Literacies: Literacy as Social Practice

Assignment 01
Dorian Love
7934102
4 August 2003
In the classic view, literacy is a cognitive skill, residing in the doain o! individual
co"etence# As such, de$ates a$out literacy are o!ten situated within the "oleics
o! crisis, a concern a$out reediation and the !ailure on the "art o! individuals to
$ecoe !ully literate, a atter o! "ersonal !ailure on the one hand, and o! the
schooling syste on the other# %his view is o!ten acco"anied $y a reductionist
a""roach to the learning "rocess, in which literacy is taught $y starting with $ase
skills such as "honics, "roceeding to individual words, sentences and eventually
longer te&ts# %he reading curriculu "ursues a se'uential "attern o! decoding !irst,
and co"rehension second# %he e"hasis on skills, and the i"ortance o!
se'uencing has led to a trend where curriculu and teaching resources are
increasingly controlled through centrali(ed teaching "rograes, and teachers de)
"ro!essionalised and arginali(ed#
As *treet "oints out, this view o! literacy also +disguises the cultural and ideological
assu"tions that under"in it,
1
It sets itsel! u" as an autonoous, neutral and
universal odel# %he theory o! literacy "rooted $y -arton . /ailton and the
0ew Literacies *tudies, however, arks a radical de"arture, not only in ters o!
the assu"tions underlying the theory, $ut also in ters o! research ethods and
odels# *treet ters the theory an ideological odel, stressing the way in which
the odel akes "lain its ideological assu"tions# %he a1or "aradig shi!t
coes !ro its $ase assu"tion that literacy is a social "ractice, +located in the
interaction $etween "eo"le,
2
rather than as a set o! cognitive skills residing within
individuals# Literacy is a social "ractice rooted in social conce"tions o! eaning,
identity and $eing, and as such does not ignore social relations and 'uestions o!
"ower# %he technicist, skills)$ased a""roaches o! traditional views a$out literacy
occlude these relations o! "ower and conse'uently act to arginali(e !urther the
voices o! those already arginali(ed#
-arton and /ailton descri$e their work as aiing at +trying to reveal and 'uestion
the traditional assu"tions which !rae literacy, to e&"ose the ways in which it is
ideologically constructed and e$edded in "ower relationshi"s#,
3
2sing
ethnogra"hic and e"irical studies, their research ais at trans!oring de$ates
around literacy, giving articulation to arginali(ed voices a$out literacy, and
challenging doinant discourses# As -rian *treet "uts it, 0ew Literacy *tudies
+argues !or a socially)located, culturally sensitive view o! literacy "ractices that vary
1
Street, B, Whats new in New Literacy Studies? Critical Approaches to literacy in theory and
practice in Current Issues in Comparative ducation! vol "! num#er $! 2003, online
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/cice/articles/bs152.pdf (accessed 03/0/2003!.
2
Barton, " # $amilton, %, Local Literacies! &ondon, 'outled(e, 1)), p.3.
3
ibid, p.*
Page 2 of 4
across conte&ts and are always related to contests over resources, de!initions and
de"loyents o! "ower and within larger 3orders o! discourse3,
4
#
-arton . /ailton have descri$ed their a""roach as an ecological a""roach,
+where literacy is integral to its conte&t,
4
, $ut !alling short o! $eing a !ull
ethnogra"hic study, in that the !ocus is on literacy, and literacy "ractices, rather
than on the !ull range o! social and cultural "ractices# 5ithin the social sciences
there has $een a signi!icant shi!t away !ro structuralist a""roaches generally
towards eco)systeic views, highlighting the eergence o! new ways o! thinking
a$out social "ractices and cognition# Literacy "ractices are not "ro"erties intrinsic
to individuals, $ut inha$it the ground where individuals and their social worlds
eet, in the relationshi"s $etween "eo"le and social grou"s#
5e ust note that -arton and /ailton6s ethodology e"loyed interviews,
o$servation and the collection o! docuents and that +"eo"le6s own "erce"tions
7were8 highlighted#,
9
%his !or o! data, associated with an ethnogra"hic a""roach,
"rivileges the voices o! the "artici"ants and !oregrounds local divergences and the
arginali(ed voices the research ais at +hearing,# A "riary result o! the
research is the identi!ication o! these vernacular or local literacies#
5e have dwelt on these ethodological concerns $e!ore looking at the theoretical
under"innings not $ecause the research, although e"irically $ased lacks
theoretical odels, or $ecause -arton and /ailton consider the less i"ortant,
$ut $ecause the ethodology s"eaks ost directly to the ais and concerns o! the
research# %he theoretical odel is $est understood against an understanding o!
the ty"e o! data collected# :eo"le, as social $eings, have attitudes, !eelings, values
and social relations which !or "art o! the raw data, collected in interviews,
o$servation and the analysis o! the te&ts which !or "art o! the literacy "ractices o!
any counity# It is the conte&tuali(ation o! the research which is valued# :erha"s
this constitutes a romanticization o! the local, and re"resents too uch o! a
corrective to the universalist clais o! earlier theories o! literacy, $ut re"resents an
i"ortant de"arture nonetheless, not least in what it "roises to uncover in ters
o! arginali(ed voices#
-arton . /ailton identi!y si& $asic assu"tions $ehind their social theory o!
literacy# %heir "riary assu"tion is that literacy is a social "ractice, which can $e
in!erred !ro o$serva$le literacy events# Literacy, reading and writing "ractices are
de!ined as culturally e$edded ways in which written language is utili(ed in the
daily lives o! "eo"le within social conte&ts# %hese conte&ts contain within the
codi!ied values, understandings and social identities# %his way o! conce"tuali(ing
reading and writing o!!ers e&citing new ways o! $ridging the ga" $etween the
eta"horical uses o! language to descri$e society and social reality, and social
reality as lived and e&"erienced $y "eo"le# /owever, since these realities are
occluded $y the very language we e"loy to e&"lore the, $ecause literacy
"ractices are a$stractions, involving value)laden and attitudinal interventions, we
need another $asic conce"t, that o! the literacy event to hel" un"ack the notion o!
*
Street, B, %osition %aper in New &irections in literacy 'esearch( A Symposium, 1))), online at
http://education.leeds.ac.u+/,-&,/S.mposium (accessed 3/0/2003!
5
Barton # $amilton, op cit, p.*
/
ibid, p.*
Page 3 of 4
literacy "ractices# Literacy events are o$serva$le activities, involving literacy,
written te&ts, which ste !ro and sha"e literacy "ractices#
;entral to literacy events are the te&ts which are used or "roduced, and the study
o! these te&ts is used to hel" understand the literacy events which are o$served,
and the literacy "ractices which lie $ehind the# /owever, as -arton . /ailton
note, literacy events, although concerned with written te&ts, usually contain a
i&ture o! written and s"oken language# In addition, a wide range o! seiotic
systes is e"loyed in any literacy event# :rint literacy is o!ten acco"anied $y
!ors o! visual or oral counication# -roadcast edia and new technologies
o!!er a co"eting range o! literacies and seiotic odes# -arton and /ailton
situate literacy as a resource availa$le to a counity, one o! a range o! resources
availa$le to the#
%he second assu"tion is that events are located within "articular conte&ts and
can only $e understood in these ters# <vents are governed $y the social rules
which sha"e the doain such as work, hoe, or school within which they occur#
%he category o! literacy events allows the odel to identi!y and di!!erentiate
$etween di!!erent literacies, !or e&a"le di!!erent edia literacies such as
co"uter literacy or !il literacy, or di!!erent literacies in the sense that di!!erent
languages or cultures are involved, $ut crucially !or the odel, di!!erences across
various as"ects o! social li!e# %he odel would then identi!y these doains such
as work, hoe or school and co"are the literacy "ractices involved# As -arton .
/ailton "ut it, +"eo"le "artici"ate in distinct discourse counities, in di!!erent
doains o! li!e#,
7
%hese discourse counities are characteri(ed $y the di!!erent
ways in which language is e"loyed and the shared values and attitudes across
the grou"# /owever, the categories are not hard and !ast, and an i"ortant as"ect
o! 0ew Literacy *tudies research is the e&aination o! the e&tent to which
$oundaries $etween doains are "erea$le, and to what e&tent they are distinct#
5e have noted the concern o! the odel !or aking "lain the social relations o!
"ower, and the third assu"tion $ehind the odel is that literacy "ractices are
e$edded within and sha"ed $y the "ower relations within social instituiions#
*oe literacy "ractices are doinant, while other vernacular literacies as less
visi$le and in!luential# -arton . /ailton6s concern is to docuent these less
visi$le vernacular literacies and their relationshi" to the doinant literacies# %o y
ind, this is where the odel derives its greatest strength# It ust $e noted that
-arton . /ailton situate their concern s'uarely in the relationshi"s $etween local
and glo$al discourses, there$y, argua$ly esca"ing the worst o! the criticiss a$out
the +liits o! the local,
=
%he !ourth assu"tion $ehind the odel is that literacy "ractices are +"ur"ose!ul
and e$edded in $roader social goals and cultural "ractices,
9
# Literacy "er!ors
!unctions which are theselves e$edded in social conte&ts# -arton . /ailton
stress that single activities ay "er!or ulti"le !unctions# %his insight gives the
odel considera$ly greater "ower o! e&"lanation that odels $ased solely on the
use or !unction o! literacy#
0
-bid, p.10

