The literacy corresponds to a sociocultural approach from which the learning of reading and writing goes beyond cognitive skills and includes social practices to make sense within a specific social context. The word literacy comes from the English literacy.
It differs from literacy in that the latter refers only to the technical ability to decode and handle written signs through reading and writing. Literacy considers that this is not enough and that reading and writing are used in specific contexts for specific purposes, in a society with given power relations.
Literacy starts from an early age
For this reason, literacy is not just one, but there are many associated with the different situations and contexts in which the person is seen. Hence, there are vernacular (everyday life) literacies and official (regulated) literacies. For example, knowing how to read and write well is not enough to have literacy in a specific discipline.
This is so because the professional in a field must handle rules, conventions and specific skills for their discipline; for example, to know how to make a medical history or an economic report.
Literacy and the new studies
This sociocultural approach to reading and writing is defended from the theoretical current known as the new studies of literacy, which emphasizes literacy as a social practice that transcends written symbols.
In this way, it analyzes these literacy practices in various political, social and cultural contexts, among others. Usually, these investigations have been given from the ethnographic point of view.
Principles on Literacy
According to this current, these are some of the principles regarding literacy:
-Literacy is mediated by sociocultural tools and interactions.
-The learning of literacy occurs as a mix between explicit and implicit learning, in such a way that it is increasingly being perfected.
-Literacy does not occur only in the school context, but people practice literacy in all socio-cultural groups and at all ages.
-To learn literacy, students need meaningful purposes for them that allow them to practice literacy, as well as opportunities to use it in different stimulating and motivating activities for them.
-The apprentices not only need to know the written symbols, but currently they need to know how to interpret other types of information representations (icons, symbols, graphics, tables, etc.).
Literacy basics
From the new studies of literacy, two related key concepts are handled.
On the one hand, there are literacy (or literate) events, defined as all events in daily life in which the written word plays an important role. That is, activities such as reading a sign or filling out a form can be literacy events.
However, to be part of a literacy event it is required to know a series of conventions and rules that are implicit in the event.
This is where literacy (or literate) practices come in, referring to those social and cultural conventions that are brought to literacy events and that give meaning to the event. These practices are the invisible or hidden part that is behind the event that is observable.
Concepts that define it
According to the current definition of literacy, there may be a multitude of vernacular and official literacies. For example, financial, labor, critical, information, digital and disciplinary literacy, among many others, have been proposed.
Therefore, the competencies to be literate or not in a type of literacy will largely depend on the type of literacy and how it is defined.
For example, critical literacy is the ability to go beyond what is read and identify the author's motives, form opinions based on what has been read, and evaluate the validity and reliability of what is stated.
The competencies that could be considered necessary for this type of literacy are:
-Be able to encode and decode the code of grammar competence.
-Be able to construct meanings (grammatical competence).
-Be able to use texts for purposes (pragmatic competence).
-Be able to critically analyze the text (critical competence).
How it develops
There is no specific program by which literacy can be acquired, as it will vary according to different experiences and contexts.
Emerging Literacy
Since the child is very young, he is exposed in different situations to letters and texts, and to their uses and meanings. This starts to happen long before the studies are formally started.
For example, from a young age the child may see advertisements on the street and know that they have meaning, or know that in objects called books there are stories that adults read to them. Of course, this will depend on the culture and practices associated with each culture.
This process prior to formal literacy is known as emergent literacy, and it corresponds to what the child already has prior to written language before beginning to teach coding and decoding.
Examples of this phase can be their previous contact with forms of writing (stories), knowing how to hold a book and in which direction it should be read, among others.
Formal learning
When the child formally begins his literacy learning, he begins to participate in experiences that make him develop his phonological awareness and letter recognition.
Next, writing and reading go from being ends in themselves to being means; that is, tools to learn new knowledge.
Literacy
At the same time, in addition to formal learning, the child acquires literacy through experiences or events that are not necessarily formal.
These events will prepare you to acquire skills that allow you to access increasingly specialized language.
This is the language that you will find as you progress through your secondary and university studies, and correspond to disciplinary literacies; that is, specific literacies of disciplines such as chemistry, biology, among others.
References
- Aceves-Azuara, I. and Mejía-Arauz, R. (2015). The development of literacy in children. In R. Mejía Arauz (Eds.) Psychocultural development of Mexican children. Guadalajara, Jalisco: ITESO.
- Gamboa Suárez, AA, Muñoz García, PA and Vargas Minorta, L. (2016). Literacy: new sociocultural and pedagogical possibilities for the school. Latin American Journal of Educational Studies, 12 (1), pp. 53-70.
- Gasca Fernández, MA (2013) Development of critical literacy on the Internet in students of the College of Sciences and Humanities of UNAM. In F. Díaz, Learning and school contexts: innovative study and evaluation approaches (pp. 25-52). Mexico DF: Díaz de Santos Editions.
- Gee, JP (2010). Reading, language development, video games and learning in the 21st century. In G. López Bonilla and C. Pérez Fragoso (Eds.), Discourses and identities in contexts of educational change (pp.129-160). México, DF: Editorial Plaza y Valdés.
- Hull, G. and Birr Moje, E. (2012). What is the Development of Literacy the Development Of? In Understanding Language Conference.
- Montes Silva, ME and López Bonilla, G. (2017). HORIZONS Literacy and disciplinary literacy: theoretical approaches and pedagogical proposals. Educational Profiles, 39 (155).