Melíosa Bracken

17th February 2015

Development Education Day

NUI Galway

BECOMING LITERATE: THE LINKS BETWEEN LITERACY DEVELOPMENT AND DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION

Workshop – Literacy Development and Development Education Aim:

This workshop will explore the purpose and meaning of literacy in today’s world and examine the role of critical literacy skills in helping students “read the word and the world”. There will be a focus on pedagogical approaches to critical literacy development and on the role of the teacher in facilitating critical literacy skills. The workshop is designed to accommodate student teachers specialising in all academic disciplines.

Objectives:

• Critique different understandings and approaches to literacy

• Understand the role of development education in enhancing critical literacy skills

• Identify pedagogical approaches that help s develop critical literacy skills

First things first….. What Is Your Understanding Of ‘Literacy’ ? What Literacy Skills Should Schools Teach? (OR…..WHAT LITERACY SKILLS SHOULD OUR STUDENTS BE DEVELOPING?)

Create a Wordle on literacy skills

Defining Literacy

Three discrete understandings of literacy:

1. Literacy as skills:

The acquisition of a set of tangible, measurable cognitive skills, particularly the skills of reading and writing (and more recently, numeracy)

2. Literacy as applied, practised and situated:

Linked literacy to socio-economic development. Assumption that literacy skills would help people ‘function’ better in society. Focused on the application of literacy skills in different social situations.

3. Literacy as a learning process:

Literacy is devel0ped when learners attempt to make sense of their world. It is crucial to bring socio-cultural realities into the learning process and provide spaces for ‘reading’ (i.e. interpreting, reflecting, exploring, questioning, analysing, deconstructing) and ‘writing’ (i.e. acting on, dialoguing, transforming)

‘The ability to read and write’

Oxford English Dictionary

Up until 19th century, it meant to be familiar with literature

Post 19th century – it meant the ability to read and write texts

Irish Government’s Interpretation of Literacy: Department of Education and Skills:

“Traditionally we have thought about literacy as the skills of reading and writing; but today our understanding of literacy encompasses much more than that. Literacy includes the capacity to read, understand, and critically appreciate various forms of communication including spoken language, printed text, broadcast media and digital media.”

(DES (2011) Literacy and numeracy for learning and life: National Strategy to improve literacy among children and young people.

Critical Literacy Do schools facilitate critical thinkers?

Shor (1992)

“[Critical literacy is the development of] analytic habits of thinking, reading, writing, speaking or discussing which go beneath surface impressions, traditional myths, mere opinions, and routine clichés;

[It is about] understanding the social contexts and consequences of any subject matter; discovering the deep meaning of any event, text, technique, process, object, statement, image or situation

Traditional vs Critical Literacy

Traditional Reading Critical Literacy

Types of Questions: What is being said? (decoding) Does the text represent the truth? Is it fact or opinion? Is it biased or neutral? Who is the author and what level of authority or legitimacy does s/he represent? Adapted and expanded from: Gina CERVETTI, Michael J. PARDALES, James S. DAMICO, A Tale of Differences: Comparing the Traditions, Perspectives, and Educational Goals of Critical Reading and Critical Literacy, www.readingonline.com, 2001

Types of Questions: How can this statement be interpreted differently in different contexts? What could be the assumptions behind this statement? What are the implications of these assumptions? What could be shaping the author’s understanding or reality? What are the limitations and consequences of this perspective? Whose interests could be represented in this statement? Whose interests are not?

Critical Literacy acknowledges the complexity of learning about the world we live in.

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition. Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”

UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, speaking on International Literacy Day, 1997

Traditional Reading of Text

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories.

Literacy is a platform for democratization and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition.

Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”

What is he saying?

What is the key message?

Is it fact or opinion?

Is it biased or neutral?

Is the source credible?

Does the author have the authority/expertise to make this statement?

Kofi Annan Speech on Literacy: Key questions:

Critical Literacy Reading of Text

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories.

Literacy is a platform for democratization and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition.

Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”

• How can this statement be interpreted differently in different contexts?

• What are the possible counter narratives to this text?

• What are the assumptions behind this statement? What are the implications of these assumptions?

• What are the speaker’s assumptions around literacy. What is his evidence for these assumptions?

• What could be shaping the author’s understanding or reality?

• What is this person’s understanding of literacy, development, democratization, progress, and potential? Are there alternative understandings?

• What are the limitations and consequences of this perspective?

• What alternatives are being ignored in favour of literacy development?

• Whose interests could be represented in this statement? Whose interests are not?

Kofi Annan Speech on Literacy:

What is development education and how does it enhance critical literacy skills? Development Education (DE) is an educational process aimed at:

… increasing awareness and understanding of the rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world we live in.

…engaging people in analysis, reflection and action for local and global citizenship

…encouraging people to take action to transform the social, cultural, political and economic structures which affect their lives at personal, community, national and international levels

Handout – Principles of Development Education (OSDE)

literacy

Read/

Write

Numeracy

Visual

Digital

Media

Environment

Global

Cultural Development Education

Traditional/ Functional

Critical literacy readings of popular media

Paintings by Diego Rivera

Using a critical literacy approach with textbooks

Using a critical literacy approach to textbook knowledge

The caption reads: ‘The infants are twins.

The baby girl was bottle-fed and died the

day after this photograph was taken but

her breastfed brother thrived. This young

Pakistani mother was told that she might

not have enough breast milk to feed both

babies, so she bottle-fed the girl. Why

might the mother have chosen to

breastfeed the boy? Why do you think the

baby girl did not survive?’

Figure 6. Photo featured in Dynamic

Economic Geography Leaving Cert

textbook. (Brunt, O’Dwyer and Hayes,

2007, p. 425)

Textbook knowledge

Figure 1 Illustration for 'Migration in

Europe' chapter in ‘Human Economic

Geography’, Leaving Certificate

Geography Textbook. The caption in the textbook reads: ‘Famine has struck

many regions in Africa over the past forty years’

(O'Dwyer, Brunt and Hayes, 2007:313)

Critical questions for critical literacy

• What kind of social realities does the text illustrate?

• How are cultural groups / nationalities / individuals represented in the text?

• Is this a fair or truthful representation?

• What has been left out of the text?

• How is your understanding of the text influenced by your background?

• What view of the world and what values does the text present? (What does the author or the text want you to know?)

• What assumptions about your values and beliefs does the text make?

• What perspectives are omitted?

• Whose interests are served by the text?

• What responsibilities do we have after viewing the text?

Learning to read the ‘world’ and the ‘word’ Seven Steps to a critical literacy learning environment:

1. Encourage critical engagement with different perspectives.

2. Deconstruct dominant perspectives and introduce counter narratives.

3. Identify own assumptions and biases.

4. Stimulate group discussions with critical questions.

5. Encourage creative and collaborative problem-solving

6. Identify potential actions/changes arising from critical engagement

7. De-brief – pay attention to feelings and emotions generated by critical engagement with texts.