1. Dr. Doris Correa Master’s in FL Teaching and Learning Escuela de Idiomas Universidad de Antioquia

2. Myth1. Increasingly sophisticated technology of our society requires greater literacy skills. Myth 2. Literate people are more intelligent, more modern, more moral, and countries with high literacy rates are better developed, more modern, more complex, more democratic, with greater social equity, lower crime rate, better citizens, more economic development, more wealth and productivity, more political stability and urbanization and lower birth rate Myth3. Literacy leads to more logical analytical critical and rational thinking, to higher order cognitive abilities, to more general and abstract use of language, and to more skeptical and questioning attitudes than is typical of oral cultures Myth 4. Literacy leads to social mobility and success in society Literacy Myths (Gee, 1999, chapters 2&3)

3. Critiques to Freire (Cherlan & Harper,2007) Luke & Woods, 2009) 1. Structural views: literacy materials need to ensure that sts think correctly, i.e. that they resay or interpret text and world correctly –ver plato 2. Idealistic vision of social transformation 3. Abstract nature of ideas and generality of his writing 4. Few accounts are provided of how teachers can move from critical thought to critical practice 5. Fails to engage other forms of oppression, besides social class in delineating his position 6. Freire’s Marxism ignored important social differences such as race and gender in understanding and challenging oppression 7. Abstract language

4. 8. Lack of gender analysis including his use only of masculine pronoun 9. His undifferentiated reference to the oppressed as a unitary rather than a contradictory and diverse population 10. Fails to articulate fully his position on Christianity 11. Failed to fully engage the issue of white male privilege and the interest and agency of African American 12. The dependency of the leaner-oppressed on the critical teacher intellectual suggested in his pedagogy 13. Reliance on Binary opposition: oppressor/oppressed, teacher/student, monologue/dialogue 14. Overlooks the pressing need for students to master a range of textual genres