[NIFL-LD:3238] RE: What is Literacy?

From: woods@ncia.net
Date: Thu Nov 09 2000 - 10:51:59 EST


Return-Path: <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov>
Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id eA9Fpx912235; Thu, 9 Nov 2000 10:51:59 -0500 (EST)
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 10:51:59 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <001701c04a66$09c1f680$4cb18dcf@ncia.net>
Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov
Reply-To: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov
Originator: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov
Sender: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov
Precedence: bulk
From: woods@ncia.net
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-LD:3238] RE: What is Literacy?
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6600
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain;
Status: O
Content-Length: 1020
Lines: 23

Thanks, June and Marsha,
I agree, we need to seek the context. I'm not sure a prison context is quite
the one we'd want even though we're located within a prison.

One definition that seems appealing to me, and one that's closely related to
the one you (Marsha) provided, is that literacy is the ability to read the
signs and symbols of, and to negotiate, or navigate, within the world in
which one finds oneself.

Turning this into a convenient "working definition" and knowing how to
measure it are altogether different problems.

Using this definition and asking the question you (June) did about someone
who uses some sort of assistive device, I guess as long as the person is
able to read the signs and symbols, and if the person is able to navigate
within their world, they'd be literate in that world. In a different
context, they may not, but that would be true for anyone.

Anyway, thanks. I intend to look into the references you cited, and would be
interested in hearing more from you and others.

Tom Woods



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 16 2001 - 14:42:22 EST