CHAPTER 1

Introduction to 21st Century Literacies

Literacy is defined by dictionaries as the state of being able to read and write (Literacy, Literate,
n.d.). Although it is the ultimate thesis of this chapter that such a traditional definition no longer suffices in
the information age, a thorough understandig of literacy and its past nuances will give us a solid foundation
in explorinng and discussing the “new” literacies of the 21st century and why possessing them is now
mandatory for both teachers and students in all levels of education.

Traditional or Conventional Literacy

The word “literacy” stems froom 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 with it the idea that such a person was cultured and
educated. Since the subjects of the time (e.g., grammar, logic, arithmetic, geometry, etc.) all had written
texts (which were composed of letters) that had to be studied, the ability to read and write as therefore of
prime importance, leading to the strong association of being “literate” with the ability to read and write.

Miler (1973) divides this convenitonal 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. Simply put, it is the ability to recognize
letters and words. This would be akin to recognizing that the sequence of letters “b-a-s-a” forms the
word basa in Filipino, even without understanding what is means.

2. Comprehension Literacy – It is the ability to understand the meaning of what is being read. To
capitalize on the example above, this would be like knowing that basa can mean either “to read” or
to be wet”.

3. Functional or Practical Literacy – It is the ability to read (i.e., decode and comprehend) written
materials needed to perform everyday vocational taks. This is the equivalent of reading the text
“Ang bata ay nagbabasa.” and being able to understand that basa here refers to reading and not to
be wet.

Based on this conventionoal view of literacy, we notice two things for reading (and therefore literacy) to
exist: (1) a text (consisting of symbols and grammar) to be read; and (2) a meaning or message being
communicated by the text for the reader to extract. Without a text, there would be nothing to read; without
meaning, the text is reduced to series of incomprehensible doodles.

It should therefore be noted that even in Miller‟s definition of literacy, the act of reading implies a level
of understanding. Simply knowing how to say a word (or 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. Based on this, Schlechyt (2001) defines the concept of 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.

This synchronicity between decoding textual symbols and being able to extract and understand their
meaning is a necessary part of being literate, even as the new contexts of the 21st century change the
nature of what the “text” is, and what it means to “read” and “write.”
Expanded Views of Literacy
Despite the popularity of American films in the Philippines, many Filipinos cannot follow the actor‟s
dialogue, and thus resort to guessing the overall story based on the actions onscreen.

Despite the ubiquity of the traditional view of literacy, Roberts (1995) notes that “in the past fifthy
years, hundreds of definitions of „literacy‟ have been advanced by scholars, adult literacy workers, and
programme planners,” with even the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO, 2006) acknowledging that literacy as a concept has proven to be complex and dynamic, it being
continually defined and interpreted in multiple ways.

In 2004, UNESCO formally defined literacy as “the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create,
communicate, and compute, using printed and written materials associated with 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.”

Note that “reading” does not appear in UNESCO‟s definition of literacy. Instead, literacy has taken
on a definition more akin to “knowing about something and what to do with it.”

In this vein, Mkandawire (2018) more succinctly posits that literacy is “a form of knowledge,
competence, and skills in a particular field or area,” being 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 conventional/traditional literacy, the concept of “new”
literacies is a bit of a misnomer, as even these new literacies of the 21 st century make generous use of
being able to read and write, rather than supplant them as skills necessary for survival. However, 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 skills and
knowledge are being employed are new, both in nature and in scope. The ability to translate textual
information into images is not a new skill, but it is the ability to do so in a way that is concise, complete, and
clear that is certainly new, given that it will be how ninety percent of the population will be informed on the
issue. Similarly, being able to verify the truth-value and veracity of a document is not a new skill – but being
able to do so when there are a hundred similar documents available to you online is.

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 Victoria era, there was such a thing as the “Language of Flowers,” where the kind, color, and
arrangement of a bouquet flowers were used to communicate messages that could not otherwise be
spoken aloud in Victorian society (Greenaway, 1884). For example, a bouquet of oak leaves (representing
strength), purple roses (sorrow), white lilies (resurrection), and pale yellow tulips and rosemary (memory or
remembrance) would altogether communicate a message of sympathy, usually over the death of a loved
one.

Successfully interpreting these “visual languages” required a kind of “visual literacy” to understand
the message being presented and to manage the information encoded therein – skills which, as following
chapters will further reveal, are coming into use again in the 21 st century literacies. The difference is that
now we are not analyzing smoke signals or bouquets, but rather sounds, texts, and images from a hundred
different sources at a nearly non-stop rate to the point where accuracy, validity, and reliability of the
messages we interpret from the basis for some very important personal and collective decision-making.

Another difference involves the questions 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.

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 (Richardson,
2014). Never before have the opinions of a twelve year-old child in an unheard-of town in an unheard-of
country been available for everyone on earth to read and hear, and while adults might scoff at a child‟s
opinions, that child might have more than a thousand online subscribers who certainly think his or her
opinions are important, maybe even more so than the opinions of adults.
Simply put, three things have been critical in the rise of the new literacies:
1. Increased Reach – We are communicating with more people, from more diverse cultures, across
vaster distances than ever before.
2. Increased Means of Communication – We are communicating in more ways and at faster
speeds than ever before.
3. Increased Breadth of Content – We are communicating about more things than ever before.

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? What do we do when some of
these might be mutually exclusive to our own? In an age where information is power – where knowing more
and knowing first can spell the difference between success and failure – how do we leverage both current
and emergent technologies so that our endeavours are both productive and profitable? Moreover, 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?

