Literacy


 * Definition**

Literacy comes from the Latin word //literate//, //littera// (a letter of the alphabet). Adding //-acy// on to the end denotes having the qualities of literate (Oxford English Dictionary). The definition of literacy has traditionally been the ability to read and write (CITATION). Although the etymology and definition of literacy denote the skill of being able to read and write, the concept of literacy has proved to be more profound than just such skills (CITATION).

According to the influential work of Jack Goody, historically, literacy has been a potent social attribute--For example, attributed to priests as a way to distinguish them from laity, forming literate and illiterate groups (Goody, 1986, p.17). This separation was challenged by the invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century by Johannes Gutenberg. According to Goody, the printing press created the opportunity for more widespread literacy. With the aid of the printing press, religious groups began to spread literacy and literacy helped spread certain forms of religiosity (Goody, 1986, p.4). Similarly, education was transformed, beginning to emphasize literacy and focus on literature. The varying levels of education and availability of literate materials stratified social classes and created a new illiterate versus literate social divide. This new “great divide” according to Street, led to hegemony and social control (Street, 1984, p.19). As certain people were restricted from gaining literacy, only certain people had the ability to make specific documents (Street, 1984, p.19). Eventually, in certain cultures, including American culture, literacy came to be seen as a right of every human being, but the level of literacy began to cause social implications, resulting in further class stratification and hegemony. Disappointing educational reports on reading levels spurred a “literacy crisis” and education reform to attempt to eliminate illiteracy and improve literacy levels (Heath, 1986, p.15).


 * Ethnography of Communication Theory**

Literacy, as a concept, has developed theoretically over time. From a communication standpoint, literacy was first researched by anthropologists and linguists. The ethnography of **communication** was a theory that incorporated linguists’ study of language with anthropologists’ study of language and culture. This approach studied language learning in schools and looked for communicative patterns of a community and compared those patterns across communities. Dell Hymes, a prime researcher in this field, used communicative events as a framework for the documentation of language use in and out of school settings (Hull, 2001, p.578).

The ethnography of communication approach first began to look at literacy as a social activity and theorizing the concept of literacy as social expanded research on literacy from the traditional school setting to the community level. Szwed studied the ethnography of literacy as a plurality of literacies, rather than a single level of literacy (Szwed, 1981, p.16). The idea of there being more to literacy than just the ability to read and write emerged. The idea of “literacies” researched how literacy developed differently depending on socialization practices and contexts.

The shift to the community level was just one adjustment in the research of literacy. Psychology was added into the spectrum along with anthropology and linguistics in the Activity Theory. This perspective focused on learning and human development, focusing on the role of language (Hull, 2001, p.581). Literacy was understood as an integral unit of a human’s life, and as motivated by human goals, which are enacted through everyday activities (Hull, 2001, p.581). Literacy as a tool or skill learned in school transformed into a practice. Scribner and Cole conceptualized literacy, “as a socially organized practice, it is not simply knowing how to read and write a particular script, but applying this knowledge for specific purpose. Literacy began to be seen as multiple rather than a unitary construct (Hull, 2001, p.584).
 * Activity Theory**


 * New Literacy Studies**

As the concept of literacy progressed from a skill to a practice, it moved closer toward a conceptualization as a discourse contributing to power and identity, as in the New Literacy Studies perspective. Gee used discourse as a frame for understanding the connections between literacy, culture, identity, and power (Maybin, 2000, p.180). Literacy was theorized as multiple, in that reading and writing are differently and distinctively shaped and transformed inside different sociocultural practices (Gee, 1999, p.356). The concept of literacy became understood as an ideological practice rather than a set of neutral skills because it is embedded in social nature (Street, 1984, p.100). Researchers argued that literacy should be studied in its social, cultural, historical, economic, and political contexts, in school and out, in order to identify practices and their effects. This perspective of literacy studies recognized the marginal view of American notions of literacy with its emphasis on formal, male, and schooled aspects of communication (Street, 1984, p.33). Scholars have called for a reconceptualization of literacy that accounts for everyday practices and how those behaviors reflect identity and power.


 * Literacy and Education**

The concept of literacy has continued to evolve into new categories. Critical literacy is directly related to pedagogy with a focus on praxis and schooling (Morgan, 1997, p.6). Critical literacy theorists have stated that education and literacy should support people in questioning and shaping their worlds (Freire & Macedo, 1987, p.35). Multi-literacies (a new term for conceptualizing literacy) involve multiple communication channels, combined text forms, various social relations, and attribute for cultural and linguistic diversity (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000, p.5). The concept of literacy has continued to be researched in multiple contexts and has begun to include the sociotechnical practices in the workplace (Gee, Hull, & Lankshear 1996, p. 6). Literacy has been conceptualized within communication in multiple ways beginning as a tool or skill learned, to performing an identity or portraying power. The term continues to be researched in various contexts to gain a better understanding of the variety of human skills and practices.

include component="comments" page="page:Literacy" limit="10"


 * References**

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures. New York: Routledge.

Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word and the world. South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey.

Gee, J. (1999). Critical issues: reading and the new literacy studies: reframing the national academy of sciences report on reading. Journal of Literacy Reseach. 31, 355-374.

Gee, J., Hull, G., & Lankshear, C. (1996) The new work order: Behind the language of the new capitalism. Sydney: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd.

Goody J. (1986). The logic of writing and the organization of society. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Heath, S. (1986). The functions and uses of literacy. In deCastelle S., Luke, A., & Egan, K. (Eds). Literacy, Society, and Schooling.(15-25). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

Hull, G., & Schultz, K. (2001). Literacy and learning out of school: a review of theory and research. Review of Educational Research. 71, 575-611. Maybin, J. (2000). The New Literacy Studies: Context, intertextuality and discourse. In D. Barton, M. Hamilton, & R. Ivanic (Eds.), Situated literacies: Reading and writing in context (pp. 197–209). London: Routledge.

Morgan, W. (1997). Critical literacy in the classroom: The art of the possible. London:Routledge.

Scribner, S., & Cole, M. (1981). The Psychology of Literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Street, Brian V. (1984). Literacy in theory and practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Szwed, J. (1981). The ethnography of literacy. In Whiteman, M.F. (Eds). Writing: The Nature, Development, and Teaching of Written Communication. (13-24). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

“literacy, n.” OED Online. June 2007. Oxford University Press, 20 May, 2010 http://dictionary.oed.com.