Literature as One of The Keys to Develope Literacy

Literature is a branch of science, which makes language the key. Etymologically, literature is derived from the Latin Literatura (litera letters or written works), the term is used to refer to grammatical terms or poetry. In Indonesian, literature is taken from Sanskrit, namely (Sas = teaching, and tra = guidelines, or instructions), if the meaning is concluded, literature can refer to 'Guidelines for teaching'. In reality, literature is not as simple as imagined, because if studied more deeply, there is no universal understanding regarding the definition of literature, because every person, region, and even country has their own literary understanding.

When we are talking about literature, it means that we are discussing about literary works as well, in which language plays the most important role. "Literature is a work of fine writing (belle letters) is a work that records forms of daily language in various ways with language that is condensed, deepened, twisted, lengthened, thinned, and reversed, made odd." (Plato). Literary works are certainly diverse, starting from poetry, novels, prose, fables, short stories, saga and others.

It is undeniable that works of this type can increase one's literacy interest, because in some types of literary works, the language used is not complicated to understand and pleasant to read, because it is not uncommon for the reading to be related to the reality of the reader, although in some literature, literary works have several functions, some of which are critical, become one of the weapons in promotion and advertising, material for describing cultural conditions, and many more.

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Literacy is one aspect as a fulfillment of realizing Human Resources (HR). However, based on a survey conducted by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2019, Indonesia ranks 62 out of 70 countries, or is a country with the lowest literacy level. in the bottom 10 countries. The definition of literacy is how we are able to read, analyze, listen and write. According to Education Development Centered (EDC), literacy is a person's ability to maximize the potential and skills that exist within him, not only including reading and writing abilities but also including the ability of each individual.

From the above understanding, the first step to enter the skill stage is to start reading. Literary works play an important role in attracting people's attention in terms of reading. Because, each type of literary work has its own unique style of language. For example, in a fable. To attract the attention of children or beginners to be interested in reading. In fable stories, of course, there are messages, and values ​​that can be learned, for example in the story of the Elephant and the Ant, with the moral message in it we should not underestimate the ant even though it is a small ant, but it will be dangerous because it attacks the elephant together. There is also a novel Animal Farm by George Orwell which depicts all animals like humans with all their cruelty, and much more.

The importance of starting to develop literacy by relying on literary works. Because to know literacy, one must start by reading reality, conditions, even books, and all of that is in literary works. All processes run because someone once started, literature can be one of the first steps and even a stepping stone to continue to struggle in the world of literacy. It is necessary to apply the importance of taking an interest in reading a literary work to stay focused on analyzing and continuing to struggle in the field.