Literacy in Theory and PracticeThis book challenges conventional theories about literacy, and the practices which often arise from them. It attempts to provide a new perspective through which the variety of literacy practices across different cultures can be viewed and from which the practical issues that arise in specific literacy campaigns and programmes can be approached. Dr Street first examines the explicit theories developed about literacy within different academic disciplines, on the premise that these underlie statements about literacy within development campaigns and in everyday usage. He analyses in detail arguments about the 'technical' and 'neutral' nature of literacy and its supposed 'cognitive' consequences in the work of some psychologists, linguists and social anthropologists. He claims that these amount to a coherent but flawed model that he terms the 'autonomous' model of literacy. Against this he poses an 'ideological' model, one which pays greater attention to the social structure. He attempts to bring together recent shifts in this direction in writings on literacy and to construct a coherent model for further work. |
From inside the book
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Page
... cognitive skills , which might appear to be culture - based and even ethnocentric when applied to native language and speech , can more easily be represented as ' neutral ' when made with regard to literacy . The appar- ent ' technical ...
... cognitive skills , which might appear to be culture - based and even ethnocentric when applied to native language and speech , can more easily be represented as ' neutral ' when made with regard to literacy . The appar- ent ' technical ...
Page 2
... cognitive skills . An influential example of the former representation is the claim by Anderson ( 1966 ) that a society requires a 40 % literacy rate for economic ' take off , a hypothesis that recurs with apparent authority in many ...
... cognitive skills . An influential example of the former representation is the claim by Anderson ( 1966 ) that a society requires a 40 % literacy rate for economic ' take off , a hypothesis that recurs with apparent authority in many ...
Page 3
... cognitive flexibility to shift perspective in relation to concept - formation problems . All three authors then related such differences to the intrinsic qualities of writing . I argue that such conceptions are mistaken on a number of ...
... cognitive flexibility to shift perspective in relation to concept - formation problems . All three authors then related such differences to the intrinsic qualities of writing . I argue that such conceptions are mistaken on a number of ...
Page 9
... cognitive ' consequences of literacy that are too general and vague to be of any use . Instead they propose testing for specific language skills rather than for ' cognition ' and they relate these skills to particular social practices ...
... cognitive ' consequences of literacy that are too general and vague to be of any use . Instead they propose testing for specific language skills rather than for ' cognition ' and they relate these skills to particular social practices ...
Page 13
... cognitive consequences of ac- quiring literacy are , for them , to be seen in terms of this larger economic and political context . I shall attempt to place this classic debate into the general context of the models of literacy ...
... cognitive consequences of ac- quiring literacy are , for them , to be seen in terms of this larger economic and political context . I shall attempt to place this classic debate into the general context of the models of literacy ...
Contents
The Autonomous Model I Literacy and Rationality | 19 |
The Autonomous Model II Goody | 44 |
Literacy and Linguistics | 66 |
The Ideological Model | 95 |
Introduction | 129 |
Maktab Literacy | 132 |
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Common terms and phrases
abstract academic adult literacy ALBSU anthropologists appear argue argument associated assumptions attempt autonomous challenge Cheshmeh claims Clanchy classical Greece cognitive commercial communication concepts consequences of literacy context conventions culture described Dinka language economic English establish ethnocentric explicit fact forms of literacy framework functions Goody Goody's Graff Greenfield groups Hadith Hildyard and Olson ibid illiterate individual instance institutions intellectual involved Iran Iranian Islamic kind knowledge Koran learning linguistic literacy campaigns literacy practices literacy programmes literacy skills literate modes logic Lyons maktab Mashad meaning model of literacy mullah neutral Nicaragua non-literate objectivity oral and literate orchards organisation paralinguistic Parry particular political and ideological problems recognise relation represented scientific significant simply social society speech structure suggests tajers Tanzania teachers teaching theory tion tradition Unesco unschooled Vai script village western Wolof words written forms written language