If you were to ask a random stranger off the street “What is Literacy?” they would more than likely tell you that literacy is the ability to be able to read and write. Although, literacy doesn’t have a set definition, despite what people think. Literacy can be defined by numerous things that change from the situation a person is in to the upbringing a person had. Since literacy is evolving it is difficult to define what literacy actually is. Chapter one of “Ethnography Inquires in Writing” includes an essay called “The Ethnography of Literacy” by John F. Szwed. In this essay, Szwed gave us his take on literacy. To him, there really is no definition because the concept of literacy is so broad. (1). In the essay, he says, “But the stunning fact
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A literacy event is hard to define just as literacy itself is. However, literacy events can best be defined as such activities where literacy has a role. Usually, there is a written text or texts, central to the activity and there may be talk around the text. Events are observable episodes which arise from practices and are shaped by them. In simpler terms, a literacy event is people interacting with each other. (2) Literacy events can be common things, like reading and discussing the news, or sporadic activities, like discussing a novel with a classmate. Since literacy events can viewed as literacy by some people and not by others, it is difficult to give the term “literacy event” a definition. Every day we find ourselves in a literacy event whether you’re in a meeting at work reading and discussing the rules and regulations or your sitting in your English class talking about a novel you had to read over the weekend. One way to identify a literacy event is to see if those participating in the event are using some form of literacy and discussing it in some way. There is an infinite number of literacy events used daily. “Literacy events” can be so simple or complex, and everyone has been a part of one before, whether they know it or not. It makes you wonder how many literacy events you are involved in each
A literacy event is hard to define just as literacy itself is. However, literacy events can best be defined as such activities where literacy has a role. Usually, there is a written text or texts, central to the activity and there may be talk around the text. Events are observable episodes which arise from practices and are shaped by them. In simpler terms, a literacy event is people interacting with each other. (2) Literacy events can be common things, like reading and discussing the news, or sporadic activities, like discussing a novel with a classmate. Since literacy events can viewed as literacy by some people and not by others, it is difficult to give the term “literacy event” a definition. Every day we find ourselves in a literacy event whether you’re in a meeting at work reading and discussing the rules and regulations or your sitting in your English class talking about a novel you had to read over the weekend. One way to identify a literacy event is to see if those participating in the event are using some form of literacy and discussing it in some way. There is an infinite number of literacy events used daily. “Literacy events” can be so simple or complex, and everyone has been a part of one before, whether they know it or not. It makes you wonder how many literacy events you are involved in each