2. Complex
• "Literacy is like the y value." Ashley
Increasingly Important
Ross • " Literacy would appear to be one of the few
• There has been numerous efforts to elements of education that everyone agrees
define literacy and " each of these to be a necessity of modernity" John Szwed
efforts has identified important • "Historically, literacy has been a potent tool
parameters of literacy , but none has in maintaining the hegemony of elites and
yet won consensual agreement." dominant classes in certain societies"
Sylvia Scribner Scribner
Undefined Not measurable
• "[Literacy] practices are not • "What is literature? No agreement"
observable units of behavior since John Szwed
they also involve • "Although literacy is a problem of
values, attitudes, feelings and social pressing national concern, we have
relationships" Barton and Hamilton yet to discover or set it's
boundaries." Sylvia Scribner

3. I believe that the ability to read,
write, and understand the written
word can be broken up into smaller
groups. I call these little subgroups
literacies. A literacy is a group of
words or phrases that are used for a
specific field or purpose. For
instance an equine literacy would
include all words and phrases
relating to equine. Including coat
colors such as palomino and dun,
and diseases such as colic and
founder.

5. Literacy is an extremely complex subject. There have been numerous efforts to
define literacy and "each of these efforts has identified important parameters of
literacy, but none has yet won consensual agreement." (Scribner) My belief is that each
person has their own literacy identity. A literacy identity is a grouping of all ones
literacies and a literacy is simple a group of words that are all associated with a similar
subject. In order to have a particular literacy in a literacy identity the person must
understand the words associated with that literacy and know how to use them
intelligently. For my project I will dive into the literacy identities of three sisters from a
small town in Northern Michigan. It will compare the literacy identities of the three sisters
by showing each girl’s literacy identities. Once the literacy Identity is established for each
girl the individual literacies included in their literacy identity will be explained. Also how
the individual may have obtained each literacy will also be included in the project. All of
the required information was obtained through multiply interviews taken with the three
individuals. This project is meant to show that an individual’s environment, friends, and
past experiences have a great effect on their literacy identity.