Definitions of Literacy

Definitions have traditionally vacillated between socio-cultural models, which encompass all aspects of language use and narrower cognitive-psychological perspective’s emphasising the acquisition of distinctive skills. Reservation around a common definition of ‘literacy’ owes much to the influence of the ongoing ‘reading’ method debate (see Chall, 1967; Adams, 1990). But even this debate masks the principal source of contention which Crawford (1995) describes as a discrepancy in people’s “fundamental beliefs about the nature of literacy, the process of learning, perceptions about how children should be treated and a vision for society” (p.&*&). In leaving this debate aside we do acknowledge the many benefits that different perspectives have brought to the field of literacy education. Furthermore, we acknowledge that definitions are products of specific contexts and in this way are “tailored to particular features of the educational, institutional, and cultural context in which they need to be put to work” (Alloway, Freebody, Gilbert and Muspratt, 2002 p. 27). Freebody, Cumming & Falk (1993) further note that differing definitions of literacy have had substantial effects on the nature and effectiveness of educators’ attempts to enhance literacy performance in schools, workplaces and communities. In setting the context for this present review we acknowledge that most children will arrive at kindergarten having sufficiently developed language skills to coherently communicate in their first or native language. However, few children will possess the ability to understand their language when in a written form, as they will not have acquired the functional skill of reading. In this way ‘literacy’ in this current review refers to the ability to read printed text. This definition is also consistent with contemporary research that consistently reports deficits in ‘literacy’ as a reference to the specific skill of ‘reading’ (Baker, 1999; Weiss et al., 1992; AMA, 1999; Weir, 2001; Hardy et al., 1997; Rowe & Rowe, 2002; High et al., 1999). ‘All encompassing’ definitions of literacy are useful in describing the potential that is achievable if language skills (speaking, listening, viewing & critical thinking) and conceptual skills (encoding & decoding symbols; alphabetic and numeric) are fully integrated to make way for the application of such skills (appropriate use across contexts). Such definitions seem to describe how a mature literate individual applies the skills of literacy once they are acquired and fully integrated, which is hardly the case of a young child. Broad based definitions (e.g., ALLP, 1991; Lokan et al., 1995; Makin, 2002) of literacy are in fact more analogous with ‘communication’ thus our preference for a narrower functional definition. This is of course done with caution and is not intended to relegate the importance of environmental and socio-cultural influences on the development of literacy, as will be discussed. Neither does it imply that the primary goal of literacy should be anything other than ‘meaning’. In distinguishing ‘print literacy’ as a distinct component under the umbrella of literacy it is equally important to appreciate that the distinction is only apparent when the development of a child so allows the skills of reading and writing to be acquired. It is also helpful to note that all literate people must acquire the knowledge that symbols (representative of sound structures), are at the most fundamental level, intended to be decoded so that the message being conveyed in the text can be understood. It is safe to assume that literacy and language are distinctly different aspects within the common domain of communication. Whether you ascribe to a broad all inclusive definition of literacy or a narrower skill based definition, both share the common element of decoding sensory stimuli (symbols, events, acts, images, movements, noises, textures and smells) into meaningful information, which in essence is communication. Literacy is often aligned closely with the representation of language and all aspect pertinent to language such as reading, writing, spelling, comprehension as well as letters, sounds, and punctuation. However, in order of development language skills are developed before literacy skills can be applied