EDUC 95

1. LITERACY
Literacy
- Defined by dictionaries as the state of being able to read and write (Literacy, Literate, n.d.).
- Capacity to communicate using inscribed, printed, or electronic signs or symbols for representing language.
(Britannica)
- The word “literacy” stems from the word “literate,” which means appeared in the 15th century and is in turn
derived from the Latin word litteratus, meaning “( a person)marked with letters” – that is, “distinguished or
identified by letters” – and it carried with the idea that such a person was cultured and educated.Since the
subjects of the time (e.g., grammar, logic, arithmetic, geometry, etc.) all had written texts (which were composed
of letters) that had to be studied the ability to read and write was therefore of prime importance, leading to the
strong association of being “literate” with the ability to read and write.
Traditional or Conventional Literacy
Miller (1973) divides this conventionalconcept of literacy into three subcategories:
1. Basic Literacy
- It is the ability to correspond visual shapes to spoken sounds in order to decode written materials and translate
them into oral language. Simply put, it is the ability to recognize letters and words. This would be akin to
recognize letters “b-a-s-a” forms the word basa in Filipino, even without understanding what it means.
- It is the ability to recognize letters and words
2. Comprehensive Literacy
– It is the ability to understand the meaning of what is being read. To capitalize on the example above, this would be
like knowing that basa can mean either “either” or “to be wet.”
3. Functional or Practical Literacy
- It is the ability to read (i.e., decode and comprehend) written materials needed to perform everyday vocational
tasks.This is the equivalent of reading the text “Ang bata ay nababasa,” and being able to understand that basa
here refers to reading and not to being wet.
Based on the conventional view of literacy, we notice two things for reading (and therefore literacy)
to exist:
(1) A text (consisting of symbols and grammar) to be read; and
(2) A meaning or message being communicated by the text for the reader to extract.
Without a text, there would be nothing to read; without meaning, the text is reduced to series of incomprehensible
doodles. Should therefore be noted that even in Miller’s definition of literacy, the act of reading implies a level
of understanding.Simply knowing how to say a word (or a series of words) is not the same as being able to
understand what it means. Without understanding ofthe meaning of the words, reading has not taken place.
Based on this, Schelechty (2001) defines the concept of functional illiteracy as the state of being able to read, but
not well enough to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level.
Expanded Views of Literacy
● Traditional view of literacy, Roberts (1995) notes that in the past fifty years, hundreds of definitions of
‘literacy’ have been advanced by scholars, adult literacy workers, and programme planners, with even the United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2006) acknowledging that literacy as a
concept has proven to be complex and dynamic, it being continually defined and interpreted in multiple ways.
● In 2004, UNESCO formally defined literacy as “the ability to identify, understand,interpret, create,
communicate, and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy
involves a continuumof learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and
potential, and fully in their community and wider society.”
● In this vein, Mkandawire (2018) more succinctly posits that literacy is “a form of knowledge, competence, and
skills in a particular field or area, “being supported by UNESCO (2006), Banton (2007), and Mkandawire,
Simooya-Mudenda, and Cheelo (2017), which acknowledged that –as we have just pointed out-modern views,
appear to equate literacy with knowledge.
This shift in the definition of literacy from “reading and writing” to “knowledge” is especially important as we
explore the “new” literacies of the 21st century that seem far-removed that context upon which conventional
literacy is based.

2. When viewed from the perspective of conventional/traditional literacy, the concept of “new” literacies is a bit of a
misnomer, as even these new literacies of the 21st century make generous use of being able to read and write,
rather than supplant themas skills necessary for survival. However, when viewed from the perspective of
literacy as knowledge, the new literacies begin to make sense as they are the “skills and bodies of knowledge”
that are necessary for survival and productivity in the information age.
In the same vein of reasoning,the new literacies are not “new” per se-as in the sense that they never existed before.
Rather, we consider them to be new because of the contexts in which old skills and knowledge are being
employed are new, both in nature and in scope.The ability to translate textual information into images is not a
new skill, but it is the ability to do so in a way that is concise, complete, and clear that is certainly new, given
that it will be how ninety percent of the population will be informed on the issue.Similarly, being able to verify
the truth-value and veracity of a document is not is not a new skill-but being able to do so when there are a
hundred similar documents available to you online is.
Literacy in the 21st Century
● Case in point: throughout history,humans have communicated on level apart from the spoken and written word,
for example, visually, using the long-distance communication systemof smoke signals used by the ancient
Chinese, the ancient Greeks, and the indigenous peoples of North America. In the victory era, there was such a
thing as the “Language of Flowers,” where the kind, colour, and arrangement of a bouquet offlowers were used
to communicate messages that could not otherwise be spoke aloud in Victorian society (Greenaway, 1884).
● These so called “new” literacies arose from increasing availability of communication technologies that were
once unavailable to the average individual. Technologies like blogging and vlogging, social networking and even
text-messaging change and expand both the extent and the form of our communication-blending text, sound,and
images in ways unforeseen and unprecedented (Richardson,2014).
● Simply put, three things have been critical in the rise of the new literacies:
1. Increased Reach – we are communicating with more people, from more diverse cultures, across vasterdistances
than ever before.
2. Increased Means of Communication – we are communicating in more ways and at faster speeds than everbefore.
3. Increased Breadth of Content – we are communicating about more things than ever before.
The 21st Century Literacies and Skills
⮚ Globalization and Multicultural Literacy – discusses howourincreasing ability to communicate with almost
anyone,anywhere, in real time requires new skills and attitudes in interacting with people with cultures,
perspectives,worldviews, and priorities different from our own, particularly with the end-view of not only peace
and understanding,but also mutual benefit and productivity.
⮚ Social and Financial Literacies - explores the need for the ability to navigate our own social networks—of
both the online and off-line variety—to not only communicate clearly, but also to leverage resources
which we ourselves might not possess.
⮚ Media and Cyber/Digital Literacies - explore the emerging need to locate, verify, and ultimately manage online
information, especially in an age where information is power and where having the right (and wrong)
information and the ability to communicate it with others and use it to address real-world problems easily spell
the difference between both personaland career success and failure.
⮚ Eco literacy and Artistic and Creative Literacy - explore the emerging demands for knowing how to effectively
and sustainably manage the natural resources that our increased industrialization and demands for productivity
are so rapidly eating up. This explores how this increase in productivity also brings with it an increased demand
for arts and aesthetics and the need to develop ways of effectively communicating through the creative arts in
industries dominated by objective data.
⮚ Critical Literacy - addresses the increasing need to discern the underlying (and often tacit) messages behind the
new "texts" of the 21st century,particularly in an ever-increasingly multicultural society where ideas, cultures,
and ideologies vie with one anotherfor power and dominance in the minds of the masses.
Summarization/Generalization
Traditional Literacy is the ability to read and write. The traditional or conventionalconcept of literacy can be
divided into sub-categories: 1. Literacy, which is the ability to recognize letters and words; 2. Comprehension
Literacy, which is the ability to understand the meaning of what is being read; and 3. Functional/Practical
Literacy, which is the ability to read written materials needed to perform everyday vocational tasks.Modem
views of literacy equate it with knowledge. New literacies have risen due to increased reach, increased means of

3. communication, and increased breadth of content.These new literacies are globalization and multicultural
literacy, social and financial literacy, media and cyber/digital literacy, Eco literacy, artistic and creative literacy,
and critical literacy.