What do we mean by literacy? Literacy is a polysemantic term – The ability to read and/or write writing being the ability to encode language onto an surface reading being the ability to decipher that code – The ability to access, understand, and use a society’s knowledge systems and possibly produce new knowledge within that system

Reading, Writing, & Culture Literacy is a human technology; possibly one of the most significant technologies in human history – what does prehistoric mean? Nevertheless, the lack of literacy technology doesn't say anything about a culture other than that they don't have this technology Also, reading and writing are distinct activities, as you can learn to do one without knowing how to do the other

Writing Systems Pictograms – images used to represent objects Ideograms – pictograms that represent ideas Logographic – abstract symbols represent an idea or word (1:1 ratio) Syllabic – symbol represents sound cluster Alphabetic – symbol represents single sound (ideally) – consonantal alphabets only have symbols for consonants

Other Concerns for Writing Technologies Inscription surface and inscribing tools – durability; ability to reuse; mobility; effort needed to inscribe; skill needed to inscribe; production cost; availability of materials Direction the text should flow – up, down, to the left, to the right, changing direction each line Spacing – between symbols or thoughts Punctuation

Linguistics & Literacy Literacy allows linguistic analysis to happen Pragmatic: literacy removes language act from the context it was created in Historic change: literacy can work as record of linguistic change or used as a mechanism to slow change Varieties: literacy has been used to record linguistic variety throughout the world & work as a bridge between diverse varieties of a language Language Acquisition: alphabetic literacy may aid oral language acquisition

Literacy and Culture Like all technologies, the value of literacy is based upon the culture in which it is used – value is not static – value is not always positive – changes in literacy technologies change literacy behavior and value of literacy practices Literacy also tends to affect perception/value of language use The West's positive value for literacy is rather high, to the point where literacy skills are used as a basis for psychological and moral judgment – sometimes called the “Literacy Myth” (Graff )

Literacy Acquisition in Children In the US, children typically develop literacy in stages – Writing: pictographic stage; combination of picture and “text”; learning grapheme system (usually still combined with pictures); text based writing; writing genres & pragmatics – Reading: pseudo-reading practices; picture reading; learn word/sign connection; learning grapheme system; reading pragmatics & genres

The American Literacy Crisis Since the 1970s, many people have suggested that American literacy abilities have been declining – concern about the influence of other information media, oral culture, test scores However, most serious research on the topic has shown that on the whole, literacy skills in America have consistently increased since the beginning of the 20 th century, both in numbers of literate people and the complexity of skills