Literacy: Defined
From the times of Sumerian cuneiform, Martin Luther’s push for the printing press, and the current day’s focus on the Internet, literacy has been around for what seems like forever. Despite the fact that literacy has always been a part of human life from some of the earliest days of human existence, the definition has been didactic, fluctuating as society ebbs and flows (Leu et. al, 2004). In the past few years, educators and researchers alike have defined literacy around five main pillars: phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and writing (Klein, 2010). Each of these concepts is needed by a person to be able to effectively communicate within society through the processes of reading and writing; and to a lesser degree listening and speaking. However, it has come to the attention of many that this simplistic definition can stand no more. As our society is changing into a technologic frenzy, “digital expression” has altered literacy’s definition forevermore. (Ohler, 2009)
In today’s world, computers, smart phones, the internet, and other multi-media forms are causing us to adapt the way we approach the tasks of reading and writing. These modern media forms are creating new literacies in which people need to be able to not only know how to do the traditional literacy tasks but now a reader must also be able to decode graphics and animations while understanding the use of color, hyperlinks, and moving text on a webpage. Pictures, maps, and graphs are no longer static on a page; instead they are moving throughout space and time on a computer screen (Leu et. al, 2004). The Web 2.0 tool entitled Glogster highlights these key new literacies perfectly. Glogster is a poster creating tool that allows students to use text of all shapes and colors, hyperlinks, audio and visual tools, and interactive graphics to illustrate their knowledge of a particular subject. If a new aged reader does not understand how to navigate their way through the myriad of technologies popping up on the page, they very well could get lost in it all (Hicken, 2010). Therefore it is imperative that educators focus on exposing students to these new literacies.
On top of being able to read this flurry of new information flying at us, Jason Ohler (2009) suggests that we must also be able to “integrate new media forms into a single narrative” otherwise known as a “media collage.” As writers, we must take all of these new literacies and use them together appropriately to form a contemporary type of written expression; redefining literacy each and every time this occurs. For example, the use of the Web 2.0 tool VoiceThread showcases this idea perfectly. Students need to take the idea of traditional reading and writing and combine it with the new fandangle literacies of powerpoint creation, pdf uploading, and audio and video creation. This technique of sharing information, as classmate Tim Dalby (2010) stated, allows the old to mix with the new, truly creating a media collage on the screen. As students learn how to combine the two, old and new, their learning deepens, as does their ability to read and write each type of literacy effectively.
Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack (2004) state it best, “Literacy may be thought of as a moving target continually changing its meaning depending on what society expects literate individuals to do.” In today’s world the reader/writer is required to connect with text, and others, in non-traditional ways on a daily basis, while still needing their traditional literacy skills to back them up. The new aged reader needs to know so much more than a reader did just a few short years ago. Do to it’s didactic nature, that same reader will learn how to use and adapt to a new literacy today, tomorrow, and for many days to come. Therefore, as classmate Jessica Lauver (2010) said, “If we are to be successful with our students in the 21st Century, we are going to have to expand on our use of technology within all classrooms in order to meet the future needs of our society.”
Literacy: A new view
The Confirmed
At the beginning of my adventure into EDUC639: Literacy and Technology, I felt that I had a decent definition of literacy in my mind. On our group forum, I stated that “literacy enables us to read and write in order to communicate (Boulden, 2010).” Many of my group members agreed with me on this fact defining literacy as, “being literate or having knowledge and being able to use it correctly (Capone, 2010), “the ability to read and write (Ra, 2010),” and “reading and writing and all the skills needed to do those things effectively (Dalby, 2010).” Beyond this simple definition agreed upon by both myself and my colleagues, I also viewed literacy today as a slightly different beast then when I went to school. During my elementary and middle school years, I read from textbooks, novels, and library books. Today, my middle schoolers are using a multitude of media mediums on top of traditional text. My students can use computers to find information and then they are able to share that information on blogs, forums, or throughout email. I initially felt that literacy still focuses on the ability to read and write but has changed communication drastically.
After being a part of this class, I realize that some of my definition was inline with today’s knowledge of literacy, and some of it needed tweaking. The idea that literacy has changed, even over the past 15 years, was spot on. Nicolas Carr’s (2008) essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” discusses his inability to stay focused on long passages of reading; a task that used to be a synch for him. Carr discusses the idea that as we become readily reliant on internet information, the way we read has changed drastically. We no longer read on a deep level, connecting, analyzing, and evaluating the text. Instead, we skim and scan through long articles, looking for key words to pop out at us as we try to avoid being distracted by the graphics, photos, ads, and sounds that constantly barrage us.
Carr’s idea linked to Maryanne Wolf and Mirit Barzillai’s(2009) concept that the brain is not a fixed entity when it comes to reading. We are not born with the ability to read, rather as we view text we create various circuits and pathways throughout our brain. These pathways can re-route themselves, especially when new types of reading begin to take place: i.e. reading text online, viewing graphics, videos, or photos that are dynamic, and having the opportunity to click on hyperlinks, propelling you deeper into the depths of online literacy. Therefore, our ability to read, along with the definition of literacy, has changed over time. We must now incorporate the idea that literacy is no longer simply the ability to read and write text in order to communicate. It now encompasses the internet’s eccentric literacies as well.
The Learned
One area where I was able to broaden my horizons was understanding new literacies full definition and the electronic features that make them up. When I began the class, a question was posed, asking me to determine the traditional and electronic features of the Math Apprentice website. As I delved in, I realized, I had very little idea as to what an electronic feature was, besides the fact that the text was colored and their were animations on the screen. After reading Toward a Theory of New Literacies Emerging from the Internet and Other Information and Communication Technologies (Leu et. al, 2004) and thinking deeply about how I teach traditional text features in my own reading classroom, if finally clicked- I take electronic text features for granted! I never think about how to turn on a computer or how to access the internet. I breeze by hyperlinks if I don’t need them, avoid websites that look fishy, and can navigate my way through pages upon pages of text. I understand the difference between the web address box and the google search box at the top of my web browser, along with particular buttons that pop up such as insert hyperlink, upload picture, or download video. These are all habitual practices for me, but if I stop to think about it, I must have been taught these at one time or another. Therefore, my students need to be taught about these features. Many students may not have access to computers at home, leaving school to be the first place they ever see one. How will these students know where the power button is? Or which icon to press to get onto the internet once their computer turns on? New literacies include all of these electronic text features that need to be taught, just like traditional literacies text features. If we ignore these “simple” ideas, we surely will leave some of our students behind.
One quote that stood out to me during this class, which helped to bolster the importance of my re-defining literacy is that “People, not technology will limit the speed in which new literacies appear (Leu et. al, 2004)” During an online chat, my group members and I discussed this very point. Julie (2010) explained that many teachers in her building are afraid to use technology and Andy (2010) followed with the exact same statement! Julie continued on that many educators are simply unwilling to learn about technology and the new literacies that are attached to them. Technology is not going away. In fact, I believe that as time progresses so will the expanse of technologies available to us. Ohler (2009) pointed out that the lapse time between being able to both read and write media is shrinking. It took centuries for text to be both readable and writeable, while audiovisuals took approximately one century. However, the web took only 15 years. The ability to morph reading and writing into various mediums is speeding up. Each day humans create new literacies when they blog, Facebook, or upload video to YouTube (Leu et. al, 2004). If citizens, especially educators, do not jump on board and learn the way of the web, our future society will have a slow start out of the gate.
