.... Eventually this change in trend dominated the pottery market in Europe for more than three hundred years. Figure 1. Friday Mosque of Herat, Afghanistan (Wikipedia). The first complex intended for the production of maiolica was found in Syria from the 8th century BCE. Other centers of ceramic pottery production from Islamic nations include Fustat from 975 until 1075, Damascus from 1100 until 1600 and Tabriz from 1470 until 1550. The addition of the metallic luster occurred in about 850 BCE in Mesopotamia and became spread across the Islamic nations in the 10th century up to the Iberian Peninsula. This technique comes from putting copper or silver into the oxide which is then mixed with ocher and applied to the enameled or glazed surface (Fuga 246). The development of maiolica comes from Islamic attempts to reproduce Chinese porcelain, but they did not have the technology to make their pottery using the high temperatures needed to create porcelain (Cooper 84) (Figure 2). Figure 2 East Persian Maiolica, 10th Century (Wikipedia). The effect of tin-glaze over pottery was an adaptation of the Egyptian use of the clear glaze, but had been invented a thousand years earlier by the Babylonians who had only used it on top of their bricks as there is no evidence of it being used on ceramic pots (Cooper 86). One of the reasons that maiolica was used in Islam households was that the use of precious metals and finery on the table was forbidden from the text of the Qur’an. This use of ornate looking pieces made from ordinary materials overcame this command from the Islamic holy book (Italian Pottery Journal). Figure 3 Hispano-Moresque Maiolica 13th Century