Deleny Leon DB 2

Activity 7: Post 2:

1. According to Szwed, what are the 5 elements of literacy? Select one of them and describe it in more detail.

• According to John F. Szwed in the article, “The Ethnography of Literacy”, the 5 Elements of Literacy is a collection of ideas which are meant to act as tools or focal points meant to help contribute to finding the not only a proper meaning of literacy, but how to measure it and what other factors may contribute to the development of literacy. Each point reminding many of how complex and ever-changing literacy is. The collection consisting of the following: Texts, Function, Context, Participants, and Motivation. One of the most important points being Function and Context which intertwine to emphasize the complexity of literacy through the question, “Why and Under What Circumstances is Reading and Writing Done?”, as stated by Szwed. This question is marked by the unfortunate reminder of the inability of statistics to tell us what functions reading and writing can serve due to its various changes and differences within each society and daily life. To further elaborate, there is nothing known about the social contexts of reading and writing and how effective they are on the two. Social contexts perhaps including bedside reading, lunch-time reading, or etc. Aside from this, social contexts do connect to another idea found within the idea of  Function and Context which is the difference between public literacy and private literacy. The significance of private and public literacy is great because of how their differences serve to show how serious the issue of education for literacy is due to the inability of schools to adapt to or understand the private life of students and how and under what circumstances they read in private. Public literacy and private literacy requiring different sets of skills which creates a gap within the education for literacy. In regards to the different set of skills for private and public literacy, there are different styles of reading and writing which are not a single standard of set of skills. These differences reminding many of how diverse or complex literacy is and how we are unable to understand it at the moment due to its complexity and the search for better research methods to better understand their functions and purpose within society which defines the element of Function and Context for literacy. 

2. What method of studying literacy does Szwed recommend and why?

• Szwed recommends ethnography as a method of studying literacy because of the vast opportunities for information on the complexity of literacy within society and its purpose, functions, relationships with certain circumstances (family, age, etc), and how it can be measured. Szwed considering ethnography as “a considerable break with most past research on the subject.” Further elaborating, Szwed views ethnography as a game changer because of how it provides a way to keep literacy within the logic of the everyday lives of people through observation which allows the relationship between school and the outside world to be highlighted and studied. Other research methods having been unable to do this due to the emergence of biased ideas, a lack of definition behind literacy, and the lack of gaining real cases on private and public literacy through statistics and records from the past which are not useful due to literacy changing as culture changes through time. Ethnography allowing researchers an opportunity to notice the sudden emergence of certain changes or differences within a culture as time passes through observation and first-hand experience. Regarding the idea of observation, Szwed finds ethnography an important research method for literacy because  it allows us a chance to find if certain circumstances such as the media or family life may affect the development of literacy. Apart from this, ethnography is important as well because of its connection with sociolinguistics to help many researchers understand the codes found within the communication of cultures or social contexts that may be connected to literacy and how literacy may influence them.

3. What does Szwed mean when he writes, in reference to ethnography, that “we must come to terms with the lives of people without patronizing them” (427)?

• What Szwed meant when he wrote, in reference to ethnography, that “we must come to terms with the lives of people without patronizing them” is that we should not set a specific standard or general implications for literacy because it is complex and does undergo many changes as time passes. Also, there are different sets of skills and a difference between private and public literacy which prevents us from determining if someone is illiterate or literate. These differences and changes prevent us from defining literacy which emphasizes how we should not patronize others as Szwed mentioned because we have no set reason to. 

4. Imagine you are a literacy instructor at a high school in the Bronx: if you followed Szwed’s advice, how would you teach literacy?
– If I were a literacy instructor at a high school within the Bronx, I would teach literacy, based on Szwed’s advice, by lecturing students on the different elements which accompany literacy and how complex it is. Hopefully, allowing students to realize there is no fixed criteria to determine who is illiterate or literate. Afterwards, providing students an option to choose a text or genre of book they feel comfortable with and writing a report on which involves a summary of it and a review of it. Once, provided the reports, the students will present it and once finished, I will proceed with holding a lecture on how the texts or books used for these reports connected to literacy. Also, the importance of how writing can vary in style as seen through the reports provided with the permission of students to allow others to view their report.  The end goal being to allow students to understand the ability to read and write is not meant to serve a single function, but multiple functions with various meanings.

5. What, according to Elizabeth Baker, is the sociocultural perspective of literacy? What are the four characteristics of literacy that Baker suggests we use and why?

• According to Elizabeth Baker in the article, “Sociocultural Perspectives”, the sociocultural perspective of literacy is that literacy is viewed as an “artifact of culture”, as stated by Baker, because as culture changes so does literacy and its criteria in regards to the ability to read and write. Focus shifting from individual cognition and cultural norms. Aside from this, the four characteristics of literacy that Baker suggests we use are semiotic, public, transitory, and product oriented. Baker suggests we use these four characteristics because not only do they provide the opportunity to receive insight and advice from others on reading and writing, but it reminds us of the constant change of literature within society and how to adapt to it as time passes and new ideas emerge. 

6. What did you learn from researching the term “orality versus literacy?”

• I learned from researching the term “orality versus literacy” that orality is the use of storytelling or the use of a verbal medium to communicate information within a culture unlike within literacy which focuses on communicating through writing and reading. The differences between the two showing us how society has evolved and continues as literacy changes along with orality due to changes in stories and information. 

7. How are our literacy practices shaped by communities of which we are part and in which we are raised (reference at least one of this week’s readings here)?

• Our literacy practices are shaped by the communities we were raised in and a part of as shown through the research of Heath (1983) who examined the culture of literacy within two Appalachian communities. Heath would contrast the literacy practices of these students with the expectations they faced within their schools, Surprisingly, while the children were determined as illiterate by the standards of their schools, Heath found that her work showed the literacy practices of the children within their home culture were different from the standards or expectations of literacy within their schools. The students’ literary practices within their communities not showing a clear sign of illiteracy. An important idea being taken from this research which show how our literacy practices are shaped by our communities we are a part of and were raised in which Elizabeth Baker states in the following statement, based on the article, “Sociocultural Perspectives”, in regards to the Appalachian children and their community, “…the culturally sophisticated literacy practices of this community was simply not aligned with (or privileged in) those of the broader culture.” This “broader” culture providing a set standard for literacy instead of considering the complexity of it within different communities outside of school. Showing the idea of private literacy versus public literacy mentioned by John F. Szwed in the article, “The Ethnography of Literacy.”

8. How are literacy standards created, who do they serve and how are they assessed for cultural bias (reference one of this week’s readings here)?

• Literacy standards are created usually based on the change in culture or time. For instance, according to the article, “Sociocultural Perspectives”, by Elizabeth Baker, P. David Pearson and Mary S., “…expectations for reading in Europe and the United States in the late 1600s involved mastering a range of religious texts….by the early 1900s literacy was operationally defined as getting the gist of newspaper articles and following simple written directions.” Each timeline shows a difference in expectations of what it meant to be literate, especially today. Of course, these standards were not meant to serve everyone within society because of different literacy practices within communities, culture, and circumstances faced by people within society such as their age or accessibility to texts or books. Aside from this, literacy standards can be assessed for cultural bias through the use of sociolinguistics and ethnography which identify certain codes within languages and observe a culture and communities use of literacy.