Literacy 1
Running head: LITERACY: THE FOUR PERSPECTIVES AND THE EDUCATORS WHO HAVE RESEARCHED THEM
Literacy: The Four Perspectives and the Educators who have researched them
Kelly Snyder
Strayer University
Literacy 2
CONTENTS
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………3
Conventional Literacy……………………………………………………………………..4
Functional Literacy………………………………………………………………………..4
Cultural Literacy…………………………………………………………………………..5
Critical Literacy…………………………………………………………………………...6
Developers of Critical Literacy……………………………………………………………7
References…………………………………………………………………………………9
Literacy 3
Abstract
Literacy is the ability to read and write. The U.S. Bureau of the Census reported in 1980 that 99.5 percent of U.S. adults are literate and 0.5 percent is illiterate. Literacy is also defined as “using printed and written information to function in society to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.” In modern context, literacy means writing at a level adequate for written communication and at a level that enables one to successfully function at certain levels in society.
There are four perspectives of literacy. These levels of literacy include: conventional literacy, functional literacy, cultural literacy, and critical literacy. Paulo Freire made the critical literacy perspective famous. Paulo Freire was a very well known educator. Many educators that believed in Freires’ work used to quote his findings in their own work. There are many educators that support each of these perspectives depending on their own personal opinions.
Literacy 4
Conventional Literacy
Conventional literacy refers to those reading and writing behaviors that the members of a culture have implicitly or explicitly agreed upon as denoting traditional reading and writing (Kaderavek, 2000). This stage of literacy happens to young children after they have already reached the emergent literacy level. A preschool child who scribbles is at the emergent literacy level. Preschool children who can write their names on paper are at the beginning stages of conventional writing.
A child at the beginning stages of conventional writing may write their name or write, “I love you” on a Christmas card. Another child in the same stage of literacy may draw a picture and think they wrote a letter. The picture is meant to show what they are trying to say but cannot write it yet. A teacher would praise both children by telling them that their letters are wonderful. The teacher should never discredit a child for drawing a picture because the child may revert back into the emergent literacy stage and never have the confidence to move out of it again.
Conventional literacy is the ability to read and write (Tozer, 2002, p. 272). This type of literacy is most commonly thought of when people mention literacy. This perspective of literacy emphasizes social and educational progress and obscures social and educational inequalities that other thoughts might affirm.
Functional Literacy
Functional literacy is a method used to teach people how to read well enough to function in a complex society. This level of literacy incorporates reading materials that relate community development and it teaches useful life skills. It is considered a higher level of literacy since it covers not only reading and writing, but also arithmetic. People
Literacy 5
at this level of literacy use these skills in daily functions and in participating in community activities.
The U.S. Army first used the term functional literacy during WWII. This term meant “the capability to understand written instructions necessary for conducting basic military functions and tasks…a fifth-grade reading level” (Tozer, 2002, p. 273). This simply meant that there are some people in the world that can read and write, but they do not comprehend the context of the materials.
According to Colin Lankshear, a limitation of the functional literacy perspective was its tendency to blame the victims of social inequality for illiteracy (Tozer, 2002, p. 274). Lankshear claims that this literacy leads people to see illiterate people as someone who must be improved by others (Tozer, 2002, p. 275). This indicated that people should only be literate enough for minimum skills required to work in an industry. Colin Lankshear says “functional literacy promotes passivity in the learner and does not really serve the interests of learners very well because it settles for technical learning and minimal levels of understanding” (Tozer, 2002, p. 278).
There are many ways that teacher could help students with functional literacy. A teacher could increase their students’ awareness of the relationship between letters and sounds. They can also help these students see the connection between how words are said and how they are written. This helps strengthen the students’ fundamental link between written and oral language.
Cultural Literacy
Cultural literacy is the ability to converse fluently in the allusions, which creates a dominant culture. This type of literacy takes into account particular cultural contexts. Some teachers do not like the cultural literacy perspective because they think that is
Literacy 6
“pours facts into students’ heads” (Tozer, 2002, p. 278). Cultural literacy condemns settling for the pure mechanics of reading and writing.
The cultural literacy perspective is suitable for those who follow “knowledge-based” curriculum that emphasizes familiarity with the traditional elements of the world’s dominant culture (Tozer, 2002, p. 278). The achievement of white, male, middle-class culture is common for this perspective. This literacy is a perspective that goes beyond the skills of deciphering characters into words. Cultural literacy goes beyond the mechanics of reading and writing; it is a deeper understanding of us and our society’s ideals and processes.
