ED 4B – Building and Enhancing New Literacies
st
INTRODUCTION TO 21ST CENTURY
LITERACIES
Lesson Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to develop a clear and practical understanding of the:
1. definitions of conventional literacy
2. expanded views of literacy in the 21st century.
1.1 Introduction
Literacy is defined by dictionaries as the stage of being able to read
and write (Literacy, Literate, n.d.). Although it is the ultimate thesis of this
chapter that such a tradition definition no longer suffices in the information
age, a thorough understanding of literacy and its past nuances will give us a
solid foundation in exploring and discussing the “new” literacies of the 21st
century and why possessing them is now mandatory for both teachers and
students in all levels of education.
This chapter explores several definitions of literacy and what being
literate means in the multiplicity of contexts in the 21st century, with the goal
of raising awareness in readers who might be presently unaware of the
evolving perspectives on literacy and giving teachers the opportunity to
pause and reflect on their own literacies even as they attempt to teach the
new literacies to their students.
1.2 Traditional or Conventional Literacy
The word “literacy” stems from the “literate”, which first appeared in
the 15th century and is in turn derived from the Latin word litteratus, meaning
“(a person) marked with letters” - that is, “distinguished or identified by
letters” – and it carried with it the idea that such a person was cultured and
educated. Since the subjects of the time (e.g., grammar, logic, arithmetic,
geometry, etc.) all had written texts (which were composed of letters) that
Across the Curriculum with Emphasis on the 21 Century Skills
had to be studied, the ability to read and write was therefore of prime
importance, leading to the strong association of being “literate” with the ability
to read and write.
Miller (1973) divides this conventional concept of literacy into three
sub-categories:
1. Basic Literacy – It is the ability to correspond visual shapes to
spoken sounds in order to decode written materials and translate
them into oral language. Simply put, it is the ability to recognize
letters and words. This would be akin to recognizing that the
sequence of letters ‘b-a-s-a” forms the word basa in Filipino,
even without understanding what it means.
2. Comprehension Literacy – It is the ability to understand the
meaning of what is being read. To capitalize on the example
above, this would be like knowing that basa can mean either “to
read” or “to be wet”.
3. Functional or Practical Literacy – It is the ability to read (i.e.,
decode and comprehend) written materials needed to perform
everyday vocational tasks. This is the equivalent of reading the
text “Ang bata ay nagbabasa.” and being able to understand that
basa here refers to reading and not being wet.
Based on this conventional view of literacy, we notice two things for
reading (and therefore literacy) to exist: (1) a text (consisting of symbols and
grammar) to be read; and (2) a meaning or message being communicated by
the text for the reader to extract. Without a text, there would be nothing to

read; without meaning, the text is reduced to series of incomprehensible
doodles.
It should therefore be noted that even in Miller’s definition of literacy,
the act of reading implies a level of understanding. Simply knowing how to
say a word (or a series of words) is not the same as being able to understand
what it means. Without understanding of the meaning of the words, reading
has not taken place. Based on this, Schlechty (2001) defines the concept of
functional illiteracy as the state of being able to read, but not well enough to
manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond
a basic level.
As the rest of this chapter will argue, this synchronicity between
decoding textual symbols and being able to extract and understand their
meaning is a necessary part of being literate, even as the new contexts of
the 21st century change the nature of what the “text’ is, and what it means to
“read” and “write”.
1.3 Expanded Views of Literacy
Despite the popularity of American films in the Philippines many
Filipinos cannot follow the actors’ dialogue, and thus resort to guessing the
overall story based on the actions on screen.
Despite the ubiquity of the traditional view of literacy, Roberts (1995)
notes that “in the past fifty years, hundreds of definitions of “literacy” have
been advanced by scholars, adult literacy workers, and programme
planners,” with even the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO, 2006) acknowledging that literacy as a concept has
proven to be complex and dynamic, it being continually defined and
interpreted in multiple ways.
