What Is Literacy?

What is Literacy?

Literacy - The ability to read, write and communicate.

In Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language by David Barton, Barton scaffolds the varying levels or ideas of literacy and clearly conceptualizes how we think and evaluate literacy in society today. Barton likens the ideas of literacy to theories and metaphors thus making the broad concepts of Literacy more relatable across different cultures, classes and societies. Like Barton, I feel that literacy is far more than reading and writing; it involves critical thinking as well. Bartons theories on literacy, how we articulate our understanding of the use of it and how literacy overlaps in our lives makes the use of metaphors completely natural. Barton, quoting Gee, 1996, says that metaphors are part of larger systems; they fit together and for discourses, which are coherent ways of representing the world.

A couple of weeks ago, I would have considered myself a very literate person. However, after reading the first few texts for this class, this view of myself has changed. I am a well-read individual, love to write and can talk a blue streak, but I am aware that there are various aspects of literacy that exist in today’s world that I am not fully literate in, such as financial literacy, computer literacy and other literacy theories. Writing literacy, textual literacy, verbal literacy and visual literacy are not the only types of literacy in our ever changing world, but they support the idea that the definition of the word literacy is very ambiguous and fit together like a puzzle.

Individuals interpret and think about text so that important ideas come forward. They need to be taught to think critically or as the metaphor goes “read between the lines.” Critical thinking involves the ability to make connections between a text and others that you have read, as well as connections