Why Literacy as A Social Practice?

Assalamu'alaikum, everyone.
Literacy is quiet popular issue these days. Studies, theories and practices related to this are widely explored. One of my course in the first semester, last year also discussed about this; it is so sad it has to be ended. Interesting cases, interesting process and interesting lecturer, I believe, make everybody love it. The very first thing we discuss about this course is "Why Literacy as a Social Practice?" 

Well this post is going to show you about some sources connected to that question; some parts of books or journals are reviewed. Okay it is not really review but a kind of reflection, my reflection, to those sources. I hope it'll help.

This topic may be also interesting for you: Open up My Eyes: My Childood Literacy Practices

From the very beginning of the lecture, I have realized that literacy is particularly important. As I came to the class with empty headed; had no idea about what exactly literacy is, what we were going to discuss, and what knowledge field that we were going to learn, I ended up figuring out the meaning of literacy on the spot. In a simple explanation, “Literacy” can be defined as ‘ability to read and write’. Regarding to this, Literacy is divided into two: (a) Skill: related to ability; people who don’t have the skill are called as illiteracy, (b) Practice: related to willingness; people who don’t have willingness in literacy are called as aliteracy.

The literacy debates are divided into two: (a) ideological models of literacy (taking possibilities and factors: using power to pursue/to read and write), (b) autonomous/Literacy Acquisition Model (motivation: it is the truth but actually not really the truth, measure: result). Furthermore, this week, I have read some of the books listed related to the topic, and I am going to share about the books in this reading journal as these following paragraphs:

Pahl, K. & Rowsell, J., Literacy and Education, London: Paul Chapman Publishing, 2010.

Introduction: this book is the correlation and combination between theory and practice of literacy, especially in schools. Mostly, teaching literacy (reading and writing) is applied in printed texts. However, Brian Street explained that “it can be used in different contexts and for different purposes”. From this book, I know the difference between “literacy” (writing and reading) and “literacies” (the environment of literacy). Furthermore, this book also combines experiences of working in the literacy field in and out school, in after-school programs, family literacy classes, also primary and secondary school classrooms.

As we are going to read more about this book; these are brief descriptions about chapters in this book: Chapter 1 discusses about how literacy practices concept supports classroom teachers. Chapter 2 theories of multimodality and visual communication are starting to be inscribed into teaching (QCA, 2004). Chapter 3 is focused on the home–school issues and how our students’ home literacy practices can be taken up within classrooms. Chapter 4 the wider globalized world we share and how the local and global interact in classroom literacies are considered. Chapter 5 focuses on identity, and its role in shaping literacy. Chapter 6 explains about how curriculum and pedagogy can be shaped by the ideas of the New Literacy Studies.

Intensively, this book shows literacy in homes and daily lives. The interconnection between home-school literacy practices is to find out students identity. New Literacy Studies paradigm is also introduced in this book as way of meaningful language teaching. Regarding to language teaching, multimodality and multiliteracies are also considered as the frameworks. Different kinds of modes in literacy (written, visual, audio) and in terms of technology can be significant sources. Different literacies is also a great deal. As a community practice, literacy is strongly connected to learners’ background, culture and daily life. Pahl and Roswell also stated in this book that in language teaching and learning, understanding and using language is apparently important, yet producing and transforming it actively in form of reading, writing, listening and speaking are actually more important. In the other words, we need to maintain literacy across range of contexts and the function of the language.

This book will probably provide guidance and amount of information regarding to teaching literacy and relate it to the children’s/students’ real life.

Barton, D. & Hamilton, M., Situated Literacies, London: Routledge, 2000.

Chapter 1 (Literacy Practices): The first chapter of this book provides a brief overview of social theory of literacy. In connecting to the topic of this week—Why literacy as a social practice—there are two main points in new literacy studies: (a) Literacy events: Cultural artifact and observable; books, laptop, pencil, etc., (b) Literacy practices: everything that people do with literacy, and it is not observable; behavior, attitude, value, etc. Here, Borton and Hamilton express literacy as social practice in six proportions of literacy practice, those are: (1) Literacy is mediated by written texts; (2) different domains means different literacy practices; (3) Literacy practices are related to power; (4) Literacy practices have different purposes; (5) Literacy is historically situated; (6) Literacy practices change through processes of informal learning and sense making.

Relating to the interaction between literacy and real life, literacy can be the act of evidence, display, threat, and ritual. Particularly, the first chapter of this book provides brief explanations about literacy events and literacy practices; especially in the six aspects mentioned above. In addition, Barton and Hamilton recommend The Use of Literacy by Richard Hoggart as classic studies of literacies in home, the use of literacy for individuals and community. Barton and Hamilton end this chapter by stating that education has the most immediate links with literacy practices.

Dewayani, S. & Retnaningdyah, P. Suara dari Marjin: Literasi Sebagai Praktik Sosial, Bandung: Rosda, 2017

Chapter 1 (Pendahuluan: Kompleksitas Literasi) reveals that this book discusses about two different studies of literacy practices especially in marginal community; those who cannot get formal education and left behind in social life. The studies applied ethnographic approach in dealing with the observed subject. Aimed to explore local literacy practices in specific social context, the studies took street children in Bandung and servants of Indonesian migrant in Hong Kong as the subject of the studies. In connecting to literacy practices, Dewayani and Retnaningdyah refer their writing to the New Study of Literacy which holds the six proportions of literacy practices. In particular, 5 elements in ethnographic approach are: (1) The participants of the research are people growing up in unique culture of social context; (2) Responses, utterances and acts of the participants are related to the study with the involvement of marginal citizens; (3) The approach does not conduct the acts of the participants in linear; (4) Researchers did not conduct the research deductively; (5) the observation and the interaction have to be done naturally.

Regarding to the topic of this week, these are some important term in literacy. Literacy artefact: any idea that can support literacy practices (at home, school and workplace) What we need to do rearding to literacy practices at home, we need to denaturalization that everyone can be involved in literacy practices. Thirdspace: first space (somethin that can be seen in literacy practic) second space (knowledge, behavior, value in the first space), third space (when the teacher goes out, some students become themselves and find their own identity). The challenge is to make the third space become meaningful for school practices (the idea of home-school connection). Appropriation: we use particular place (first space) not for what the place exists (second space), but for other things (third space) as long as not breaking the rules à public-private space.

These are all I can write about Literacy as a social practice. Writing or reading the theories are probably not easy and seemingly complicated; but, unconsciously, we have been doing these every time and every where in our entire life.

You might also want to read this: My Literacy in A Whole Time: I am Horrible 

Well then, I'll see you in the next post. Wassalamu'alaikum.