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7Critical Literacy, Communication

and Interaction 1

University of Aruba

FAS: SW&D/OG&M

October 13, 2009

Unit 6

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Framework GE3A1. Communication and Interaction,

humans as social beings. Sharing and Negotiating meaning, interpretation and identity

2. Making sense of the world and its codes. The meaning of Literacy

3. The verbal code, Human Language. Discourse as means for social action, constructing realities and persuasion

4. Ideology, Discourse and Political Discourse

5. Stepping into the cultural dimension. Intercultural communication and its contexts

6. New literacies for the 21st century and our globalizing world. New ways of reading and what it means to be media literate GE3B

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Let’s summarize… Communication process is

dynamic and symbolic

Is interactive and transactive:

Sender and receiver interaction is based on (en)coding and decoding of messages

Messages are composed of codes

Negotiation of meaning, interpretation and identity

Communication process is contextual (multi-layered effect of contexts (UNIT 4 and 5!)

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Tip: learn the properties of communication, this will help you visualize the communication process

Communication is both intentional and unintentional

Communication process is Ubiquitous (omnipresent)

Communication process is cultural (one specific context: the cultural context) (UNIT 5)

Communication shapes and re-shapes our identities (UNIT 1, 4 and 5)

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Communication is Symbolic

{Unit 1}Human beings are social, they communicate and make sense of their selves and their world through codes (messages, ideas, conventions, rules etc.)

{Unit 2}Being ‘literate’ means here, being aware of and being able to deal with these codes (coding and decoding process) (understanding the world and who you are in this world)

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Properties of codes

Tip: if you learn these properties, you can start understanding what it means for Communication to be symbolic

codes are systemized (language, sentences, words, alphabet, agreement upon meaning of arbitrary signs: A B etc.) (verbal/non-verbal codes)

All codes convey meaning: they are vehicles for messages, ideas, rules LITERACYCRITICAL LITERACY

Codes depend upon agreement amongst their user and upon a shared sociocultural background

All codes perform an identifiable social or communicative function

All codes are transmittable by their appropriate media or channels of communication

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Learning the world by learning the word

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Approaching Literacy

In its most basis sense refers to a cognitive process that enables reading, writing, speaking and listening

Is the means by which people learn to be at home in the worlds they choose [or find themselves in]

Refers to the consciousness of the uses and problems of language and the ability to express that awareness in ways sanctioned by the culture

Language is here the code. Language in the broadest sense of the word.

Literacy encompasses more than only the world of language

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Literacies include multiple kinds of processes including the following:

Visual literacy: the ability to understand and interpret images, signs, pictures and non-verbal language

Media Literacy: the ability to understand and interpret cultural messages presented by the media, such as from TV and film

Information Technology literacy: the ability to use, access and evaluate information and ideas via computers

Numeracy: the ability to understand and interpret mathematical symbols, including reading charts and tables

Political literacy: the ability for citizens  to participate in a society’s democracy process and government (an understanding of how government works and of the important issues facing society, as well as the critical thinking skills to evaluate different points of view) 

Literacy evolves…new developments call for new skills

How people use literacy is tied up with the particular details of the situation and that literacy events are particular to a specific community at a specific point in history

Compare baby boomers, gen X, gen Y, {gen Einstein} and what about the gen Z?

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Literacy in everyday life.

1. Literacy is a social activity and can be best described in terms of people’s literacy practices which they draw upon in literacy events;

2. People have different literacies which they make use of, associated with different domains of life. These differences are increased across different cultures or historical periods

3. People’s literacy practices are situated in broader social relations; social settings and social institutions are important

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Tip: Approaching Literacy in terms of everyday life (social basis) helps you understand the link with communication better

4. Literacy is based upon a system of symbol ]s; symbolic system for communication. It is a way of representing the world to others (literacy as communication)

5. Literacy is a symbolic system used for representing the world to us (literacy as thought)

6. We have awareness, attitudes and values with respect to literacy and these attitudes and values guide our action (values and awareness)

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And…

7. Literacy has a story. Our individual life histories contain many literacy events from early childhood onwards which the present is built upon. We change, and as children and adults are constantly learning about literacy (individual history: growth and development and that of a whole culture over a longer time period (opening of Colegio, Lago school)

8. Literacy events and practices have a social history (social history ex. Renaissance, Enlightment)

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Critical Literacy

1. The way texts (and visuals etc. approach broad) and their discourses work to represent reality and define what is necessary for us;

2. A sympathetic understanding of the people who are affected (shaped) by those discourses; (voice, voiceless, representation)

3. Ways we can engage with those texts and their debates

4. Questioning texts, reflecting, taking a stance from the position of the passive reader to the position of the active reader Negotiation of meaning, interpretation and identities!

