Defining literacy

Definitions of reading and literacy have changed over time in parallel with changes in our society, economy, and culture. The growing acceptance of the importance of lifelong learning has expanded the views and demands of reading and literacy. Literacy is no longer seen as an ability that is developed during the early school years, but is instead viewed as an advancing set of skills, knowledge, and strategies that individuals build on throughout their lives in various contexts and through interaction with their peers and with the larger communities in which they participate.

Historians remind us that the types and levels of literacy skills necessary for economic participation, citizenship, parenting, and individual advancement in 1800 were different from those required by 1900 and from those required in the year 2000 and beyond. We live in a technologically advancing world, where both the number and types of written materials are growing and where increasing numbers of citizens are expected to use information from these materials in new and more complex ways.

As Resnick and Resnick (1977) point out, literacy in its earliest form consisted of little more than signing one's name. It was not until much later that fluent oral reading became important, and not until the 20^th century that reading to gain information was given primary emphasis. Standardized tests became fashionable and reading-grade-level scores became the focus of attention. Through the use of these instruments the term literacy has implied the acquisition of intellectual skills associated with basic academic competencies associated with reading and writing. Standards for literacy increased over the decades, from being able to read at a fourth-grade level, to reading at an eighth-grade level, and then by the early '70s, to a 12^th-grade level. These measures came under increasing criticism, however, because they did not provide specific information about the kinds of competencies that given levels of literacy imply. Perhaps more important was the recognition that literacy relates not to some arbitrary standard for the purpose of categorizing people as literate or illiterate, but to what people can do with printed and written materials and how these skills relate to a host of social needs. As Beach and Appleman (1984) noted,

The often heard charge, Johnny can't read is a little like saying Johnny can't cook. Johnny may be able to read the directions for constructing a radio kit, but not a Henry James novel, just as Johnny may be able to fry an egg but not cook Peking duck. In discussing reading in the schools, we must recognize that reading involves as wide a range of different types of texts as there are types of food. And, to imply, as does the slogan, "Johnny can't read," that reading is a single skill suited to all types of texts does not do justice to the range of reading types.