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Hannah LeViere Noah Tysick ENG 111 October 9 2013 Becoming Literate Being literate oes not necessarily mean ha!ing "the ability to rea an #rite$ to %n erstan in&ormation$ an to e'(ress i eas both concretely an abstractly) *+aly 1,3-. /ecently t#o a%thors$ Eli0abeth +aly an Eric Lane #rote abo%t this s%b1ect. +aly2s article "E'(an ing the 3once(t o& Literacy) an Lane2s article "4merica 101 5Ho# 6e Let 3i!ic E %cation 7li e 4n 6hy 6e Nee a 3rash 3o%rse in the 3onstit%tion To ay2) both look at being literate an #here it is hea e . 4rticle "4merica 101 5Ho# 6e Let 3i!ic E %cation 7li e 4n 6hy 6e Nee a 3rash 3o%rse in the 3onstit%tion To ay2) is better #ritten than "E'(an ing the 3once(t o& Literacy) an here is #hy. Both o& the a%thors Lane an +aly gi!e their cre entials. By gi!ing their cre entials$ the a%thors are sho#ing that they are literate in that &iel . "Lane a 8ro&essor at Ho&stra La# 7chool an senior &ello# at the Brennan 3enter &or 9%stice) *Lane 1:2-. Th%s$ by gi!ing his cre entials Lane sho#s that he is literate in ci!ic literacy. +aly$ "+ean o& the 7chool o& 3inema an Tele!ision in the 4nnenberg 3enter &or 3omm%nication at the ;ni!ersity o& 7o%thern 3ali&ornia) sho#s that she is literate in (ict%res$ mo!ing (ict%res$

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an the e&&ects they ha!e *+aly 1,3-. looking &or cre entials can hel( one tell i& in &act the a%thor is literate or not in his or her &iel . +aly2s article %ses emotion rather than reasoning to kee( her a% iences attention. Thro%gho%t her article$ as she tells stories o& her li&e$ +aly says "< o&ten ask my colleag%es to imagine that they are li!ing an teaching in 8a %a aro%n the year 1300) *1,=-. 4ltho%gh +aly %ses emotion$ +aly oes %se reasoning to back %( her belie&s an emotions. +aly %ses &o%r statements that "are the &o%n ational (rinci(les &or the #ork being one at the <nstit%te &or >%ltime ia Literacy *<>4- at the 4nnenberg 3enter at the ;ni!ersity o& 7o%thern 3ali&ornia *;73-). Lane %ses reasoning an &acts to (ers%a e his rea ers. "7ince the 19?0s$ &e#er an &e#er schools re@%ire ci!ic co%rses.) Lane states this &act an others thro%gh o%t his article as Lane %ses these &acts he is %sing reasoning to (ers%a e his rea ers rather than an emotional a((eal *1:A-. One (%r(ose o& these articles is to in&orm others abo%t literacies an #here it is hea e . There are many ty(es o& literacies an there are many #ays to #rite them. <n the article "4merica 101 5Ho# 6e Let 3i!ic E %cation 7li e 4n 6hy 6e Nee a 3rash 3o%rse in the 3onstit%tion To ay2) the a%thor talks abo%t "ci!ic literacy) in other #or s ho# to com(rehen the go!ernment an be able to (%t one2s o#n in(%t into the con!ersation*1:2-. +aly talks abo%t e'(an ing "o%r notion o& literacy to incl% e m%ltime ia

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lang%ages) *1,3-. Both a%thors look at t#o se(arate literacies yet there m%st be a common %n erstan ing to %ltimately e'(ress one2s i eas. 6hen #atching the ne#s "6hat #o%l it be like to try to &%lly share these an other momento%s e!ents #itho%t access to the lang%age an (o#er o& the screenB) *+aly 1,A-. Cor one$ it #o%l mean that (eo(le #o%l be %sing their imagination to eci(her #hat they are rea ing or hearing rather then being able to act%ally see it &or onesel&. To make a (oint Lane looks at !ario%s s%r!eys. One s%r!ey &o%n that "&ortyDone (ercent o& res(on ents to a national s%r!ey #ere not a#are that there #ere three branches o& go!ernment$ an ?2 (ercent co%l n2t name them.)*1:=-. <& one oes not kno# its go!ernment an ho# it is r%n ho# can one tr%st them to o the right thing. Cor #riting an aca emic article there are r%les that one m%st &ollo#. >ost aca emic a%thors ten to stay a#ay &rom %sing &irst or secon (erson !oices &irst !oice being me$ mysel&$ an < an secon !oice being yo%$ yo%rsel&$ an yo%r. <n the article "E'(an ing the 3once(t o& Literacy) &irst (erson !oice is %se thro%gh o%t the article as the a%thor states "< belie!e the reason) *1,=-. By %sing &irst (erson$ +aly is stating #hat she thinks$ rather than stating it as a &act. 6hereas Lane %ses statements s%ch as "com(lacency is no# the main (roblem.) instea o& saying < think com(lacency is no# the main (roblem *1:?-.

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6hen #riting an article one m%st look at #ho the rea er is an #hat one #ants them to get o%t o& it. Lane an +aly #rite to an aca emic a% ience looking at literacy an the &%t%re o& literacy. +aly looks at #here literacy is going in re&erence to mo ern technology an ho# it is changing the #ay e %cation is going. On the other han Lane looks at ci!ic literacy an #here it came &rom #hen it #as im(ortant$ to #here it has become almost none e'istent in to ay2s society. This lack o& kno#le ge is %n ermining o%r #hole go!ernmental system. Both a%thors look at i&&erent ty(es o& literacies$ Lane looking at ci!ic that has become obsolete an +aly looking at m%ltime ia #hich is gro#ing. 4rt has al#ays been a(art o& history &rom sketching an (ainting to to ay taking (ict%res an !i eos. <t is not to be isregar e $ b%t i& that is all one looks at an oes not look at the #riting itsel&$ one can miss the tr%e

meaning. 3i!ic e %cation an ci!ic literacy are both becoming a thing o& the (ast. <& this kee(s %( an oes not change$ this co%ntry #ill be %nable to

go!ern itsel& #ith o%t the kno#le ge o& ci!ic literacy. 4&ter looking at both o& these articles "E'(an ing the 3once(t o& Literacy) an "4merica 101) one can see that each o& the a%thors ha!e bro%ght their !ie#s to light. 4s +aly talks abo%t m%ltime ia literacy an Lane abo%t ci!ic literacy one can see that there are many !ariables that sha(e an article. +aly choosing emotion o!er reasoning to get her (oint

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across or Lane %sing reasoning o!er emotion. This is 1%st one !ariable o%t o& many that one can look at to eci(her an aca emic article.

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6ork 3ite +aly$ Eli0abeth. "E'(an ing the 3once(t o& Literacy) EE8LO/<NG /EL4T<ON7H87F globali0ation an Learning the 21st 3ent%ry. BostonF 8arson Learning 7ol%tions$ 2013. 1,3D1:2 (rint Lane$ Eric. "4merica 101 5Ho# 6e Let 3i!ic E %cation 7li e 4n 6hy 6e Nee a 3rash 3o%rse in the 3onstit%tion To ay2) EE8LO/<NG /EL4T<ON7H87 globali0ation an Learning the 21 st 3ent%ry. BostonF 8arson Learning 7ol%tions$ 2013. 1:3D190 (rint