[AAACE-NLA] What do we mean by "literacy?"

Tue Nov 28 08:12:02 EST 2006

Hello Tom:

Some of the confusion might be cleared up by all of us recognizing the difference between common discourse and technical discourse?

That is, if we are developing as a field of expertise and professionalism, then the emerging need for more defined language is a positive sign of that development.  

In any field development, e.g., any of the sciences, including medicine, the human sciences and education, the field distinguishes itself from common discourse, in part, through gaining a clear definition of terms--definitions that are often quite different from those used (and misused) in common communications--a brief perusal of any field will reveal this point, e.g., medicine.

If we are trying to remain in common usage, we will remain confused--because there is no order there, and people are free to use and misuse terms as they/we wish.  

However, if we want clarity in our field, and if we want to continue to develop as a specialized and professional field that we are, in fact, becoming, then we need to (1) consciously distinguish between common and technical meaning in our communications, and (2) develop those technical meanings for terms we use, e.g., literacy. 

You yourself have called for more specialized meaning of such terms.  What's missing is the underlying foundational order that consciously distinguishes our terms between (1) common and (2) technical usage, and ourselves as both (1) common and (2) technical communicators.  

This is a major problem throughout education--educators are in the more complex field of applications--and so VERY often we miss that the other aspect of our field is techincal/theoretical and that, like medical doctors, we should share a field of technical expertise and language that is clearly distinct from common usage--or remain confused.

Regards,

Catherine King

From: tsticht at znet.com
Date: 2006/11/27 Mon PM 06:39:15 CST
To: 
	National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>, 
	Jon Steinberg <jons at lacnyc.org>
Cc: 
	National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] What do we mean by "literacy?"

Aaace-nla Colleagues: I think it is apparent from the variety of responses
to my question "What do we mean by "literacy?" that the word "literacy" has
come to mean almost anything someone wants it to. Even "experiential
learning," which used to refer to other than book-learning now appears to
be part of "literacy." What used to be called "health education" now
appears to be "health literacy." The ability to use a computer isn't
"computer knowledge and skill" but "computer literacy." With all these
various uses (e.g, "media literacy" even when there is no written language
involved)it seems likely to me that potential sponsors of adult literacy
education may be put off becasue they can't understand what it is for which
funds are being solicited. Calling GED preparation and preparation for
post-secondary, college education "literacy education" also seems to bend
the idea of "literacy" into something unrecognizable by those who think of
literacy as reading and writing.

Elsewhere I noted that frequently when "literacy" is coupled with a word
like "health literacy", "science literacy," "computer literacy," there is
no independent assessment of the knowledge domain (health, computer,
science) from the literacy domain. This fails to represent the learner's
actual amount of learning.

Like I said before, this is all very confusing to me.

Tom Sticht

Quoting Jon Steinberg <jons at lacnyc.org>:

