Literacy

APPROACHES TO LITERACY Enrique Arias Castaño

“ Illiteracy embodies a language and a set of practices that underscore the need for developing a radical theory of literacy that takes seriously the task of uncovering how particular forms of social and moral regulation produce a culture of ignorance of stupidity crucial to the silencing of all potencially critical voices”
Aronowitz

Functional literacy
Critical literacy

Functional literacy
Develops skills (writing – reading)
Addresses issues of social purposes in contexts of use
Defines the uses of reading and writing to achieve social purposes in contexts of use
Teaches participants to achieve their social objectives
Accepts means of communication as something given and natural
Admits the natural status of dominant institutions and social discourses
Helps individuals function within a given society in order to participate and achieve their own goals

Critical literacy
Questions the natural status of dominant institutions and discourses
Deals with finding out how something works
Looks below the surface of things and events, asking questions such as:
Why does this exist/happen?
What is its purpose?
Whose interests does it serve?
Whose interests does it frustate?
How does it operate?
Need it operate like this or could it be done differently and better?
Gives powerful tools for developing critical thinking
Conceives language as a powerful social practice
Develops a critical awareness of social purpose and whose interests are being served by it
Regards critical reflection as a dimension that must be complemented with action

Literacy
vs.
Illiteracy

Literacy/Illiteracy
They function as a way of labelling and grading people. It also categorizes people into educational haves and have-nots
Being in the have-not group creates what Freire calls “a culture of silence”
Illiteracy implies a form of political and intellectual ignorance as well as a possible instance of class, gender, racial, or cultural resistance.

Models of literacy/illiteracy
From Freire’s point of view: “reading the world always precedes reading the word”
Skills development model
Therapeutic model
Personal empowerment model
Social empowerment model
Functional model
Critical model

Literacy from a cross-disciplinary perspective Literacy theory Research practice language education anthropology sociology history psychology Literacy is a socio-political construct as much as a linguistic one

A theory of language in context Language as text as social process language language as social practice

“ Literacy was a double edged sword” Gramsci
Critical literacy
Ideological construct :
it is rooted in a spirit of critique.
It enables people to participate in the undersatanding and transformation of their society
It develops forms of counterhegemonic education around the political project of creating a society of intellectuals
Social movement :
It is tied to the material and political conditions necessary to develop and organize teachers, community workers, and others both within and outside of schools.
It takes an active part in the struggle for creating the conditions necessary to make people literate
Self and social empowerment Perpetuation of relations of repression and domination

The freireian model of emancipatory literacy
Dialectical relationship between Human beings – world
Language - transformative agency
Literacy means a self and socially constituted agent.
Literacy is part of the process of becoming self-critical about the historically constructed nature of one’s experience.

Critical pedagogy
Student’s voice must be heard
Students need to be introduced to a language of empowerment and radical ethics
Teachers should provide students with the opportunity to interrogate different languages or ideological discourses
Critical educators are also learners
Students and teachers can dialogue and struggle together in order to make their respective positions heard out/inside the classrooms.

Percentage of illiteracy in Colombia

according to the real performance of literate people in our country, what might have been the conceptions of literacy inherent in the implemented literacy programs in the latest years?

Statitics from Unicef: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/colombia_statistics.html Education Youth (15–24 years) literacy rate, 2000–2007*, male 98 Youth (15–24 years) literacy rate, 2000–2007*, female 98 Number per 100 population, 2006, phones 64 Number per 100 population, 2006, Internet users 14 Primary school enrolment ratio 2000–2007*, gross, male 117 Primary school enrolment ratio 2000–2007*, gross, female 115 Primary school enrolment ratio 2000–2007*, gross, male 89 Primary school enrolment ratio 2000–2007*, gross, female 88 Primary school attendance ratio 2000–2007*, net, male 90 Primary school attendance ratio 2000–2007*, net, female 92 Survival rate to last primary grade (%); 2000–2007*, admin. data 82 Survival rate to last primary grade (%); 2000–2007*, survey data 89 Secondary school enrolment ratio 2000–2007*, gross, male 78 Secondary school enrolment ratio 2000–2007*, gross, female 87 Secondary school enrolment ratio 2000–2007*, net, male 62 Secondary school enrolment ratio 2000–2007*, net, female 69 Secondary school attendance ratio 2000–2007*, net, male 64 Secondary school attendance ratio 2000–2007*, net, female 72

Literacy

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