What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century?

The question of what it means to be literate in the 21st century may have variable responses. The traditional view of literacy is that being literate is possessing the ability to read and write as shown in the photograph from the Merriam Webster dictionary below.

In the past, this definition may have been more suitable before newer technologies of the 21st century were created, but it still does not encompass other areas in which one may be literate. Literacy expands far beyond reading and writing of traditional print texts. The photograph below this shows another definition of literacy from the dictionary: “having knowledge or competence”.

Literacy applies to all subjects, all areas of life, and all interests. As Sheila Moorcroft (2012) states, “Transliteracy has been coined to highlight the need to be able to ‘read and understand’ concepts and ideas across a growing range of formats and platforms — oral, print, visual, digital”. It applies to print texts, digital texts, online affinity spaces, and any other location of physical or virtual communication and discussion. It applies to politics, cooking, and sports. The idea of literacy encompassing more than reading and writing may be hard for some to understand, so I am going to discuss a few areas in which one can be literate, how it is relevant in the 21st century, and why this is important.

As stated above, literacy involves “text”. Text is everywhere; it can be anything that portrays meaning to someone. One of the biggest pushes of literacy in the 21st century is a push for the use of multimodal texts. Multimodal texts contain information portrayed in a variety of ways such as visual, audio, and linguistic. Multimodal texts are important because they provide different ways of learning for students as each learner excels with a different type of learning style. Technology provides an outlet for the use of numerous multimodal texts with one of the biggest being social media platforms. People worldwide use social media constantly to communicate with long-distance family and friends, portray activities they are participating in, or converse with people about their topics of choice. One can be literate in their social media endeavors; they can understand what people enjoy seeing and post certain pictures or text, so that they will get a lot of likes or feedback.

In addition, the digital world also consists of many online affinity spaces where people with similar interests can connect, play games, write fan-fiction, or many other virtual activities. All of these digital spaces contain forms of text, and people can be “literate” in these spaces. For example, in The Hunger Games: Literature, Literacy, and Online Affinity Spaces, Curwood (2013) discusses Jack’s experience in a Hunger Games online affinity space. Jack excelled in the spaces by communicating with others, judging fan-fiction, and helping to develop different realms. This affinity space provided Jack with an opportunity to read texts while also developing personal skills. Not only was there linguistic text, but Jack became literate in the affinity space. He was able to understand how it worked and explain it to others. He became advanced in his use and helped develop tutorials to teach others how to use “Panem October”. In Reading by Design: Two Case Studies of Digital Reading Practices, Peter and Patty were two very different students with Peter being very quiet and not excelling in school while Patty was very talkative and performed well. In their chosen affinity spaces, they were both incredibly literate with Peter understanding so much about Naruto and Patty working well on Webkinz (Roswell & Burke, 2009).

In addition to the digital, non-traditional ways in which one can be literate, one can also be literate in activities such as playing a sport or cooking. Being literate involves understanding and interpreting information from a source, so one can be literate in a sport if they understand the rules and can teach others how to play it. For example, my dad played lacrosse in college, so he is very literate in techniques and strategies in order to perform well in a game whereas I do not even understand the simple rules and objectives. As discussed in class, a chef may be very literate in the kitchen and know how to make endless recipes whereas many other people may not even know how to cook simple dishes. People have the ability to be literate in so many areas, not just in reading and writing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0poR8zfAls

As the video states, people can be literate culturally, socially, physically, or financially, but the list can go on. Requirements for being literate are constantly changing, so teachers and students will have to adapt to this. Online spaces such as social media will have to be used to understand certain social aspects and “keep up with the times”. Students are “creators”, and more student-led classrooms styles are being employed. That being said, teaching will have to change, and students will have to become more literate in order to excel.

All of the above examples of texts used and how literacy is in the 21st century are very non-traditional. With technological innovations and changes in social and cultural norms, views of literacy will have to adapt in order to better help students. Using multimodal texts, allowing innovation in virtual spaces, or letting students show their mastery in a particular activity will provide students with more motivation. If students are participating in something that they feel strongly about or are interested in, they will be more likely to put in the time and effort to fully comprehend. This will help them develop work ethics that will help them later on. Allowing students to develop skill sets in their preferred areas will develop their communication and analytical competencies. As Rebecca Alber (2013) states, “Only a decade and a few years in, how can we fully describe the twenty-first century learner? So far, this we do know: She is a problem solver, critical thinker, and an effective collaborator and communicator.” Being literate requires so many valuable skills with one of the most important being communication, and “Communication today is like a living thing, morphing continuously” (Alber, 2013). In schools, it is important for teachers to understand this and expose students to all forms of text in order to improve their overall literacy.

Works Cited

Alber, R. (2013, January 21). Deeper Learning: Defining Twenty-First Century Literacy.

Retrieved September 21, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/twenty-first-century-literacy-deeper-learning-rebecca-alber

Curwood, J. S. (2013). “The Hunger Games”: Literature, Literacy, and Online Affinity

Spaces. Language Arts,90(6), 417–427.

Moorcroft, S. (2012, June 19). What Does It Mean To Be Literate In The 21st Century?

Retrieved September 21, 2018, from https://www.alternet.org/story/155975/what_does_it_mean_to_be_literate_in_the_21st_century

Literate [Def. 1,2,]. (n.d.). In Merriam Webster Online, Retrieved September 21, 2018 from

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literate

Roswell, J., & Burke, A. (2009). Reading by Design: Two Case Studies of Digital Reading

Practices. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,53(2), 106–118. doi:10.1598/jaal.53.2.2

[Zachary Nicol]. (2014, August 10). What is Literacy in the 21st Century? [Video File].

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0poR8zfAls