Literacy was defined as reading and writing skills between 1950 and 1970.

(Gunes, 2000)

Beyond 1990’s literacy started to diversify:

 In technological development
 Change of living
 Conditions in cities
 Literacy became multifaceted.
(many different features)

At first, literacy was used in computer literacy, technology literacy, internet literacy and media literacy.
(Altun, 2005)

Later on, it became a lifestyle along with person’s entire life in a society that includes information
literacy, cultural literacy, and universal literacy.

Literacy is not only confined in the knowledge of how to read and write.

But it is a matter of applying knowledge for a specific purpose it includes a socially-driven and evolved a
pattern of activities:

 Reporting
 Writing correspondence (letters, emails, memos)
 Recordkeeping and inventories
 Posting announcement

Literacy intend to generate and communicate meaning through the use of encoded text. (Lankshear &
Knobel, 2006)

Literacy can only happen when having a kind of potential content through the interaction with the text.

Examples: understanding the internet and online practice and contents. (Kress, 2003)

Primary English Teaching Association Australia (2015) asserts that 21 st century has expanded to include
social change, increasing field expertise, and digital technologies.

Subject-specific literacies are recognized to required application of specialized knowledge and skills,
information skills, and creative and imaginative language.

21st century literacy demands and ability to perform and a confidently efficiently and ethically with a
wide range of written and visual print live digital or electronic text types according to purpose.

21st century literacy combines cross-curricular capabilities also called ‘Multiliteracies’ but now referred
to ‘New literacies’.
It enable students to understand and use new text types and technological tools such as blogging,
podcasting, reading graphic novels & comics, meme-ing and etc. New literacies are often flexible
continuous and open where online and offline lives merge.

New technologies enhance these practices in a way that is highly complex and exciting for students.

Exploring the New Literacies There are seven new literacies that are stressed in the 21 st century
curriculum.

1) Multicultural Literacy- understanding ethnic groups focuses on complex issues of identity,

diversity and citizenship.

Example:

 Poetry in language arts

 Issues of social justice in social studies
 Use of historical fiction
2) Social Literacy- is the development of social skills, knowledge and positive values in human
beings to act positively and responsibly in sophisticated complex social settings.
3) Media literacy- the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media.
Example: podcast, social media, blogpost
4) Financial literacy- the ability to make informed judgments and make effective decisions
regarding the use and management of money.
Example: household budgeting, investing, etc.
5) Digital literacy- the ability to effectively use digital devices for purposes of communication,
expression, collaboration and advocacy in a knowledge-based society
6) Ecological literacy- understanding the principles of ecosystems toward sustainability.
7) Creative literacy- the ability to make original ideas that have value, and the ability to see the
world in new ways.

The truth on 21st century literacies according to research.

According to studies schools must support the teachers by providing them professional training and and
up-to-date technology for utilization in classroom.

Three reasons of the new literacy:

1. Increase reach- we can communicate with more people from more diverse culture.
2. Increased means of communication- we are communicating, more ways and faster and
convenient
3. Increased breadth- content we communicate about more things than before.

National Council of Teachers of English (2013)

 1) More diverse and participatory context.
2) Online site
3) Electronic reading workshop
4) Digital technology
5) Computer-based quality
6) E-portfolio
7) Online advisory

The multiliterate learner. Today, the Internet and other forms of information and communication
technologies (ICTs) are redefining nature of reading, writing, and communication. New literacy skills and
practices are required by each new ICT as it emerges and evolves Thus, these new literacies need to be
integrated into the curriculum to prepare students for successful civic participation in a globe
environment.

Students would desire for:

1) teachers who use ICTS skillful for teaching and learning

2) peers who use ICTs responsibly and who share their knowledge;
3) a literacy curriculum that offers opportunities for collaboration with peers around the world;
4) instruction that embeds critical and culturally sensitive thinking into practice, standards and
assessments that include new literacies;
5) leaders and policymakers who are committed advocates of ICTs for teaching and learn literacies
6) equal access to ICTs for all classrooms and students

Coiro, et al (2008) noted four common elements as broader dimensions of new literacies, to wit:

1) the Internet and other ICTs require new social practices, skills, strategies, and dispositions for
their effective use:
2) new literacies are central to full civic, economic, and personal participation in a global
community:
3) new literacies rapidly change as defining technologies change; and
4) new literacies are multiple, multimodal and multifaceted, thus, they benefit from multiple
lenses seeking to understand how to better support the students in a digital age

WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL LITERACY:

Reading and writing 1956 as adults training to meet dependently the reading and writing demand.

According to the education for all global report UNESCO 2006 it states that functional literacy is the
ability to make a significant use of activities that involves reading and writing.

UNESCO defines functional literacy is those skills essential for both official and unofficial participation.
The National Statistic Authority defines functional literacy as a level of literacy that include reading
writing and numeracy skills that help people cope with the daily demand of life.

Characteristics of functional literacy program:

1. Should be integrated to and correlated with economic and social development plans.
2. Should begin with population.
3. Should be linked with economic priorities and carried out in areas undergoing rapid economic
expansion.
4. Must impart not only reading and writing but also professional and technical knowledge which
leads to greater participation of adults in economic and civic life.
5. Must be an integral part of overall educational system and plan of each country.
6. Should be meet with various resources.
7. Should aid in achieving main economic objective such as labor productivity, food production,
industrialization, social and professional mobility, creation of new manpower and diversification
of the economy.

