About literacy

We need to think about what literacy means to us. For this century it is important to accept the idea that literacy is a lot more than 'read' (decoding text, really) and 'write' (encoding text). Nowadays blogs, forums and twitter are popular among students and we face some resistance when we present in classroom traditional ways to get information (texts). So we need to consider that in the 21^st Century the nature of communication has changed and it has gained a great amount of complexity. Actually information come from a great variety of resources and we have to grasp messages in all of them.

But if we take into account UNESCO's recommendation for Education, we will see that literacy is a word that fits in many areas of knowledge.

Multiple Literacies for the 21^st Century

                       The Arts and Creativity Literacy         Financial Literacy                                                                                                               Ecoliteracy                                                             

                                   Media Literacy                                    

                                                           Cyberliteracy

Social/Emotional Literacies       

     Physical Fitness and  HealthLiteracies

                           Globalization & Multicultural Literacy

worried

                                                             http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/What_is_21st_Century_Education.htm

What can English teachers do in the classroom?
Should English teachers be worried about multiple literacies?