Literacy: The Path to New Understandings

 Literacy: The Path to New Understandings

The concept of literacy is one that is not easily understood. It has many definitions that change with the individual. Being literate can come in different forms besides the usual reading and writing. “The definitions of reading and writing, then, must include social content and function (use) as well as the reader and the text of what is being read and written” (Szwed 6). Using this quote Szwed realized that the definition of literacy for reading and writing changes due to the many factors of a human being. For example literacy is also found in video gaming, hunting, sports, organizations, groups, and the ever so complicated religious views. Literacy does not have a set definition due to these many reasons; it has countless diverse perceptions, which are literate to the specific individual participating in these literacy events and practices. 

Literacy isn’t something that has to do with reading and writing all of the time. Being literate in reading and writing is a concept in its own and might even measure intelligence in some educator’s eyes. However literacy is a notion that changes with the environment. “There are different literacy’s associated with different domains of life.”(Barton 22). This is saying that every particular setting has a new set of “laws” that the public goes by, even if they aren’t legally a law. This means that the public is constantly learning new literacy’s to follow during their life. For example, in the men’s restroom there is a unwritten “rule” to skip a urinal in-between each person. This isn’t a real rule it is a literacy that is just supposed to be known in the discourse community of men. If a particular literacy isn’t easily understood due to an environment change, then that doesn’t necessarily make the person any less then the one who knows the literacy’s. That individual just needs to grasp the new concept in order to understand. For example, to be literate while living in the United States one might need to understand the concept of using indoor plumbing and modern technology. However being literate while living in the Amazon Rainforest might mean hunting for your own food or even just surviving the elements with out a newly constructed roof over head. Both situations describe literacy and do not make one individual any smarter then the other. Literacy isn’t a measure of intelligence it’s a way to survive in the environment an individual is placed in.

Literacy practices can be best described as the factors that build up to the literacy event. The event is the actual participation in the particular literacy. The practicing of the literacy is something that has to be done in order to understand and learn how the literacy event will happen. For example, living everyday in the Amazon Rainforest might be considered a literacy practice, and the literacy event might be the actual hunt of game in order to survive. With out the experience of living in that harsh environment there would be no way of learning how to hunt and actually get the kill to survive. Another example could be the individual practice of Buddhism and the literacy event would be attending the service with the other members of this religion. The religion can be practiced everyday on the individual’s own time, therefore making the event the actual gathering of the group members whom practice the religion.

“Related to the constructed nature of literacy, any theory of literacy implies a theory of learning” (Barton 31). Learning is the key concept in becoming literate in a specific topic that the individual seems illiterate in. It is almost inevitable to be literate with out learning. If the goal is looking for literacy in its “natural habitat”, then it has to be done with an open mind and willingness to take in new concepts of something that is illiterate to the observing party at the moment. It would have to be done in many steps. First a specific literacy would have to be assigned. This meaning, out of all the literacy’s in the world one specific literacy will have to be given. An example of this will be the religion of Buddhism. After that, observation needs to take place. Observing and watching how things occur with out the pressure of research would be the best way to find how it naturally occurs in its atmosphere. Going to the actual temple, while the event is going on, to observe the way the service goes about would be a good way to find it in its natural habitat. This will be confusing and will not come naturally to the observer however it doesn’t mean the individual is less intelligent then the members of the religion. This is where the new environment concept comes into play. Finally, research and surveying needs to take place. Interviewing the participants and learning about their literacy is the only way to understand this event and become literate in that specific literacy. Speaking to the members and maybe even observing them outside of the event would be a great way to learn. Following their ways and practices would make the concept understood and literate in the observing eye.

Literacy is something that is changing everyday. Agreeing with David Barton and Mary Hamilton, literacy is defiantly changing just as quickly as the lives in the societies they belong to.  Because of that not one person can decide a set definition for the term. It has changing factors due to environment, culture and people. By observing an event and taking part in the practices one can learn the literacy and become literate in that particular subject. Whether it is a sport, game, or something so complex as a religion like Buddhism, the term will conform to that setting and change with the ever-shifting rules given in that environment. Literacy will always be a path to new understandings.

Works Cited

Barton, David. Hamilton, Mary. “Literacy Practices.” Ethnographic Inquires In Writing. Tabitha Adkins. 2010. Print 22.

Szwed, John F. “The Ethnography of Literacy.” Ethnographic Inquires In Writing. Tabitha Adkins. 2010. Print 3-18.