The Question of Literacy

BOOK REVIEWS The Question of Literacy Janis E. Tedesco Incarnate Word College Susan H. McLeod Washington State University Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater. Academic Literacies: The Public and Private Discourse of University Students. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 1991. Peter Freebody and Anthony R. Welch, eds. Knowledge, Culture & Power: International Perspectives on Literacy as Policy and Practice. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993. Richard Haswell. Gaining Ground in College Writing: Tales ofDevelopment and Interpretation. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1991. J. Elspeth Stuckey. The Violence of Literacy. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 1991. Myron C. Turnan. Word Perfect: Literacy in the Computer Age. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992. G ew issues are more basic to the English profession than literacy. Yet few educational issues are more volatile. A hundred years ago the term "literacy " referred to minimum reading and writing skills; now it suggests standards of technological and communication expertise, rhetorical sensitivity, access to avenues of self-realization, even a medium of economic and political empowerment. In the 1980s, discussions of literacy moved away from a traditional or static approach that focused primarily on reading, writing, and critical thinking skills to a dynamic or functional approach that targeted complex socio-cultural factors. By the close of the last decade, three fundamental challenges had been issued to institutions of higher learning. E.D. Hirsch accused teachers of failing their students, whom he characterized as ignorant of their own cultural heritage and deficient in the reading and writing skills needed to access canonical texts. Mike Rose challenged the profession to reconsider the way marginal students—marginal not in terms of mental capability but in terms of social, racial, economic and gender demarcations —fail to acheive access to maximum opportunities. Paulo Freiré redefined the notion of a literate populace, contending that those who are truly "literate" are not only able to read and write, but are also active agents in 237 238Rocky Mountain Review their own learning processes, are in control of their lives, and are capable of developing self respect precisely because they enjoy greater access to information and opportunities for social participation. According to Freiré, literacy is not simply an educational opportunity; it is a political right. We are limiting our discussion to only a handful of current titles, selected for their provocative treatments of the term "literacy" and for their potential impact on the teaching of both composition and literature. More than anyone else, members of the English profession have been caught up in the literacy controversy, blamed for the "decline" in skills, accused of lagging behind in their own technical skills and teaching strategies, ridiculed for pandering to middle class, mainstream ideology. More importantly, it is the English profession that deals in language—we study texts, we teach writing , we use language to help students develop new ways of thinking and hence different uses for language, we assess our own success as teachers and our students' success as learners through language. All ofus in English departments need to examine the question of literacy. In our study of five very disparate treatments of literacy, we have worked toward two primary insights. First, our profession has conceded that literacy is not primarily a standard of language and communication competence. Rather, it is a measure constructed by ideologues, educators, and politicians, a story we tell ourselves for a variety of conflicted purposes: to explain dramatic social changes, to defend territories of influence, to maintain the status quo, or to initiate major socio-economic changes. The power of this "literacy tale" is so pervasive that nearly everyone evokes it or attacks it in attempts to legitimatize pedagogical arguments. Second, each definition of literacy brings its own corollary: a philosophy of language that describes how language is used to challenge or promote existing cultural dynamics . Each of the books we are reviewing offers its own version of the literacy tale; each makes assertions about the power or frailty of the written word. We are suggesting that while each separate literacy tale may make claims about what language can or cannot provide for students, we as teachers are not dependent upon any literacy tale to establish or explain the importance of language as a tool of learning and social change. That...