S
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
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EDUCATION 341-3
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LITERACY, EDUCATION AND CULTURE
Regular Summer Semester, 1991 ?
Instructor:
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Michael Hoechsmann
(May 6 - August 2)
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Office:
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MPX 9501a
Mondays, 5:30 - 8:20
P.M.
Location: MPX 7600F
PREREQUISITE:
60 credit hours.
OVERVIEW
In the wake of the International Year of Literacy (1990), it might be useful to consider
what literacy is, how it is practised and to what ends. Like the air we breathe, literacy
seems to be so obviously a social 'good,' that it appears conceptually invisible. For the
individual, literacy is seen as a requisite to social advancement and personal
enlightenment; for the society at large, literacy is said to be necessary for economic
take-off, social management, and the intergenerational transmission of 'culture'.
This course provides an introduction to the study of literacy from an interdisciplinary
perspective. We shall explore the history of literacy in order to identify, analyze, and
justify or criticize the aesthetic, communicative, cognitive and socially-
transformative consequences commonly attributed to literacy. In addition, we will
spend a small portion of each class focussing on our own (critical, scholastic) literacy.
PURPOSE
To provide the background and the context to ask some serious questions of current
literacy 'crises'.
EVALUATION
Presentation and written summary of one article
20%
In-class writing assignments
10%
Mid-term take-home exam
20%
Final paper
40%
Preparation & Participation
10%
REQUIRED TEXTS
Broken Words. (1987). Southam News.
Perspectives on Literac y . Eds. E. Kintgen, B. Kroll, M. Rose. (1988). Southern
Illinois University Press.
RECOMMENDED TEXT
Barthes, R. (1972). M
y
thologies (trans. Annette La
y
ers). Hill & Wang.
Additional material available from instructor.