Access and the Literacy Myth

“Seeing Eye Computer Dog”

John S. Pritchett Cartoons
(click the pic above to visit the site)

One of the primary arguments for [national large-scale projects] to expand technological literacy rests on the claim that such an effort will provide all Americans with an education enriched by technology and thus equal opportunity to obtain high-paying, technology-rich jobs and economic prosperity after graduation. The truth of this claim, however, has not been borne out and is not likely to do so. (Technology and Literacy in the 21st Century, p. 135)

In his 1991 publication The Literacy Myth, Harvey Graff explores literacy in the 19th century and reminds readers that literacy can be both a very subjective and ambiguous concept; the definition of literacy may be reliant on the culture in which it is defined. In discussing this phenomenon, Graff coins the phrase “literacy myth” (1991) and it is this myth that Cynthia Selfe explores and…

English Literacy?

 

“Literacy is the path to communism”
(click the link to view the image in its original context)

 

I have long understood that the study (scholastic) of English in contemporary American society is likely one of the most erroneously named. What constitutes the study of English is actually an exploration of not merely the form of language we use (as opposed to a foreign language), nor only the disciplines of reading and writing, but of history, humanity, technology, politics, psychology, religion, anthropology, etc.

Research Questions of the Week

How does writing for blogs or online journals differ from approaching the same topic in other formats?
If a student completes homework on his own blog rather than as a more traditional report for the teacher, how does the concept of perceived audience change, and how is the writing and expression affected?
How does writing either typed on a typewriter or entered into a computer differ from that undertaken by hand; How does the medium in which we write influence or shape our expression?
How do writers decide on the format of their writing (journalistic, poetry, narrative, play, lyrics) and how is format reflective of the author’s character?

Transformation, Revisited

 

Transformation – that’s my word for this fall. Sitting in a classroom, the stage comes to life, the word echoes – transformation. Funny how once I’ve noticed a thing it seems to suddenly be everywhere I look. I’ve been writing, thinking, and reading about transformation to a great extent these past few weeks and yet it’s only now (why must I always feel like writing at 3am?) that I actually understand it. How’d I get to this point? I’ve just left behind my life as I knew it, stopping to hibernate for 4 months before being reborn as a student. Well, that and I was just watching Extreme Makeover (hey, what else is on at 3am?). Amazing things, those archetypal epiphanies.

The Question of Cargo

“Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” (Yali’s question to Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel, p. 14)

In Diamond’s prologue to his Guns, Germs, and Steel (1999), he restates Yali’s question above as “Why did wealth and power become distributed as they now are, rather than in some other way; Why did human development proceed at such different rates on different continents” (pp. 15-16).

Crossword Entry: Global communication?

What I’d like to achieve is the development of a personal philosophy of global communication a) examining how we write, speak, learn, and communicate while b) experiencing/exploring other cultures via language studies and acquisition, travel, and living/working abroad and c) using these experiences as both teacher and learner; to combine my background in psychology, counseling, web technology, and human development to create a multi-disciplinary TESOL pedagogy.

 

Help! Can you offer some advice?:
1) Which academic discipline would most closely accept/foster these ideals and experiences?

2) Help me learn about others who have had similar philosophies by recommending authors and readings in relevant genres.

What is Literacy? Literacy & Transformation

“TRANSFORMATION” (Image by Dejan Vucelic)

The question “What is Literacy?” may be easily defined at its most basic level (concerning the needs of the individual) as the ability to read and write (Literacyonline.org; Wikipedia; American Heritage Online Dictionary). Adding to this definition, Wikipedia lists computer literacy, numeracy, and “the ability to use language” including speaking and listening. Moving away from defining literacy as a set of skills, Wikipedia also offers the following:

What counts as literacy is determined by the cultural, political, and historical contexts of the community in which it is used….In modern contexts, the word means reading and writing in a level adequate for written communication and generally a level that enables one to successfully function at certain levels of a society if that society is one in which literacy plays a role in providing access to power. (2006, para. 1; Literacy in the 21^st Century section, para. 1)

It is Ong, however, in Orality and Literacy (1982) who seeks to define literacy as a phenomenon defined and shaped by what came before it: Literacy is a move away from orality; it is a technology that transformed man’s developing consciousness, expression and communication in ways that orality couldn’t.

The question “What is Literacy?” is one that seemed simple enough to this writer; I had assumed a definition based on ability (skills) without much consideration for the antecedents of literacy or how profoundly literacy has affected and transformed world cultures. It is this transformation that I find most compelling. Ong writes: