What is Literacy?
To open up the discussion of digital literacy, it was important to first explore the situated
'literacy' to be, to begin to build a view on how literacy is understood generally and within the context in which the sample both work and learn.
From the data gathered, there is a clear
understanding of literacy. However, another response suggested that literacy as simply the use of language was very “narrow” and stated
meanings of the term 'literacy'. The sample were that this common stance was “not something I asked to critically reflect on what they thought
would adhere to”.
Of the situated meanings offered by the participants, the most socio-culturally inclusive
were those that saw literacy as a way “to understand and develop meanings”, and went on to describe that literacy “can be used to portray
indication that the most dominant understanding emotions and share ideas, as well as record of literacy was heavily influenced by reading. Moreover, the use of the word 'reading' as a precursor for 'literacy' is prolific across the responses. When asked to reflect on the types of skills and abilities associated with the term 'literacy', the situated meanings of the sample made reference to traditional notions of literacy, particularly within print-based media. The acts of reading, writing and speaking were skills that were highly relevant in the acquisition of
literacy, the skills of 'reading' that dominated the discourses associated with 'literacy' were again most prevalent.
The dominance of the act of reading and the importance that reading skills are given by the sample is highlighted further by the suggestion that other skills are not possible without a level of reading ability. One response proposed that “all skills and abilities are associated with literacy as everyday functions are hard to do without the ability to read”. This type of response indicates that, for these trainee
teachers, literacy is viewed as something akin to a baseline from which other abilities can be
learnt, and in this sense could be described as an everyday skill. Another respondent spoke in terms of literacy being “something” akin to a tool that makes 'understanding' possible.
The social nature of literacy was referred to from a response that made a distinction between environments, alluding to the idea that 'literacy' can be done in different contexts, and that communication can be done in “a social/written environment”. The social nature of literacy is highlighted further with the suggestion that speaking “is also an important aspect” and that
literacy involves “talking to others”. The word 'understanding' is used by one respondent to describe the thinking process and meaning- making that goes on within the acquisition of 'literacy' stating that literacy encompasses reading, writing and speaking but also
“understanding the spoken and written word”. One respondent referred to the act of using “the spoken word” as the basis for their
21 What is Digital Literacy?
Our discussion moves now to digital literacy as a concept, building on the previous reflections of the sample's understanding of literacy. It was concerning to hear that 55% of the sample had no previous experience of the term digital literacy, however this figure could be due to the age and experience or the 'trainee' status of the respondents. What is interesting to note is that despite not having any knowledge of the term, the same percentage of this group identified themselves as 'digital natives' (Prensky 2001), a group of young people who are inherently skilled with new communication technologies.
Throughout the responses there seems to be little crossover in the understanding of literacy
and the situated meanings of the term digital literacy. A common conception of digital literacy is the notion that it relates to basic computer skills. This dominant view was expressed by just under half of the sample. Those who agreed that digital literacy referred to a level of basic computer skills, made reference to the acts of word processing, using email and using search engines to access information on the internet, as key determinates of digital literacy.
Despite previous inexperience with the term digital literacy, when the sample were asked if digital literacy skills were important, 77.8% agreed they were 'very important' and 100% went on to agree that digital literacy skills would become increasingly important as technology developed. When asked what would have the most impact on future teaching and learning,
information and findings”. This position aligns directly to those advocates of wider literacy theory, particularly within the canon of work on emotional literacy. Another response cited that literacy “also means having an understanding of … basic concepts and ideas”. This can be linked to the notion that literacy is the understanding of ideas and not the acquisition of abilities, which draws on the socio-cultural approach to literacy advocated by Gee (1997).
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