A New Functional Literacy aspect Is called” SPECIFIC LITERACY”. This is when students are to understand
a literacy skill and those skills that were taught to them.

SPECIFIC LITERACY STARTS:

 In workplace
 Use a diagnostic approach
 Identifies turning points
 Assesses the limits of short-term intervention
 Looks for generic skills

FUNCTIONAL LITERACY P.O.V.

 Gunes (2000)- is the second level of literacy next to basic literacy.

 Capar (1998)- is an ongoing process and a way of survival UNESCO-ability of an individual to take
part in a significant activities.
 Hatch(2010)- capability to use reading and writing in daily life routines
 Knoblauch and Brannon(1993) also Jabusch(2002) - expression to indicate performance with
texts, including mathematics

So Functional Literacy can be define or concluded as an activity that contributes to the development of
an individual and the society, including the ability to use information and skills necessary for daily life in
social, cultural and economic aspects
To address illiteracy, interventions include creating formal and non-formal learning environments, active
participation of local stakeholders, capacity building of teachers, development of contextualized learning
materials, and tracking improvement of reading, basic math, and essential life skills outcomes.

A follow-up study by World Vision in 2016 showed a significant increase in functional literacy, but more
improvement is expected.

Integration of New Literacies in the Curriculum

To address the call for literacy in today’s world, student must become profient in the new literacies of
21st century technologies. The international reading association (IRA) believes that interacy educators
have the responsibility to integrate information and communication technologies into the curriculum to
prepare student for the future they deserve.

IMPACT OF NEW LITERACIES ON INSTRUCTION Additional changes are taking place in literacy
instruction. (Grishan and Wolsey, 2009)

Engagement in Literacy activities is being transformed today like at no time in history. As students turn
to the internet and other information

Communication technologies (ICT’s) at increasing rates to read, write, and interact with text, they must
develop news skills and strategies, or new literacies, to be successful in these multimodal, intertextual
and interactive environment.

There are multiple ways to view the changes in literacy and communication emerging from new
technologies. (Labbo and Reinking, 1999)

MULTILITERACIES IN THE EDUCATIONAL REFORM

As broader essence, the concept of 21 st century skills is motivated by the belief that teaching students
the most relevant, useful, in demand and universally appliance skills should be prioritize in today’s
school.

Students need to be taught in different skills that should reflect the specific demands of a complex,
competitive, knowledge-based, information-age, technology-driven economy and society.

21st century skills may be taught in a wide variety of schools settings. Teacher may advocate teaching
cross disciplinary skills, while schools may require 21 st century skills in both instruction and assessment
processes.

EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES INCLUDES:

Authentic, outcome-based learning, project based learning and performance-based learning tend to be
cross disciplinary in nature.
Schools may allow students to pursue alternative learning pathways in which students earn academic
credit and satisfy graduation requirements by completing an internship, apprentice or immersion
experience.

Assessment of Multiliteracies

Assessment transitions from memorization of facts and disconnected processes to demonstrating

understanding through application in various contexts.

Students enhance their Media Literacy skills by addressing real-world issues using technological and
multimedia tools to design websites, TV shows, radio shows, announcements, mini- documentaries,
electronic portfolios, DVDs, oral histories, and films.

Students create multimedia projects, expressing their perspectives, and deliver them to real-world
audiences, learning to contribute to the world and acquiring citizenship skills for life.

Preparing Teachers for Multiliteracies - Multiliteracies are multimodal communication modes that
encompass language, technology, and multimedia across cultures, providing a new classroom pedagogy
that enhances classroom management.

Educators must support children’s sustained literacy development throughout education, integrating
technology-enhanced tools into their work. Teacher education should educate teachers to teach
multiliteracies in schools, bridging the gap between multiliteracies and classroom pedagogy.

Therefore, Newman (2002) in Biswas (2014) suggests that teachers integrate four components of
multiliteracies in teaching

1. Situated practice leads students towards meaningful learning by integrating primary knowledge.
2. Overt instruction guides students to the systematic practice of learning process with tools and
techniques.
3. Critical framing teaches students how to question diverse perceptions for better learning
experiences.
4. Transformed action teaches students to apply the lessons they learn to solve real-life problems.

Teaching multiliteracies can inform, engage, and encourage students to embrace diverse learning
practices, while also aiding teachers in blending and applying instructional multiliteracies processes in
the classroom.

Teachers insist to:

(1) Encourage students to reflect regularly on the role of technology in their learning;
(2) Create a website and invite students to use it to continue class discussions and bring in outside
voices.
 (3) Give students strategies for evaluating the quality of information they find on the Internet.

For schools and policymakers:

(1) Teachers need both intellectual and material support for effective 21 st century literacy
instruction
(2) Schools need to provide continuing opportunities for professional development, as well as up-
to-date technologies for use in literacy classrooms
(3) Address the digital divide by lowering the number of students per computer and by providing
high quality access (broadband speed and multiple locations) to technology and multiple
software packages.

The Integration of new literacies and multiliteracies in teaching opens new opportunities for future
literacy teaching and learning. This approach promotes equal access to learning for all students,
fostering collaboration and confidence in learning through participatory practices in teacher education.