In 2004, UNESCO formally defined literacy as “the ability to identify,
understand, interpret, create, communicate; and compute, using printed and
written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a
continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to
develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their
community and wider society.”
Note that “reading” does not appear in UNESCO’s definition of
literacy. Instead, literacy has taken on a definition more akin to knowing
“knowing about something and what to do with it.”
In this vein, Mkandawire (2018) more succinctly posits that literacy is
“a form of knowledge, competence, and skills in a particular field or area, “
ED 4B – Building and Enhancing New Literacies
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Across the Curriculum with Emphasis on the 21 Century Skills
being supported by UNESCO (2006), Barton (2007), and Mkandawire,
Simooya Mudenda, & Cheelo (2017), which acknowledged that- as we have
just pointed out-modern views appear to equate literacy with knowledge.
This shift in the definition of literacy form “reading and writing” to
“knowledge” is especially important as we explore the “new” literacies of the
21st century that seem far-removed form the contexts upon which
conventional literacy is based.
1.4 Literacy in the 21st Century
When viewed from the perspective of conventional/traditional
literacy, the concept of “new” literacies is a bit of a misnomer as even these
new literacies of the 21st century make generous use of being able to read
and write, rather than supplant them as skills necessary of survival. However,
when viewed from the perspective of literacy as knowledge, the new
literacies begin to make sense as they are the “skills and bodies of
knowledge” that are necessary for survival and productivity in the information
age.
In the same vein of reasoning, the new literacies are not “new” per
se- as in the sense that they never existed before. Rather, we consider them
to be new because the contexts in which old skills and knowledge are being
employed are new, both in nature and in scope. The ability to translate
textual information into images is not a new skill, but it is the ability to do so
in a way that is concise, complete and clear that is certainly new given that it
will be how ninety percent of the population will be informed on the issue.
Similarly, being able to verify the truth-value and veracity of a document is
not a new skill-but being able to do so when there are a hundred similar
documents available to you online is.
In the same vein of reasoning, the new literacies are not "new" per
se as in the sense that they never existed before. Rather, we consider them
to be new because the contexts in which old skills and knowledge are being
employed are new, both in nature and in scope. The ability to translate
textual information into images is not a new skill, but it is the ability to do so
in a way that is concise, complete, and clear that is certainly new, given that
it will be how ninety percent of the population will be informed on the issue.
Similarly, being able to verify the truth-value and veracity of a document is
not a new skill-but being able to do so when there are a hundred similar
documents available to you online is.
Case in point: Throughout history, humans have communicated on
levels apart from the spoken and written word, for example, visually, using
the long distance communication system of smoke signals used by the

ancient Chinese. the ancient Greeks, and the indigenous peoples of North
America.
In the Victorian era, there was such a thing as the "Language of
Flowers." where the kind, color, and arrangement of a bouquet of flowers
were used to communicate messages that could not otherwise be spoken
aloud in Victorian society (Greenaway, 1884). For example, a bouquet of oak
leaves (representing strength), purple roses (sorrow), white lilies
(resurrection), and pale yellow tulips and rosemary (memory or
remembrance) would altogether communicate a message of sympathy,
usually over the death of a loved one.
Successfully interpreting these "visual languages" required a kind of
"visual literacy" to understand the message being presented and to manage
the information encoded therein-skills which, as following chapters will further
reveal, are coming into use again in the 21st century literacies. The
difference is that now we are not analyzing smoke signals or bouquets, but
rather sounds, texts, and images from a hundred different sources at a nearly
non-stop rate to the point where accuracy, validity, and reliability of the
messages we interpret form the basis for some very important personal and
collective decision-making.
Another difference involves the question of necessity: One did not
need to be literate in the language of flowers to live a fruitful and fulfilled life
in Victorian era England, but to be not media or digitally literate in the 21st
century makes one vulnerable to manipulation by those who are, and such
manipulation can easily cost an individual time, money, property, and even
life.
