Writing Assignment #1

Adrianna Rodriguez

Jennifer Jones

English 1302

12 March 2015

The Complications of Defining Literacy

Today, many scholars have tried multiple times to define the word “literacy”. The thing is that literacy is such a broad term that it is practically impossible to define. There are so many things in this world that can be considered as literacy. One example could be a stop sign. Adkins states that “you see the sign and know that it means to stop, look for oncoming traffic, and then proceed when it is clear and/or your turn to proceed”. She also mentions that you would still interpret it the same way if you were in a Spanish speaking country because instead of the sign saying stop it says pare. We would still interpret it the same way because it is still a red octagonal sign just having a different word on the sign.

Literacy is anything that has to do with reading and/or writing. If you are reading something, you are taking in information and learn more about it. Whenever you are writing something you are interpreting the information you have learned and talking about your own stance on it. This is something we do all the time when writing essays and research papers. We’re being told to research a certain topic and write about what we’ve learned and our own opinion on it. This is something that is commonly done in history classes. Right now in my own history class, we have a semester project we have to do. Our semester project is to write a paper about a historical event that happened any time after Reconstruction to the 1970’s and write about what we think of the time period we choose and give modern examples of the time period we choose. This is something school related that could be defined as literacy because you are reading and researching a topic then interpreting it yourself when writing about it.

You can always find literacy when reading books for fun or reading a status/ tweet on Facebook and Twitter. I feel like literacy is so easy to find and spot that defining it would be the most impossible task on the planet. Finding it in its natural habitat would be doing an everyday task like driving and reading a sign or checking your phone and reading Facebook statuses. You would never think of these kinds of thing being considered literacy since we do them so often and mindlessly but literacy is also when you read and interpret information and that is what you do when doing these kinds of everyday tasks. I feel like you technically never have to go and just look for literacy because you can spot in just about everything you do.

Today in our society, it can be very hard to define and find a literacy event. Almost any kind of event can be considered a literacy event because literacy has to do with interpreting and taking in information. Some examples of a literacy event could be going to an art museum or going to Six Flags with some friends. When you go to an art museum you observe the paintings and sculptures and are constantly thinking about why the artist did this or that and thinking well this is how I would’ve done that (but that’s just me). Then at Six Flags you’re probably looking at all the rides and thinking oh that one looks like a lot of fun or that looks like a little too much for me (again that’s just me). If you ever have these kinds of thoughts when you’re out somewhere and start formulating opinions about the situation then technically whatever you are doing can be considered a literacy event.

In our society today, we are constantly interpreting and taking in information. Just by reading a status on Facebook or reading a textbook for a college class are just a few examples of interpreting and taking in information. We can also interpret things differently by it being in two different settings. Back in my first paragraph I mentioned that when we see a stop sign out on the street we stop, look for oncoming traffic, then proceed to drive forward; though when we see it in a house hung up on a wall as decorative art we just see it as either artwork or think it is completely stupid to hang up a road sign. We can always interpret things differently depending on what kind of setting it is in. I just feel like there is really no point in looking for literacy because it’s like what reason do you have to look for it in the first place? That’s just how I would feel unless I was told to by a professor to do so. I know that it is important to know what literacy is that way you can be more educated on the subject and be more knowledgeable.

I know for the time being literacy will have no clear definition because so much can be related to it. So much can be talked about and debated with literacy and what it should be and I think that is a good thing. I think it is ok for us not to have a clear definition on the term because anyone can get a good gist of what it basically is. We know it has to do with reading and writing and interpreting information and I feel as long as we know that much we can find basic examples of how to describe literacy and how to go about finding it if we wanted to do so.