What does it mean to be literate?

Being literate means more than just knowing how to read and write. Gee (2014) said “Literacy is social because the mind itself is social.” (p. ix). I interpret this as meaning literacy can be thought of in many contexts; there are multiple literacies. Literacy is a…

Redefining Literacy in the Context of Modern Society

Traditionally, literacy was defined as the ability to read and write. But what is reading and writing? According to the first definition in Webster’s Dictionary for each term, reading is receiving the sense of letters by sight or touch…

The Multidimensional Nature of Literacy

It is important to work to dispel the myth that literacy strictly means reading and writing words on a page. This flat perspective focuses on only one view, and, as a result, dismisses many other important literate skills. We instead need to have a…

A few words about “Literacy”

Literacy is traditionally understood as the ability to read, write and use arithmetic. The modern term’s meaning has been expended to include the ability to use language, numbers, images, computers and other basic means to understand, communicate, gain useful knowledge and use…

Defining Literacy From a Sociocultural Standpoint: Using Past Experiences and Cultural Viewpoints to Understand the…

What does it mean to be literate?

In Context

When I was in high school, I had to write a paper for a philosophy class. I cannot quite remember what the paper’s thesis or arguments were (although I remember the topic being communism), but there was one part of the paper which I do remember. In my writing on the topic I used the abbreviation “ok”, rather…

Literacy Has Layers

In the past literacy has been used to divide those who can read text on a page from those that cannot, becoming a way societies uphold a standard of competence that rewards those who follow suit and adopt a certain mindset. Over time the modes of communicating written text have multiplied and…

What is Literacy

What is literacy?

Literacy is a broad philosophical term, which describes the interactions and dynamics between an individual and others. Gee (2015) states, the “study of literacy is about how talk and text are socially distributed as founding elements of our…