These so-called "new" literacies arose from the increasing availability
of communication technologies that were once unavailable to the average
individual. Technologies like blogging and vlogging, social networking, and
even text-messaging change and expand both the extent and the form of our
communication-blending text, sound, and images in ways unforeseen and
unprecedented (Richardson, 2014). Never before have the opinions of a
twelve year-old child in an unheard-of town in an unheard-of country been
available for everyone on earth to read and hear, and while adults might scoff
at a child's opinions, that child might have more than a thousand online
subscribers who certainly think his or her opinions are important, maybe
even more so than the opinions of adults.
Simply put, three things have been critical in the rise of the new literacies:
ED 4B – Building and Enhancing New Literacies
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Across the Curriculum with Emphasis on the 21 Century Skills
1. Increased Reach - We are communicating with more people, from more
diverse cultures, across vaster distances than ever before.
2. Increased Means of Communication - We are communicating in more
ways and at faster speeds than ever before.
3. Increased Breadth of Content - We are communicating about more
things than ever before.
How do we work together with people of different cultures who might
have vastly different perspectives on communication, work ethics, values,
underlying religious beliefs, and worldviews? What do we do when some of
these might be century, mutually exclusive to our own? In an age where
information knows more and knowing first can spell the difference between
success and minds of power-where failure-how do we leverage both current
and emergent technologies so that our endeavors are both productive and
profitable? Moreover, how do we navigate and manage the veritable
minefield of information that was once considered taboo and private and is
now online, for all the world to see and judge, whether we like it or not?
Answering such complex questions requires new sets of skills and
knowledge ones that our school systems have never had to teach before.
With these changes in with whom, how, and why we communicate, new
literacies are required not only to make sense of the changes, but also to use
these new technologies and paradigms in meaningful and productive ways-
something required not only of students, but of teachers as well.
To better address the need for teachers to be literate in these new
literacies, this lesson discusses and explores them in the ensuing chapters,
namely:
Globalization and Multicultural Literacy discusses how our increasing
ability to communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, in real time requires
new skills and attitudes in interacting with people with cultures, perspectives,
worldviews, and priorities different from our own, particularly with the end-
view of not only peace and understanding, but also mutual benefit and
productivity.
The chapter on Social and Financial Literacies meanwhile explores the
need for the ability to navigate our own social networks-of both the online
and off-line variety-to not only communicate clearly, but also to leverage
resources which we ourselves might not possess. At the same time, the
chapter addresses the notorious problem of short-sightedness in Filipino
culture regarding personal finances and how this must be addressed at an

increasingly earlier age to help mitigate the ever-widening gap between the
rich and the poor.
Media and Cyber/Digital Literacies explore the emerging need to locate,
verify, and ultimately manage online information, especially in an age where
information is power and where having the right (and wrong) information and
the ability to communicate it with others and use it to address real-world
problems easily spell the difference between both personal and career
success and failure.
Ecoliteracy and Artistic and Creative Literacy explore the emerging
demands for knowing how to effectively and sustainably manage the natural
resources that our increased industrialization and demands for productivity
are so rapidly eating up. The chapter also explores how this increase in
productivity also brings with it an increased demand for arts and aesthetics
and the need to develop ways of effectively communicating through the
creative arts in industries dominated by objective data.
Finally, Critical Literacy addresses the increasing need to discern the
underlying (and often tacit) messages behind the new "texts" of the 21st
century, particularly in an ever-increasingly multicultural society where ideas,
cultures, and ideologies vie with one another for power and dominance in the
minds of the masses.
ED 4B – Building and Enhancing New Literacies
st
Across the Curriculum with Emphasis on the 21 Century Skills
Review Questions
1. Compare and contrast the traditional concept of literacy to the modern
view of literacy.
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2. Describe the changes in the 21st century that have led to the rise of new
literacies.
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3. What teaching strategies and forms of assessment could you use to help
develop functional literacy?
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References
Alata, Elen Joy P., & Ignacio, Eigen John T. (2019) Building and Enhancing
New Literacies Across the Curriculum. Manila, Philippines. Rex Bookstore Inc.