A new century demands new literacies

Gone are the days when we could simply define literacy as “the ability of people to read and write” (UNESCO, 2017, as cited in Beecher, 2023). In today’s Digital Age, technological advances and societal changes demand that we expand our “conventional view of literacy” (Sang, 2017).  As our world evolves, so must our definition of what it means to be literate.

Enter new literacies. 

Beecher (2023) succinctly affirms that today, “literacy includes technology.” Sang (2016) broadens the scope of that definition, adding that new literacies call for us to abandon “standardized forms of language that only reflects the dominant language and culture.” The National Council of Teacher of English’s (NCTE, 2019) idea of new literacies is laid out by way of their comprehensive framework. Adding to our definition of new literacies, NCTE maintains that “active, successful participants in a global society” should “promote culturally sustaining communication and recognize the bias and privilege present in the interactions.”

If we are to make substantive contributions to future workplaces and to society overall, we must prepare our students to be technologically competent, and to use technology as a conduit to collaboratively solve problems on a global scale, but to do so, we must begin by examining our own biases before we can embrace diversity—that’s the entry point.

The classroom is the natural domain for providing an education grounded in new literacies practices, so as an early childhood education professional, the discussion of new literacies practices is highly relevant. With that, one thing I think we have done well in my current setting is that we have included bilingual books in our classroom library and feature books with “images and narratives of multilingual identities and cultures from marginalized communities” (NTCE, 2019). 

In defining the “expanded territories” of new literacies, Sang (2017) concluded that new literacy practices are “no longer restricted to reading and writing printed and written texts in one official and standard form.” This reminds me of an instance in my classroom just last week, when one of my second graders requested the Just Dance Kids version of the Korean hit song (that became an international hit) “Gangnam Style” for our “Body Break” time. Not only are the lyrics in Korean, but the video featured Korean subtitles as well. 

As educators, I think we are quite fortunate in this age—many of our youth “participate in out-of-school literacy activities” (Bortree, 2005, as cited in Sang, 2016). Before ever stepping foot into a classroom, students come to us having already received a robust education in new literacies: They speak multiple languages, use YouTube (perhaps to watch K-Pop music videos like “Gangnam Style”!) and other social media platforms at home to connect with the world, and some popular video games require them to work with partners or on teams to achieve a common goal. 

I would posit that any educational space that is unable to move away from the conventional idea of literacy would not be able to create a space that is conducive to equity and access. New literacies embrace “a modern view of literacy that [reflects] multiple communication forms and contexts of cultural and linguistic diversity within a globalized society” (New London Group, 1996, as cited in Beecher, 2023). By contrast, the conventional idea of literacy is limited and narrow, and doesn’t proactively compel us to collaborate with the global community or embrace diverse voices as its newer counterpart aims to do. When we view literacy through an antiquated lens, the educational spaces we create exist in a vacuum where opportunities to create or participate in discourse is limited, and cultural and linguistic hegemony prevails. 

Imagine a high school classroom discussion of the classic novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain, 2010). In an educational space operating within the confines of the conventional idea of literacy, perhaps an English teacher would guide students on how to navigate through the book’s many dialects and analyze Huck’s character traits. But the new idea of literacy would have us examine whether Finn could be hailed as an antiracist hero and allow for us to “explore and critique the premises, myths, and stereotypes that are often held by the dominant culture” (NCTE, 2023), like the trope that a black character like Huck’s enslaved travel companion Jim needs a white savior. If we are to adequately address issues related to equity and access, more expansive ideas of new literacies are imperative.

References

Beecher, C. (2023). Chapter 1. What is literacy? Multiple perspectives on literacy. Iowa State University Digital Press. https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/teachingearlyliteracy/chapter/what-is-literacy-multiple-perspectives-on-literacy/

National Council of Teachers of English. (2019). Definition of Literacy in a Digital Age. National Council of Teachers of English. https://ncte.org/statement/nctes-definition-literacy-digital-age/

Sang, Y. (2017). Expanded territories of “literacy”: New literacies and multiliteracies. Journal of Education and Practice, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1139059.pdf

Twain, M. (2010). The adventures of huckleberry finn. William Collins.