Literacy Essay

A detailed Summary of Literacy Essay

The complications that arise when seeking a single definition of literacy are many. The debate over what is literacy and what isn't is one that is of critical importance to the education of our country's students. When originally asked at the beginning of this course about what literacy is, my initial response was the ability to read and write. While I suppose my answer wasn't wrong, it certainly wasn't entirely right either. Reading and writing are certainly important aspects of any persons literacy and are therefore one of the reasons why schools test in these areas frequently. However, as the course progressed I came to understand that there maybe more to what I originally thought about what literacy is. I came to realize that coming up with a single definition would prove to be a tedious task since there now appeared to be so many things that can be considered literacy. Through reading articles pertaining to literacy and observing various settings where literacy is used, I have been able to come to a better understanding of what literacy is.

Elliot Eisner, in his book Cognition and Curriculum Reconsidered, talks about forms of representation. He defines forms of representation as "the devices

Not only are there more pressing reasons for ownership of literacy today than at any time in the past, there also are more socioeconomic pressures that effectively work against its realization. Teachers face a constant struggle trying to communicate with their students who are unable to express what they are trying to say in a manner in which the teacher understands. The result is either the teacher giving up on the student or the student giving up on the teacher. Either way, the student is the one who pays the ultimate price. More than anything else, this project has broadened my understanding of what literacy is and how it plays a critical role in the everyday lives of each of us.

3. Nieto, Sonia. "Lessons from Students on Creating a Chance to Dream." Harvard Educational Review. Boston, MA. c 1994

The second type of conceptualization of literacy is called the sociocultural approach. This approach views literacy as "a cultural construction that has meaning oly in a specified cultural context. In this sense, it may be more appropriate to speak of literacies, or even 'multiliteracies'." (Ferdman, p. 97) To be considered literate through this approach a person must be able to interpret cultural symbols and use them in a culturally appropriate way. This is where one of the great debates on literacy takes place, because this method implies that "a member of an ethnic minority group may be seen as lacking literacy skills in terms of the dominant group's language and culture but may be quite literate in the context of his or her own group." (Ferdman, p. 97) For ethnic minorities, the cultural differences between school and home serve to be more often than not as barricades to the acquisition of literacy. Jennifer E. Obidah provides an excellent example of this. She proposes that every person has their own literate currency made up from everything a person takes in from their home, school, and other surrounding environments. She provides the example of a teacher who is not able to understand the questions asked by her minority students and as a result discourages them. The reason for the misunderstanding is due to a lack of understanding of the students' literacies on the part of the teacher.

Having read a wide range of text regarding literacy and in addition observing literacy in practice in a number of different settings, I have come to develop my own definition of what literacy is. I believe that a person is literate when he or she is capable of reading and writing texts and then possessing the ability to express what the have gained from these texts towards communicating with fellow members of their culture and society whether it be through speech, music, or any other form of representation.

Having described the faults that can arise in education as a result of different conceptualizations of literacy, it is now possible to look at how schools can improve based on this information. Sonia Nieto suggests that in order to do so our

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Approximate Word count = 2008
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

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