Literacy: The new development and how to teach it

Literacy is traditionally defined as the ability to read and write. With this definition in mind, read the following statement and answer the two questions that follows:

Statement: A mayber was railing his temp. Sintly a durf accotted some padis in the mayber’s temp.

Q1: what did the durf accot in the mayber’s temp?

Q2: Why did the durf accot padis in the mayber’s temp?

 You might have answered Q1 as “the durf accotted padis in the mayber’s temp” which is correct. But to answer Q2 is tricky. It is an analysis question which requires a level of understanding to answer why. The statement is just a made up one which can be used as an example of being literate but can’t be used to answer higher level of thinking and understanding. So instead of being literate (ability to read and write) we need literacy (the ability to gain knowledge and use higher order thinking) in today’s modern world.

In today’s world literacy is more than just the ability to read and write. Some scholars argue that literacy in today’s world is to:

·         Proficiently use technological tools

·         Build relationship with others to solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally

·         Manage, analyse and synthesize information

·         Analyse, critique and evaluate multimedia text

·         Share information with the global community

·        Attend to the ethical responsibilities required in a complex world

All in all, literacy is not just being literate or illiterate. Literacy, rather is a continuum of learning that enables a person to develop their knowledge and potential, achieve their goals and participate in the world community.
Taking literacy further involves subject-based literacy. For example a literate person in language would be one who can read/write the language, comprehend it, speak/apply it in their daily life and analyse or evaluate information in a given language. Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes, the ability to use scientific knowledge and participate in decision making that affects science in life and health/environment/technology, participate in civic and cultural affairs and contribute towards economic development. Mathematical literacy is the capacity to identify, understand and engage in mathematics and its role in individual, professional and social life. Technological literacy is the capacity to use, understand and evaluate technology and its principles in order to develop solutions to problems. Engineering literacy is to design technology using design-thinking skills.
In a broader perspective literacy is the 1) cognitive thinking, 2) skills and 3) emotional development. In the cognitive thinking domain the brain develops the ability to translate actions into an internal thinking process. These processes coordinate and synchronize to form new thinking processes. The brain also converts the dynamic and changing thinking into one static thinking. In other words, the mind can reach to a conclusion after analysing the bits and pieces of information. Such a static or finalized thinking can be applied onto new situations. It is also the brains ability to reverse the process or unlearn the previous learning and re-learn new concepts.

In the skill domain or what is called the psychomotor domain is the physical skills such as movement, coordination, manipulation, grace, strength and speed as well as actions that uses fine motor skills in the use of instruments or tools. These actions are always in coordination with the cognitive activity or thinking skills. To start with a new action, a slow movement shows that the person is thinking more while controlling actions. The person may make mistakes at this stage because the thinking/frustration level is high. Then the person starts associating actions and movements. Here the actions become smoother. Finally a mastery level is reached after continued practice. The action almost becomes automatic.

The final domain is emotional or affective domain which refers to motivation, self-esteem, self-confidence, and attitude and believes. These traits build the identity of a person through psychological maturity. Students start thinking about this when they start setting short and long-term goals and evaluate personal beliefs. Teachers help students to work towards their goals and encourage interaction with others. Collaboration with others is an important technique to develop this identity.

In today’s complex world it is recommended that these abilities and skills could not be taught in separate discipline based subjects but rather in an inter-dependant way in order for it to be beneficial for an interconnected social life. Researchers recommend to use integrated STEM curriculum in primary and secondary schools to enhance these literacies in a broader domain rather than confining it to subject/discipline-based teaching approach. In the STEM integrated approach, the use of Problem Based Learning (PBL) has gained wider attention. In the PBL, a problem is the base of learning while all the disciplinary knowledge and understanding is used to address the problem. So the content knowledge, cognitive thinking, skill formation, and emotional well-being revolve around the selected problem.