Meaningful Literacy Learning

It's Not Just Reading and Writing Skills

Jun 19, 2008

Reframing the concept of literacy as changing social participation can help both teachers and students in creating a meaningful and effective learning environment.

The word "illiterate" is used technically to refer to someone who can't read or right and pejoritavely to refer to someone whose intelligence is not up to par (by an arbitrarily imposed standard of the person making the criticism). But defining literacy as "the ability to read and write" is an exceedingly narrow way to think about the practice of literacy. Setting literacy in the broader context of learning by authentic participation in meaningful activities, rather than as a set of skills to be acquired by rote repetition, makes a difference in the way students think about the value of school.

What is Literacy?

Consider, for example, the three definitions of "literacy" given by Dictionary.com:

The quality or state of being literate, esp. the ability to read or write
possession of education: to question someone's literacy
a person's knowledge of a particular subject or field: to acquire computer literacy

That's a perfect example, because contrasting #1 and #3 demonstrates how the definition of "literacy" shifts culturally. "The ability to read or write," the common definition of literacy, is slowly giving way, practically speaking, to computer literacy. Presently, one must usually be "literate" in the first definition give in order to function and succeed in society; as technology progresses, the need for computer literacy will increasingly be non-negotiable.

Learning as Changing Participation

JoAnne Larson and Jackie Marsh argue in Making Literacy Real (2005) that learning is best defined as "changing participation" rather than as a set of skills to be acquired through rote repetition. The latter position is held by George W. Bush and advocates of No Child Left Behind. Bush said,

"The building blocks of knowledge were the same yesterday and will be the same tomorrow. We do not need trendy new theories or fancy experiments or feel-good curriculums. The basics work. If drill gets the job done, then rote is right." (quoted at Rethinking Schools Online)

But literacy studies over the past three decades have made it abundantly clear that skill-and-drill practices are not as objective as Bush and others would think, because "knowledge" is not constructed the same way by all cultures even within the same geographical areas the U.S. [S.B. Heath, Ways With Words. Cambridge University Press, 1983]. Furthermore, "rote repetition" of particular skills in isolation, such as learning phonics charts and diagramming sentences, is often so disconnected from any kind of authentic learning experience as to seem irrelevant to many young students, especially those coming from backgrounds that don't construct literacy in the same way as the school does.

In addition to this, adults use their literacy "skills" for a purpose: communication, activity in society, democratic participation, and so on. Why are kids not allowed to participate in authentic activities for the benefit of society until they've learned a certain skillset?

Learning the rules of reading while immersed in the context of actual, meaningful participation in literacy acts invests real-life experience into the educational process. As skill increases, participation changes, but the key element is this: students are already authentically participating in literacy, making real contributions to society even at a young age. Authentic participation is not delayed until a certain skillset is acquired.

The Brilliant Weasley Drop-outs

References

JoAnne Larson and Jackie Marsh, Making Literacy Real. Sage Publications, 2005.

The copyright of the article Meaningful Literacy Learning in Teaching Strategies/Mentorship is owned by Travis Prinzi. Permission to republish Meaningful Literacy Learning in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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Comments

Jun 24, 2008 11:41 AM

revgeorge :

So, repetition is bad only in isolation but good when incorporated into other activities? If that's the sum of your argument, Travis, I can agree.

However, repetition is how we learn. We do something a number of times until we become familiar with it & for many things able to do them without thinking.

Here's the problem with repetition in schooling, though. Say there are two children. One can learn how to draw a letter 'a' perfectly after a few times. The other child takes much longer. But based on the one size fits all method of schooling nowadays, the first child will either be held back because of the other child's slowness or the slower child will be forced to go faster to try to keep up with the quicker child.

So, the first child becomes hyper & agitated because he's being held back & is diagnosed with ADHD. The second child becomes frustrated & belligerent because they're being forced to go faster than they can & thus is diagnosed with a learning disorder & gets special education.

It's a simple example & perhaps doesn't cover all cases but it covers most situations in which children are placed in grade levels & become simply products to be processed through the machine of education. Think Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall."

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