Answering such complex questions requires new sets of skills and knowledge – ones that our
school system have never had to teach before. With these changes in with whom, how, and why we
communicate, 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.

To better address the need for teachers to be literate in these new literacies, this book discusses
and explores them in the ensuing chapters, namely:

Globalization and Multicultural Literacy discusses how our increasing ability to communicate
with almost anyone, anywhere, in real time requires new skills and attitudes in interacting with people with
cultures, perspectives, worldviews, and priorities different from our own, particularly with the end-view of
not only peace and understanding, but also mutual benefit and productivity.

The chapter on Social and Financial Literacies meanwhile explores the need for the ability to
navigate our own social networks – of both the online and off-line variety – to not only communicate clearly,
but also to leverage resources which we ourselves might not possess. At the same time, the chapter
addresses the notorious problem of short-sightedness in Filipino culture regarding personal finances and
how this must be addressed at an increasingly earlier age to help mitigate the ever-widening gap between
the rich and the poor.

Media and Cyber/Digital Literacies explore the emerging need to locate, verify, and ultimately
manage online information, especially in an age where information is power and where having the right
(and wrong) information and the ability to communicate it with others and use it to address real-world
problems easily spell the difference between both personal and career success and failure.

Ecoliteracy and Artistic and Creative Literacy explore the emerging demands for knowing how
to effectively and sustainably manage the natural resources that our increased industrialization and
demands for productivity are so rapidly eating up. The chapter also explores how this increase in
productivity also brings with it an increased demand for arts and aesthetics and the need to develop ways
of effectively communicating through the creative arts in industries dominated by objective data.
 Finally, Critical Literacy addresses the increasing need to discern the underlying (and often tacit)
messages behind the new “texts” of the 21st century, particularly in an ever-increasingly multicultural
society where ideas, cultures, and ideologies vie with one another for power and dominance in the minds of
the masses.

One of the ways students can be trained in the new literacies is to engage them in digital
storytelling, wherein the students take part in the traditional process of storytelling, but with some digital
enhancements. They choose a topic, conduct research, write a script, develop a story, and through the use
of multimedia, create something that can be played online or on a computer.

Digital Storytelling can be broken down into following six steps:

1. Writing – Write about a particular story from your life. The story must have a central theme.

2. Developing a Script – Develop a script that identifies the important points of your story.

3. Creating a Storyboard – Create a storyboard that visually organizes the flow of the story. Assign
a particular image to portions of the script.

4. Locating Multimedia – Use search engines to locate photos and videos. Photos and videos from
one‟s personal collection may also be used.

5. Creating the Digital Story – Record the voice for your movie. Create the movie using the software
that is available to you.

6. Sharing and Uploading – Share your story in class and upload your work online.

DIGITAL STORYTELLING RUBRIC

Criteria 3 points 2 points 1 point 0 point

Planning
Creativity Complete originality in 1 element is not original 2 elements are not 3 or more elements
composition and in composition and original in are not original in
delivery, strong evidence delivery, some evidence composition and composition and
of critical thinking skills of critical thinking skills
delivery, little delivery, no
evidence of critical evidence of critical
thinking skills thinking skills
Storyboard Complete and detailed Evidence of planning 2/3 Evidence of planning Little to no evidence
evidence of planning of storyboards including through up to 1/3 of of planning including
throughout entire sketches, sequencing, storyboard including minimally completed
storyboard including pacing, and storytelling sketches, sketches,
sketches, sequencing, sequencing, pacing, sequencing, pacing,
pacing, and consistent and storytelling and storytelling
storytelling
Content and Theme Content is clearly
relevant to story and
theme, message is
distinctly clear
Videography Strong use of quality
videography, including
camera angles, framing,
and lighting used to add
to the overall impact of
presentation
Editing Transition effects, audio,
and edits are appropriate
to the subject matter,
add to the flow of the
video, and most
importantly, do not
distract from the video
Timeliness Project turned in at the
beginning of class
Documentation All sources are cited
completely in required
format and all
copyrighted material, if
used, is identified and
used with written
permission
Reference:
Alata, E., & Ignacio, E (2019) Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across the Curriculum
Content has some
relevance to story and
theme, message is clear
with some confusing
points
Use of Technology
Some elements of
videography, including
camera angles, framing,
and lighting used to add
to the overall impact of
presentation
Most transitions effects,
audio, and edits are
appropriate to the
subject matter, add to
the flow of the video, and
most importantly, do not
distract from the video
Mechanics
Project turned in by the
end of the day
1 source is not cited
properly according to the
required format and/or 1
copyrighted piece of
material is not identified
properly or was not given
written permission
Content has little Content has no
relevance to story relevance to story
and theme, and theme, there is
message is not clear no message
Very few elements Little to no elements
of videography, of videography,
including camera including camera
angles, framing, and angles, framing, and
lighting used to add lighting used to
to the overall impact impact the overall
of presentation presentation
Some transitions, Little to no
effects, audio, and transitions, effects,
edits are appropriate audio, and edits are
to the subject appropriate to the
matter, add to the subject matter, add
flow of the video, to the flow of the
and most video, and most
importantly, do not importantly, do not
distract from the distract from the
video video
Project turned in one Project turned in two
day late or more days late
2 sources are not 3 sources are not
cited properly cited properly
according to the according to the
required format required format
and/or 2 copyrighted and/or 3 copyrighted
pieces of material pieces of material
are not identifies are not identified
properly or was not properly or was not
given written given written
permission permission