Learning English Literacy Practices

What do we think about literacy? 1. Write a definition of literacy. 2. What difficulties do people with low levels of literacy face in UK? In other countries? 3. What do you think ‘literacy practices’ means?

Different views of literacy As autonomous As a set of skills As social activity As literacy practices.

Autonomous literacy A view of literacy that sees it as separate from the context in which it is used. People carry with them their literacy and can apply it in different situations.

Literacy as a set of skills For example, reading words; reading sentences; reading newspapers; reading labels; writing one’s name; writing a sentence; writing s; writing letters.

Criticisms of autonomous models Paulo Freire - Literacy teaching takes part in a social context (in his case, native adult Brazilians) - People without literacy tend to be the poorest, the least powerful, oppressed. - Literacy teaching starts with an examination of the context and of its social structures: who is in control? What is the learner’s relationship to those in control? - Literacy can have different effects: it can be domesticating or it can be liberating (Barton, 2007). - ‘He demonstrates…that there is not a monolithic ‘thing’ called literacy.’ (Barton, 2007: 27)

Literacy as social practice Widely held view in new literacy studies (Barton, 2007; Gregory, 1996; Martin-Jones and Jones, 2000). ‘Literacy is not simply knowing how to read and write a particular script but applying this knowledge for specific purposes in specific contexts of use’. (Scribner and Cole, 1981:236) A key feature of writing in the new literacy studies is the focus on ‘critical’: subjecting ‘literacy’ to an examination and analysis so that taken for granted views are both uncovered and challenged.

Literacy practices Different kinds of literacy: Orality Film Computer Cultural Political Multimodal

Discussion 1. Which view of literacy do you most sympathise with? 2. What does Freire mean, do you think, by ‘domesticating literacy’ and ‘liberating literacy’? 3. Which literacy practices do you feel you have strengths in?

Children learning literacy (From Czerniewska) Shirley Brice Heath (1982) Three research groups – all English speaking: Maintown (middle-class, white) Trackton (working-class, black) Roadville ( working class, white. How did children learn about literacy in each group?

Results Maintown: children were read to from 6 months and were asked questions about the books. Children learned interaction patterns around books, such as question asking. Children learned to use ‘literary’ language. Roadville: literacy texts surrounded children (eg alphabet friezes). Children also interacted with books but focus on ‘getting it right’ rather than exploring stories. Once children reached school age, less interaction with books between children and parents.

Results Trackton: Literacy texts did not surround children. Literacy development focused around talk and narratives with adults. Children’s interaction with adult texts not seen as unusual. Reading was a social event where participants negotiated meaning through talk

Task Which children did better, do you think, once they got to school, and why?

Doing well at school Wells (1986): ‘listening to stories was significantly associated with two literacy measures: a ‘knowledge of literacy’ test at age 5 and a test of reading comprehension two years later’ (Czerniewska, :104). Studies such as this influenced primary curriculum planning, encouraging teachers to use story time in class as a way of promoting successful reading.

Doing well at school Gregory (1992) questions the value of translating home ‘bedtime story’ reading practices to the classroom. ‘By overlooking or rendering unproblematic the situational context and believing she is modelling a cultural practice as it exists at home, the teacher may be doing something very different from what she intends’. (ibid:40)

Adults learning literacy and numeracy: a basic skills crisis?? A true story….. At the counter in ‘Clare’s Accessories’: Customer:Just these, please. Assistant 1: Okay. (Puts items through the till.) Oh, no, it’s not put through the discount. (Fiddles about for a while at the till.) Hey, Jas! (Shouting to assistant 2, who is standing at the door.) What’s eleven take away five?

Basic Skills Quiz How many adults in England and Wales do you think have problems with basic skills? A)1 in 10 B) 1 in 100 C) 1 in 5 D) 1 in 20 Answer: 1 in 5

Skills Quiz How many adults for whom English isn’t their first language need to improve their skills in speaking, reading and writing English? Answer:500,000

Quiz There are a lot of jobs that don’t require basic skills. True/False? Which are easier to read, words written in lower case letters or capital letters? Answer:lower case

Quiz How much revenue is lost to the country each year because of the basic skills ‘crisis’? Answer:10 billion pounds How many young people have severe basic skills issues? Answer:150, 000 How many people cannot write to the level of an 11- year old? Answer:5,000,000

How is the government addressing the ‘skills’ shortage? Funding huge literacy and numeracy programmes, up to level 2, called ‘Skills for Life’. Funding teacher training of teachers working in post- 16 education, and providing particular training in literacy, numeracy, ICT and ESOL. Funding research into learning and teaching Skills for Life (NRDC). Creating awareness in the population about the issue. Attempting to destigmatise low level skills so that people do not feel ashamed of seeking help.

Government advertising Who is the advertisement targeting? What message is it trying to communicate? How successful is it? How does it achieve/not achieve this success?

Are poor Basic Skills really the problem? Street (1994) argues that we should not discuss ‘literacy’ but ‘literacies’, stating: The fact that one cultural form is dominant is more often disguised behind public discourses of neutrality and technology in which the dominant literacy is portrayed as the only literacy. Where other literacies are recognised, as for instance in the literacy practices associated with young children or with different class or ethnic groups, these are presented as inadequate or failed attempts to match the proper literacy of the dominant culture: remedial attention is therefore required and those who practise these alternative literacies are conceived of as culturally deprived. Street B 1994 Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Literacy in Maybin J Language and Literacy in Social Practice Open University

Freire vs. the government Freire: contextualised, bottom-up, critical literacy to liberate individuals. Government: autonomous, top-down, functional literacy to enhance country’s economic prospects.