Literacy Essay Essay Research Paper Literacy Exam

Literacy Essay Essay, Research Paper

Literacy Exam Essay

The complications that arise when seeking a single definition of literacy are many. The debate over what is literacy and what isn t is one that is of critical importance to the education of our country s students. When originally asked at the beginning of this course about what literacy is, my initial response was the ability to read and write. While I suppose my answer wasn t wrong, it certainly wasn t entirely right either. Reading and writing are certainly important aspects of any persons literacy and are therefore one of the reasons why schools test in these areas frequently. However, as the course progressed I came to understand that there maybe more to what I originally thought about what literacy is. I came to realize that coming up with a single definition would prove to be a tedious task since there now appeared to be so many things that can be considered literacy. Through reading articles pertaining to literacy and observing various settings where literacy is used, I have been able to come to a better understanding of what literacy is.

Elliot Eisner, in his book Cognition and Curriculum Reconsidered, talks about forms of representation. He defines forms of representation as the devices that humans use to make public conceptions that are privately held. (Eisner, p. 39) He says that these can take multiple forms ranging from oral speech to music to images. Eisner gives the example of a painter who comes across a small mid-west town. Eisner suggests that if the painter were to want to express his private conceptions about the town to the public, he would most likely do so through the form of a painting. This is important because how a person expresses their selves is founded in their own personal literacy. What if the painter was asked to tell someone about the town and he was not allowed to use painting as a form of representation. How would the painter then be able to do so to the best of his ability. What this proves is that multiple forms of representation are needed because every person is different in their literary preferences. Indeed, Eisner states that to be refrained from using a form of representation would eventually not only limit expression, but put the brakes on conception as well. (Eisner, p. 42)

Eisner makes an important point when he states that Every form of representation neglects some aspect of the world Not everything can be said through anything. (Eisner, p. 41) This is an important point because a form of representation that might succeed in describing one thing could be insufficient in describing another. Additionally, Eisner makes an interesting assertion that the forms of representation children have access to or are encouraged to use will shape the mental skills or forms of intelligence they will be able to develop. (Eisner, p. 44) These multiple forms of representation Eisner speaks of are important because they all relate to a given person s literacies.

Having now identified the importance of possessing multiple forms of representation of literacy, one can now take the next step towards determining how literacy is conceptualized. One of the problems that arise when attempting to do so is determining who/what it is that society considers being literate. Bernardo M. Ferdman, in Ethnic and Minority Issues in Literacy, focuses on literacy acquisition among members of ethnic minorities. Ferdman looks at three perspectives that can be used to conceptualize how it is that ethnic minorities gain literacy in the U.S. The first approach is known as the functional approach. This involves primarily an individual-level perspective and focuses on the development of the simple skills and activities involved in reading and writing by individuals. (Ferdman, p. 96) This approach looks at literacy as being either present or absent within an individual or group and can be seen as a fixed and observable quality. It often leads to characterizations of ethnic minorities as deficient or underachieving relative to dominant group members in ways that are focused on individual differences. (Ferdman, p. 96)

The second type of conceptualization of literacy is called the sociocultural approach. This approach views literacy as a cultural construction that has meaning oly in a specified cultural context. In this sense, it may be more appropriate to speak of literacies, or even multiliteracies . (Ferdman, p. 97) To be considered literate through this approach a person must be able to interpret cultural symbols and use them in a culturally appropriate way. This is where one of the great debates on literacy takes place, because this method implies that a member of an ethnic minority group may be seen as lacking literacy skills in terms of the dominant group s language and culture but may be quite literate in the context of his or her own group. (Ferdman, p. 97) For ethnic minorities, the cultural differences between school and home serve to be more often than not as barricades to the acquisition of literacy. Jennifer E. Obidah provides an excellent example of this. She proposes that every person has their own literate currency made up from everything a person takes in from their home, school, and other surrounding environments. She provides the example of a teacher who is not able to understand the questions asked by her minority students and as a result discourages them. The r