EDUC 110: BUILDING AND

ENHANCING NEW LITERACIES

ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION OF KEY CONCEPTS
LESSON 1: Definitions of Traditional 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
understanding of literacy and its past nuances will give US a solid foundation in
exploring 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.

This chapter explores several definitions of literacy and what being literate
means in the multiplicity of contexts in the 21st century, with the goal of raising
awareness in readers who might be presently unaware of the evolving perspectives on
literacy and giving teachers the opportunity to pause and reflect on their own
literacies even as they attempt to teach the new literacies to their students.

Traditional or Conventional Literacy

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 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 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 - 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 it means.
2) Comprehension Literacy - It is the ability to understand the meaning 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 tasks.
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 being wet.

Based on this conventional 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 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. Based on
this, Schlechty (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.
As the rest of this chapter will argue 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."
Despite the ubiquity of the traditional view of literacy, Roberts (1995) notes
that "in the past fifty years, hundreds of definitions of 'literacy' have been advanced
by scholars, adult literacy workers, and program 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.
LESSON 2: Definitions of the 21st Century Literacies

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
21st 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 fo 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 Victorian era, there was such a thing as the "Language of Flowers, where
the kind, Color, and arrangement of a bouquet of 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 21st 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 form the basis for some very
important personal and collective decision-making.
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 liberate in the 21st century makes one
vulnerable fo 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 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 endeavors 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 systems 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

for 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 Literacy 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 Literacy explores 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.

Eco-literacy, Arts, and Creativity 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 21 st 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.

Enhance
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 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 over 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.
 LEARNING ACTIVITIES
On your own, read the questions and instructions carefully. Answer the following
substantially.

1) As a pre-service teacher, what kind of written materials should you be able to

read and understand? Are you reading these written materials? How well can
you understand them?

2) Which of the new literacies are you knowledgeable in? Which of the new
literacies do you lack knowledge in? Explain your answer.

Rubric for each essay question:

CRITERIA 2 1.5 1 0.5 Score

Content Substantial, specific, Sufficiently Limited content Superficial and/or
and/or illustrative developed content with inadequate minimal content
content with adequate elaboration or
demonstrating strong elaboration or explanation
development and explanation
sophisticated ideas
Organization Sophisticated Functional Confused or Minimal control or
arrangement of arrangement of inconsistent content
content with evident content that arrangement of arrangement
and/or subtle sustains a logical content with or
transitions order with some without attempts
evidence of at transition
transitions
Style Precise, illustrative Generic use of a Limited word Minimal variety in
use of a variety of variety of words and choice and control word choice and
words and sentences sentence structures of sentence minimal control of
structures structures sentence structures
Conventions Evident control of Sufficient control of Limited control of Minimal control of
grammar, grammar, grammar, grammar,
mechanics, spelling, mechanics, spelling, mechanics, mechanics, spelling,
usage and sentence usage and sentence spelling, usage usage and sentence
formation formation and sentence formation
formation
Submission Submitted answers Submitted answers Submitted Submitted answers
on the deadline 1 day after the answers 2 days 3 or more days
deadline after the deadline after the deadline