Introduction to The Elements of Literacy by Julie Lindquist and David Seitz

The following is a summary and analysis of the introductory chapter of The Elements of Literacy. I will also be including my own examples into the summary, and I will discuss in further detail some of the implications of the material presented in this chapter.

This chapter opens explaining the United State's current fascination with standardized testing and the No Child Left Behind Act. The authors use standardized testing and NCLB as a running example throughout the chapter to show how society views and defines literacy today, and the limitations and complications of using that limited definition.

So what does standardized testing and the NCLB act show us about how we as a society view literacy? The authors claim that it shows us that society believes literacy has a "fixed and stable" definition, and it is easily defined. It also reveals society's belief that literacy is a cognitive skill that can be easily measured, and everyone has an equal opportunity to acquire this skill. As we know, this is not the case. Children, for example, who attend underprivileged schools do not have access to the same resources as children who grow up in more affluent communities. As we can see, the definition of literacy that society uses, the definition that drives our policies, is often an out-dated, incomplete definition, and does not define how literacy is currently being used in society.

The chapter proceeds to discuss the NCLB act in further detail:

NCLB is big on holding schools accountable for the success of their students on standardized testing, which, again, is an insufficient way to measure literacy in the first place because it ignores many aspects of literacy such as class, technology, race, culture, religion, etc. In a perfect world, this policy might make sense, but we all know this is not a perfect world. All schools are not created equally. Poorer schools cannot offer their students access to as many resources as more affluent schools. Poor schools often work with out-dated textbooks, if they have textbooks at all, less qualified teachers, etc. Forget about computers. Many students in poorer communities miss out on that literacy all together. The biggest problem, then, with accountability is that NCLB punishes schools who do not perform as well by withholding money from them, further limiting their ability to help out their students, and it financially rewards schools that meet performance expectations. The rich schools get richer, and the poor schools get poorer. The gap widens.

One of the other major problems that I see, is that the program funds teaching methods that have shown through scientific research, effective results. This assumes that literacy can be measured through scientific research. That, however, is not what I see as the most glaring issue. We all know research, especially the publishing of its findings, takes time. Something that might have worked in schools twenty years ago when the research was done, will probably not work as well today with all of our technological advances and the changing definitions of literacy. NCLB, then, does not allow for innovative methods of teaching. We're teaching 19th and 20th century literacy in a 21st century classroom. As the authors point out, when society defines literacy one way, though the term itself is abstract, it has very real and concrete implications in the real world.

The chapter moves on to talk about ways to define or think about literacy. The authors talk about how the term is hard to define, and I found it particularly interesting when they stated that it is an "abstract noun" with no verb form. Verb forms of words often clue us in to the actions surrounded the noun form, allowing us to have a better understanding of the term. We don't have that luxury with literacy.

So how is literacy defined in today's society? The authors point out three common definitions:

• "Literacy is a quantifiable workplace skill"
• Literacy refers to practiced engagement with printed text"
• Literacy has to do with higher-order information processing and reasoning skills" (7).

These are all still pretty abstract definitions, and that is the problem. Literacy is a word a lot of people throw around, but they cannot actually define it. That complicates conversations on literacy because often one person's definition of literacy varies drastically from another person's. This makes room for a lot of confusion and misunderstanding.

To give their readers a better understanding of literacy, the authors quote Scribner's Three Metaphors for Literacy. They quote Scribner saying, "each of these three metaphors is rooted in certain assumptions about the social motivations for literacy in this country, the nature of existing literacy practices, and judgments about which practices are critical for individual and social enhancement" (9). The three metaphors are as follows:

• Literacy as adaption: This is the idea that in order to survive socially and economically in society, one needs literacy. Literacy is a way of "getting by." For example, people need literacy to read road signs, leases, file taxes, fill out job applications, buy groceries, etc. As we grow and mature, literacy is a way for us to adapt to our new roles in society.
• Literacy as power: This explores the the relationship between literacy and socioeconomic status. For example, literacy has often been used to oppress certain groups of people. For example, by not allowing African Americans to learn to read, they remained in a disadvantaged position in society. This concept, basically, stresses that the most literate have the most power, and literacy is what allows for social mobility.
• Literacy as a state of grace: The authors define this as the belief that "you're smarter, more civilized, more ethical, more humane" if you are literate (10). Literacy gives you an elite status culturally and allows for intellectual freedom.

As you can see, many of these metaphors overlap. If literacy is adaptation, a way of getting by, of course the most literate are going to have the most power because they are the most financially well-off, etc.

Though these definitions are a great way to think about literacy, literacy does not have a "fixed" or "stable" definition, as the authors make clear. The definitions of literacy are constantly changing. Literacy does not exist in a vacuum. Its definitions are products of the world: the political climate, the economic climate, history, current events, etc. The authors cite Deborah Brandt's research on the changing definitions of literacy, and they use her example of how literacy changed during WWII. Prior to WWII literacy "shifted from an emphasis on morality (Scribner's state of grace) to an emphasis on production" (11). Literacy became a way of getting by, and it became a necessity for the survival of a nation as demands on production increased. Similarly, literacy today is linked to our position as a dominant world power and the maintenance of that position. Basically literacy is defined by past and current events, and its definition is very much impacted by the real world just as its definition impacts the real world. It's a two way street.

I think the problem is that we are constantly re-defining literacy in the real world before we acknowledge the shift and incorporate in the definition we use in society to drive our policies. Basically our definitions of literacy lag behind its practical uses in the world. This is a problem. We're still using an "old" definition of literacy to drive our policies in the classroom, but in the real world, we are falling behind to countries like Japan that are focusing on how technological advances affect literacy. We're also focusing on measuring literacy in the classroom instead of trying to teach it. Schools are social institutions set in place to uphold social values. Schools aren't meant to be agents of change so much, so that is why it is necessary that we get the conversation on writing, reading, literacy in the 21st century going, so we can change social values and definitions and apply them to our classrooms before it is too late.

The last section of the chapter focuses on how the rest of the book is organized. It is organized in an attempt to give its readers a broader definition of the term and make that definition more concrete by applying it to the real world, or different "sites" where literacy is happening today. They are as follows:

• Mind-cognitive skill
• Culture-cultural practices and values
• Class-power
• Work Place- buying power
• Technology-advancments

The chapter ends with a number of activities to get people to think about literacy in their daily lives and study how the world views literacy. These activities are helpful because they force participants to take an abstract term and apply it to the real world, making that definition more understandable and concrete.

Overall, this chapter is focused on peeling back the different layers of literacy, its definitions, what influences it, and its power in society. It attempts to take an abstract word, one that is often misunderstood, and make it understood. Once we have a complete, working definition of the term, we can begin the much needed conversations on literacy and its place in the 21st century.