a-   What is literacy?

·   Literacy can best be defined by what it is not (illiteracy) and what it reflects (power and social status) rather than what it actually is.

·   Literacy’s conceptualization shall frequently be reconceptualized, and this constitutes a challenge for those who desire to have a fixed definition of what it really is. 

·   Literacy can be referred to as ‘functionality’: being able to function properly in a given context

·   We should talk about literacy(s) rather than one aspect of literacy; such as: communicative literacy(s), technology literacy(s), and the like

b-   What are the characteristics of a literate person?

·   A literate person is one who properly and effectively operates and functions in a given context

c-  Then answer the questions below for each of the 3 articles in your group:

1.   Describe the author’s understanding of “literacy.”

Ong:

·       Discusses literacy on a more surface level (meaning the distinction between oral and written oriented cultures; with the latter being more superior over the former) and also defines literacy through its opposite (illiteracy).

·   Writing is powerful because it resists the variable of time, unlike the oral-based productions that might vanish over time if not documented

·   Cognitive-based approach towards conceptualizing literacy(S)

Gee

·         Criticizes Ong and other scholars in terms of their autonomous approach of literacy.

·   Introduces the concepts of primary and secondary discourses and makes contrasts and comparison between them

·   Primary discourse means acquiring the convention with one’s first interaction

·   Secondary discourse implies learning through processes of socialization

·   In his discussion of automatic (primary discourse) versus control response (secondary discourse), here Gee should have referred to McLaughlin’s automatic response theory in second language acquisition where he mentions that only through practice can one move from control to automatic processing

2- Give a label to this author's framework for literacy.

                      Ong:            Cognitive-based literacies     

                Gee:            Social-oriented literacies           

      3- Give an example of how this framework might be applied to some other type of data/process/example beyond the examples the author discussed.

·     Second language literacy: Culture-specific communicative norms/ pragmatic aspects of language (Gee’s theory of literacy)

·   L1 features transference to L2: Ong’s cognitive conceptualization of literacy