Brandt #1linton (2002! discussed in Street, B, op cit.

)
Barton, " # $amilton.%, op cit, p.11
Page 4 of 4
%he !i!th assu"tion o! the odel is that literacy "ractices are historically situated#
%his re!ers as uch to the history o! social and cultural "ractices as to the histories
o! individuals# *ocial institutions and individuals are great $earers o! tradition,
"ali"sests i! you like, accretions o! their own eories and changing
reconstructions o! the "ast#
%he si&th, and last assu"tion is that literacy "ractices change, and i"ortant
eleents in this "rocess o! change are the "rocesses o! +in!oral learning and
sense aking,
10
, a atter o! how vernacular strategies are used $y "eo"le to learn
new literacies# %he !ocus here is !irly on "eo"le6s own understanding o! literacy
and how this articulates with their own learning strategies# %he crucial arena is
here the doain o! school, and how school literacy "ractices are internalised within
individuals#
5e started this essay $y highlighting soe o! the concerns o! the theory o! literacy
which the 0ew Literacy *tudies were reacting against, concerns with literacy
!ailure, and crisis within schools# In a way we have coe !ull circle then, !or we can
see in the si&th assu"tion, in!ored $y the other assu"tions, "ossi$le ways in
which 0ew Literacy *tudies ight shed new light on these 'uestions# %he greater
!le&i$ility o! the literacy as a social "ractice odel lies "recisely in the anner in
which it can articulate di!!erences $etween doains o! hoe and school, $etween
local and doinant literacy "ractices, $etween individuals and grou"s, and within
culturally and historically e$edded "ers"ectives# %he "overty o! the autonoous
odel lies in its ono)diensional ode
10
-bid, p. 12