INTRODUCTION TO
21ST CENTURY LITERACIES
Objectives
At the end of tis chapter, you should be able to develop a clear
and practical understanding of the following:
• Definitions of conventional literacy; and
• Expanded views of literacy in the 21st century.
Literacy is defined by dictionaries as the state of being able to
read and write.
The word “literacy” stems from the word “literate”, which first
appeared in the 15th century and is in turn derived from the
Latin word litteratus, meaning a person marked with letters –
that is, “distinguished or identified by letters” – and it carried
wit it the idea that such a person was cultured and educated.
All subjects of the time such as grammar, logic, arithmetic,
geometry and others, were written texts that had to be
studied, the ability to read and write was therefore of prime
importance, leading to the strong association of being
“literate” with the ability to read and write.
Miller (1973) divides this conventional concept of
literacy into three sub-categories:
1. Basic Literacy – It is the ability to correspond visual shapes to
spoken sounds in order to decode written materials and
translate them into oral language.
2. Comprehension Literacy – It is the ability to understand the
meaning of what is being read.
3. Functional or Practical Literacy – It is the ability to read such
as decode and comprehend written materials needed to
perform everyday vocational tasks.
Two Things for Reading to Exist
1. A TEXT (consisting of symbols and grammar)
2. A MEANING OR MESSAGE being communicated by the
text for the reader to extract
Highlights of Miller’s definition of literacy
The act of reading implies a level of understanding.
Knowing how to say a word (or a series of words) is not the
same as being able to understand what it means.
Without understanding of the meaning of the words, reading
has not taken place.
Schlechty (2001) defines the concept functional illiteracy as the
state of being able to read, but not well enough to manage daily
living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a
basic level.
Expanded Views of Literacy
• Despite the popularity of American films in the Philippines,
many Filipinos cannot follow the actors’ dialogue, and thus
resort to guessing the overall story based on the actions
onscreen.
• UNESCO (2004), defined literacy as “the ability to identify,
understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute,
using printed and written materials associated wit varying
contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling
individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge
and potential, and to participate fully in their community and
wider society.”
• Mkadawire (2018) succinctly posits that literacy is “a form of
knowledge, competence, and skills in a particular field or
area”.
• Supported by UNESCO (2006), Barton (2007), and
Mkandawire, Simooya-Mudenda, & Cheelo (2017), which
acknowledged that – as we have just pointed out – modern
views appear to equate literacy with knowledge.
This shift in the definition of literacy from “reading and
writing” to “knowledge” is especially important as we explore
the “new” literacies of the 21st century that seem far-removed
from the contexts upon which conventional literacy is based.
LITERACY IN THE 21ST CENTURY
• When viewed from the perspective of literacy as knowledge,
the new literacies begin to make sense as they are the “skills
and bodies of knowledge” that are necessary for survival and
productivity in the information age.
• In the same vein of reasoning, the new literacies are not
“new” per se – as in the sense that they never existed before.
Rather, we consider them to be new because the contexts in
which old sills and knowledge are being employed are new,
both in nature and in scope.
Case in point:
• Throughout history, humans have communicated on levels
apart from the spoken and written word, for example, visually,
using the long-distance communication system of smoke
signals used by the ancient Chinese, the ancient Greeks, and
the indigenous peoples of North America.
• In the Victorian era, there was such a thing as the “Language
of Flowers” were the kind, color, and arrangement of a
bouquet of flowers were used to communicate messages tat
could not otherwise be spoken aloud in Victorian society
(Greenway, 1884).
• Successfully interpreting these “visual languages” required a
kind of “visual literacy” to understand the message being
presented and to manage the information encoded therein.
• Another difference involves the question of necessity: One did
not need to be literate in the language of flowers to live a
fruitful and fulfilled life in Victorian-era England, but to be not
media or digitally literate in the 21st century makes one
vulnerable to manipulation by those who are, and such
manipulation can easily cost an individual time, money,
property, and even life.
• According to Richardson (2014), these so-called “new”
literacies arose from the increasing availability of
communication technologies that were once unavailable to
the average individual. Technologies like blogging and
vlogging, social networking, and even text-messaging change
and expand both the extent and the form of our
communication – blending text, sound, and images in ways
unforeseen and unprecedented.
Three things that have been critical in the rise of the new literacies:
1. Increased Reach
2. Increased Means of Communication
3. Increased Breadth of Content
Questions:
1. How do we work together with people of different cultures
who might have vastly different perspectives on communication,
work ethics, values, religious beliefs, and worldviews?
2. How do we navigate and manage the veritable minefield of
information that was once considered taboo and private and is
now online, for all the world to see and judge, whether we like it
or not?
New literacies are required not only to make sense of the
changes, but also to use these new technologies and
paradigms in meaningful and productive ways – something
required not only of students, but of teachers as well.