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Critical Literacy Context, Ideologies (system of believes, social groups, us and them) Culture all have infl uence on discourseE.g. Political Discourse

Examining meaning within texts

Considering the purpose for the text and the composer’s motives

Texts are not neutral, they represent particular views, silence other points of views and influence people’s ideas

Questioning and challenging the ways texts have been constructed

Analyzing the power of language in contemporary society

Emphasizing multiple readings of texts (because people interpret texts in the light of their own believes and values, texts will have different meanings to different people) Kaleidoscope!

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And..

Having ‘you’ take a stance on issues

Providing ‘you’ with opportunities to consider and clarify your own attitudes and values:

{ being aware of different perspectives reflection negotiation of identities: who am I, do I agree? (metaphor of room)}

Providing ‘you’ with opportunities to take social action (e.g. writing a letter of complaint)

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(Critical) Literacy and Development

Literacy as a human rightinclusion for human development

Human benefits: self-esteem, empowerment

Political benefits: political participation, democracy (ethic equality, post-conflict situations)

Cultural benefits: dealing with cultural change, preserving cultural identities and –diversity

Social benefits: health, reproductive behavior, education, gender equality, emancipation of minority groups etc.,

Economic growth, sustainability

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The study of language(verbal code, symbolic)

The study of language provides a window into the workings of the mind, and bears on issues of how the mind represents meaning, how we interpret and understand the world

WE DO THINGS WITH LANGUAGE

Social Actions

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Functions of Language

1. Referential function: conveying information

2. Emotive function: expressing inner states

3. Phatic function: establishing or maintaining a channel of communication (‘Ta hasi calor awe’)

4. Poetic function: when the choice of the form is the essence of our message

5. Metalinguistic function: when the language talks about itself (e.g. The word ‘computer’ means…)

6. Directive function: seeking to aff ect the behavior of the addressee (e.g. ‘Come back’)

7. Contextual function: framing communication as a particular kind (e.g. ‘Let’s start our discussion by…’)

8. In additional to these functions, there are numerous others such as: requesting, off ering, apologizing, pleading, complimenting, advising, warning etc.

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Discourse Doing: What? Why? Plus ideas and attributes

Discourse as actual instances of communication through the medium of language

Unit of analysis

Socially constructed knowledge of some aspect of reality

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Ideology, Cognition, Society & Discourse

Ideology & cognition :

in terms of the social cognitions that are shared by the members of a group

Ideology & society

in terms of the social dimension explaining what kind of groups, relations between groups and institutions are involved in the development and reproduction of ideologies

Ideology & discourse

In terms of discourse explaining how ideologies influences our daily texts and talk and in terms of how we understand ideological discourse and how discourse is involved in the reproduction of ideology in society

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As ‘systems of believes of social groups’ (and movements) ideologies make sense in order to understand the world (from the point of view of the group).

Not organized in the mind in arbitrary ways. The mind and its memory is organized in categories. Ideologies have a ‘system’ (organization) of believes.

This system has an ‘schema-like’ nature: it consists of a number of conventional categories that allows social actors to rapidly understand, build, reject or modify an ideology

The categories that define the ideological schema derive from the basic properties of social groups

If ideologies underlie the social beliefs of a group, then the identity and identification of group member must follow a more or less fixed pattern of basic categories, together with practical rules of application

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Categories of the ideological schema:

1. Membership criteria: Who does (not) belong?

2. Typical activities: What do we do?

3. Overall aims: What do we want?

4. Norms and Values: What is good or bad for us?

5. Position: What are the relationships with other?

6. Resources: Who has access to our group resources?

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Discourse strategies:(ideological square)

1. Emphasize positive things about US

2. Emphasize negative things about THEM

3. De-emphasize negative things about US

4. De-emphasize positive things about THEM

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Culture=an accumulated pattern of values, beliefs, and behaviors, shared by an identifi able group of people with a common history and verbal and non-

verbal movements

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Intercultural model contexts:

Cultural

Micro cultural

Environmental

Perceptual

Socio-relational

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Dimensions of Cultural Variability

1. Individualism-Collectivism

2. High-low context

3. Value orientations

4. Power distance

5. Uncertainty avoidance