> Andrea, I think we are pretty much in agreement, but when a class visits
> a medical institution, an activity that we strongly encourage, I'm not
> sure that mastery of the domain progresses from the simple to the
> complex. Sometimes experiencing things in a totality can be a powerful
> learning experience, and greater understanding of its components can
> follow.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
> [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of Andrea
> Wilder
> Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 3:48 PM
> To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
> Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] What do we mean by "literacy?"
>
> Yes, this is very much what I mean by "domain" literacy--the
> development of experiential skills, practice at problem-solving in a
> particular domain.  Skill development  in a domain grows in sequence
> from simple to more advanced concepts and routines.
>
> Andrea
>
> On Nov 27, 2006, at 2:52 PM, Jon Steinberg wrote:
>
> >
> > At the Literacy Assistance Center, we use terms such as health
> literacy
> > and family literacy to describe constellations of skills that give
> > people greater access to crucial areas of daily life.
> >
> > One definition of health literacy that the LAC frequently uses comes
> > from Healthy People 2010, published by the US Department of Health and
> > Human Services. It defines health literacy as "The degree to which
> > individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic
> > health information and services needed to make appropriate health
> > decisions." We take this to mean the degree to which people can, for
> > instance, find their way to the right place in a hospital, fill out
> > medical and insurance forms, and communicate with healthcare
> providers.
> >
> > The typical highly literate person would probably have all of these
> > skills, but only because he or she has developed a set of cultural
> > skills, as well as literacy skills in the strict sense of numeracy and
> > the ability to read, write, understand, and speak English. Asking a
> > physician questions, for example, is not simply a matter of putting
> > words together, or even knowing that every patient has the right to
> > engage in dialog in a health care context. It requires a deep
> > understanding that getting providers to explain matters that aren't
> > clear is essential to obtaining appropriate treatment. It also
> requires
> > having the skills and confidence to pose the right questions and
> > volunteer relevant information that the health care professional may
> > not
> > have sought.
> >
> > Based on this perspective, LAC professional development in health
> > literacy emphasizes skills that must be learned and practiced, rather
> > than knowledge that can be memorized, such as what various physical
> > symptoms might indicate. The skills-based framework we use was
> > developed
> > by Rima Rudd, Sc.D., at the Harvard School of Public Health.
> >
> > By teaching health literacy, we hope to provide vital skills that
> adult
> > education learners and their families need immediately. We have also
> > found that engaging students in acquiring these essential skills
> > accelerates their overall literacy gains. You can find more
> information
> > on the LAC approach to health literacy at
> > http://lacnyc.org/profdev/healthlit.
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
> > [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of Andrea
> > Wilder
> > Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 9:58 AM
> > To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
> > Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] What do we mean by "literacy?"
> >
> > I use Adult literacy now almost exclusively, rather than adult
> > education, though "adult ed" is quick to say.
> >
> > By "literacy" I mean 1)	learning to read and write better
> > 2)	skill/mastery of a specific domain that  hooks  the student
> > into
> > some form of functional literacy, e.g., compute literacy.  I take
> > "computer literacy" to mean the ability to use a computer and access
> > knowledge.  So the first is general literacy, the second is domain
> > literacy.
> >
> > Andrea
> >
> >
> > On Nov 23, 2006, at 11:45 AM, David Rosen wrote:
> >
> >> Tom and John,
> >>
> >> I have settled on using "adult education and literacy" (following
> >> Tom's suggestion a few years ago that this is what we should call the
> >> system, in spite of the unfortunate acronymn, AELS) and "adult
> >> literacy education" (which I first saw used several years ago by
> >> Silja Kallenbach) to describe the field. I then qualify these to
> >> mention that they include English language learning (ELL/ESOL/ESL)
> >> and numeracy (math). I'll consider using  "literacy, language and
> >> numeracy (LLN)", although "adult" would need to be added to it, it
> >> doesn't solve the workplace education program naming problem you
> >> mentioned, John,  and it leaves out preparation for secondary
> >> credentials and post-secondary education.  (BTW, I think KFC may have
> >> changed its name from Kentucky Fried Chicken because they began to
> >> offer more than chicken.)
> >>
> >> Here's a thought: once the field gets the terms right, we can offer
> >> everyone Literacy literacy ; - )
> >>
> >> Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. Colleagues,
> >>
> >> David J. Rosen
> >>
> >> On Nov 22, 2006, at 8:34 PM, Benseman John wrote:
> >>
> >>> Interesting points Tom. It struck a chord with me as I was at a
> >>> workplace (negotiating a workplace literacy programme evaluation)
> >>> yesterday and the most adamant point they had was that the term
> >>> 'literacy' was not to be used in dealing with the workers/learners
> >>> as they have found that the term is very off-putting in recruiting
> >>> learners.
> >>>
> >>> My second point is that the use of adult literacy and adult
> >>> education synonymously in the US is very confusing to most of us
> >>> outside the US. Certainly in most non-US contexts the term adult
> >>> education is much broader, including all non-formal programmes for
> >>> adults, of which adult literacy is a part.
> >>>
> >>> In NZ (and in many other countries in Europe) the tendency is to
> >>> refer to LLN (literacy, language and numeracy) to the point that
> >>> LLN is becoming a stand-alone acronym - if it's good enough for KFC
> >>> to do that (to avoid using the word fried), then maybe it's good
> >>> enough for us?
> >>>
> >>> John
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> John Benseman PhD
> >>>
> >>> Director of Research & Evaluation, Upskilling NZ
> >>> (based at Department of Labour)
> >>> DDI 04 915 4195 - Cell: 021 0489 143
> >>>
> >>> Faculty of Education, The University of Auckland
> >>> PB 92019, Auckland, NZ
> >>> *   j.benseman at auckland.ac.nz <mailto:j.benseman at auckland.ac.nz>
> >>> (   0064 9 623 8899, ext 87161
> >>> 7 0064 9 373 7455
> >>> Office location: Room 365, N Block, Epsom Campus
> >>>
> >>> ________________________________
> >>>
> >>> From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org on behalf of
> >>> tsticht at znet.com
> >>> Sent: Thu 23/11/2006 8:29 a.m.
> >>> To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
> >>> Subject: [AAACE-NLA] What do we mean by "literacy?"
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Aaace-nla Colleagues: Often we use terms like "health literacy,"
> >>> "financial
> >>> literacy," "computer literacy," "science literacy," "civics
> > literacy,"
> >>> "violence (e.g., spousal abuse) literacy," and so on. At other
> >>> times terms
> >>> like "workplace literacy" are used which can refer either to the
> > place
> >>> where "general literacy" education is delivered (the workplace) or
> > the
> >>> knowledge that is being considered (i.e., knowledge about a given
> >>> workplace, the written materials that are encountered, the language
> >>> requirements of the particular workplace, etc.). Sometimes the term
> >>> "workplace literacy" refers more generally to knowledge about the
> >>> world of
> >>> work in general. At other times the term "workforce literacy" may
> >>> have the
> >>> latter reference. Terms like "family literacy" seem to refer not so
> >>> much to
> >>> bodies of knowledge but rather to the notion of the group (family)
> >>> for which
> >>> literacy development is the goal. At other times the term "multiple
> >>> literacies" is used to refer to various kinds of symbol use.
> Finally,
> >>> sometimes "literacy" is considered by itself and generally seems to
> >>> mean
> >>> learning to comprehend the written, alphabetic representation of
> >>> the spoken
> >>> language.
> >>>
> >>> Questions that puzzle me include:
> >>>
> >>> Is the word "literacy" being overused? Would it matter if instead
> >>> of saying
> >>> "financial literacy" we said, "financial knowledge?" Or instead of
> >>> saying
> >>> "civics literacy" we simply said "civics?" Does dropping
> >>>
> >>> Is there a difference between "adult education" and "adult literacy
> >>> education?"
> >>>
> >>> What are the limits to the field of "adult literacy education?"
> >>>
> >>> How do these questions relate to how the public and/or policymakers
> >>> think
> >>> about the Adult Education and Literacy System of the United States?
> >>> Is it a
> >>> second chance, remediation system to teach the basics of reading
> >>> decoding
> >>> and K-12 subject matter comprehension up through the high school
> >>> diploma
> >>> (GED) level?
> >>>
> >>> I find all these different uses of the term "literacy" somewhat
> >>> confusing
> >>> and I wonder if others do?
> >>>
> >>> Tom Sticht
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
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> >>>
> >>>
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