In addition, the concept brings about a new understanding of the process of reading, of reading oneself and of reading the world. It stimulates thinking and questioning. It also provides a backdrop to the development of a social and pedagogical project in the minority Francophone setting.

Finally, the concept can be a starting point for the development of concrete the world. proposals that bring the school-home-community together. Multiple literacies shape and transform a community and its members. They are perfectly suited to the social and educational needs of Francophone minorities.

In trying to rethink the notion of literacy, it is important to position it within the framework of multiple literacies: personal (or cultural) literacy, community literacy, academic literacy and critical literacy. In school, the emphasis has traditionally been on the language aspects and the psychological aspects of learning to read. However, if, as Masny (1995)proposes, we enlarge our concept of literacy such that we can perceive it as a social phenomenon, we recognize that different literacies exist depending on the particular context of the school, the home and the community.

Personal literacy can be seen when the individual moves from the act of reading a printed text to the act of reading in a larger sense of the word, namely "reading the world" and "reading oneself." This complex model of literacy corresponds with a vision of the world in which an individual is immersed in different environments society (school, home and community), which are themselves situated in various social, cultural and political contexts.

Community literacy's goal is the appreciation, understanding and use of the literacy practices of a community. It can be seen, for example, in the practices of a community of newly arrived individuals who integrate their written and oral culture into their new community. It can also refer to the uses community members make of that community's written and oral culture, whether it be a composer writing songs, a painter speaking about his canvases, a farmer who documents the production of his fields or a tailor who calculates measurements for a suit. In each example, this call to the written, oral or tactile culture occurs in a particular social, cultural and political context that is the foundation for a vision of the world of the individual in his community. This perspective of community literacy can also increase the feeling of belonging to the community.

In today's technological era, most of the information that is given is complex, whether it is transmitted orally, visually or by the written word. Oral transmission of information, for example, requires the use of many aspects of the written code (e.g., finding the most appropriate words, with recourse to various syntactical resources, etc.). In this context, literacy becomes a means of accessing information and passing it on through acts of effective communication, not only in writing, but also orally and visually. Academic literacy therefore refers to the learning of processes of interpretation and communication required for social adaptation in the school environment and in other settings.

The term critical literacy is borrowed from Freire, but not the concept. In the context of multiple literacies, critical literacy refers to the individual who, in reading himself and reading the world, is engaged in a process of becoming; he is searching for and creating meaning for his new way of becoming through the medium of a text.