In today’s schools there are many ways that teachers could incorporate cultural literacy. Teachers could cultivate and understanding of cultural differences, make connections between the cultures, or they could even learn to critique dominant cultures. There are so many ways to bring culture into the classroom; the teacher just needs to work at it. A Social Studies lesson or even and English lesson could involve reports and presentations where each person has to research and do a presentation about a culture that they are not familiar with at all. This will help the whole class learn about the different cultures of the world.
Critical Literacy
As stated in Tozer (2002), “Critical literacy is a multidisciplinary perspective that refocuses us on the issue of knowledge and the distribution of power in educational communities working to maintain and improve their democratic institutions and hopes.” This perspective is credited to a Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire. Paulo Freire does not like to comment on literacy in the U.S. but he does approve of the efforts of U.S. educators. Freire is so well known for his research and theories regarding critical literacy
Literacy 7
that Henry Giroux and many other educators cite his work in their own research (Tozer, 2002, p.280). Freire and Giroux believe that literacy makes people powerless, voiceless, and denies them the tools they need to think reflectively.
The critical literacy perspective shows how knowledge and power are interrelated. This theory is defined by political and economic discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, and social class. Critical literacy is the capacity to think and act reflectively, not how to read lines on a page (Tozer, 2002, p. 281). The other three perspectives of literacy miss the value of literacy, which is its potential for human liberation (Tozer, 2002, p. 281).
Critical literacy captures students’ interests and teachers have reported that it has improved learning outcomes. This approach has also been proven to help improve boys’ performance in English (Alloway, 1997). A way that a teacher might approach a unit involving critical literacy would be to implement: immersion, prediction, deconstruction, reconstruction, and taking social action (Knobel, 1998). An elementary teacher could do a lesson using the analysis of sports telecasts as the context for learning. The teacher could have a different activity planned each day for each of the above styles of teaching. This would be a way to implement critical literacy into a fun activity where the students are learning while having fun.
Developers of Critical Literacy
The Brazilian educational theorist Paulo Freire did most of the work cited on critical literacy. Freire worked on developing his theories on critical literacy until his death in 1997. He wrote a book titled Pedagogy of the Oppressed. During this time Freire was an educator within a developing country, working primarily outside of Brazil’s established educational institutions. While working in the educational
Literacy 8
institutions in Brazil, he developed pedagogies that served as compelling and successful solutions to the problems raised by development and education within his context. Freire book ended up being the most creative and influential work ever done in critical literacy. He will always be known for his controversial approach to teaching illiterates, employing visual materials to teach them about self-perception and community problems.
Henry Giroux wrote Theory and Resistance in Education. In this article he states that Freire’s work in the past shows how literacy has the potential to liberate people and make oppressed people believe that the dominant culture is right in portraying them as “inferior and responsible for their location in the social structure” (Tozer, 2002, p. 281). According to Giroux, critical literacy makes a clear connection between knowledge and power. Giroux also believed that critical literacy means helping students, teachers, and others learn how to read the world and their lives critically: meaning developing a deep understanding of how knowledge gets produced (Tozer, 2002, p. 281).
Colin Lankshear (1997) stated that there is a commitment to understanding literacy socially and politically and to using pedagogies of critical literacy as a means for social change. Paulo Freire inspired much of Lankshears work. Lankshear believed that students should not face ‘the new’ by relying on perspectives and mindsets forged in ‘the old’ (Lankshear, 2003). Colin Lankshear was a very well known educator. He strongly believed that the most powerful kind of “empowerment” is when students use certain literacy’s as resources to critique how the world is portrayed and how social relations are structured (Lankshear, 1997).
Literacy 9
References
Alloway, N. & Gilbert, P. (1997). Boys and literacy. Curriculum Corporation.
Kaderavek, J. & Justice L. (2000). Children with LD as emergent readers: bridging the
gap to conventional reading. Intervention in School & Clinic, 36 (2). Retrieved November 14, 2005, from EBSCO database.
Knobel, M. & Healy, A. (1998). Critical literacies in the primary classroom. Newtown,
PETA.
Lankshear, C. (1997). Changing literacies. Open University Press. Retrieved November
14, 2005, from EBSCO database.
Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2003). New literacies: Changing knowledge and classroom
learning. Open University Press. Retrieved on November 14, 2005, from EBSCO database.
Tozer, S., Senese, G., & Violas, P. (2002). School and society: historical and
contemporary perspectives. New York: The McGraw Hill Inc.
