Comple

x

Undefine

d

Not measurable

Increasingly

Important • "Literacy is like the y value."

Ashley Ross

• There has been numerous efforts

to define literacy and " each of

these efforts has identified

important parameters of literacy

, but none has yet won

consensual agreement." Sylvia

Scribner

• " Literacy would appear to be one of

the few elements of education that

everyone agrees to be a necessity of

modernity" John Szwed

• "Historically, literacy has been a potent

tool in maintaining the hegemony of

elites and dominant classes in certain

societies" Scribner

• "[Literacy] practices are not

observable units of behavior since

they also involve

values, attitudes, feelings and social

relationships" Barton and Hamilton

• "What is literature? No agreement"

John Szwed

• "Although literacy is a problem of

pressing national concern, we have

yet to discover or set it's

boundaries." Sylvia Scribner

I believe that the ability to

read, write, and understand the

written word can be broken up into

smaller groups. I call these little

subgroups literacies. A literacy is a

group of words or phrases that are

used for a specific field or purpose.

For instance an equine literacy

would include all words and

phrases relating to equine.

Including coat colors such as

palomino and dun, and diseases

such as colic and founder.

Literacy is an extremely complex subject. There have been numerous efforts to

define literacy and "each of these efforts has identified important parameters of

literacy, but none has yet won consensual agreement." (Scribner) My belief is that each

person has their own literacy identity. A literacy identity is a grouping of all ones

literacies and a literacy is simple a group of words that are all associated with a similar

subject. In order to have a particular literacy in a literacy identity the person must

understand the words associated with that literacy and know how to use them

intelligently. For my project I will dive into the literacy identities of three sisters from a

small town in Northern Michigan. It will compare the literacy identities of the three sisters

by showing each girl’s literacy identities. Once the literacy Identity is established for each

girl the individual literacies included in their literacy identity will be explained. Also how

the individual may have obtained each literacy will also be included in the project. All of

the required information was obtained through multiply interviews taken with the three

individuals. This project is meant to show that an individual’s environment, friends, and

past experiences have a great effect on their literacy identity.