SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY ?

EDUCATION

341-3

LITERACY: ORIGINS, CONSEQUENCES AND IMPLICATIONS ?

FOR EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Summer Session, 1990

(July 3 - August 10)

Mondays & Wednesdays

5:30-9:20 p.m.

Location: Harbour Centre

(Mon.) HC 1325

(Wed.) HC 1430

Instructor: Dr. S. deCastell

Office: ?

MPX 8639

Telephone: 291-3627

PREREQUISITE: 60 hours of credit.

OVERVIEW

This course provides an introduction to the study of literacy from an

interdisciplinary perspective. We shall explore the origins of western

literacy, the conditions which favoured its development and the role of

literacy in social evolution, the economic and cultural values of

literacy, and the effects of literacy on cognitive processes. Of particular

interest is the reliance on formal educational institutions for the mass

transmission of literacy. We will be looking in some detail at the

varying conceptions of literacy that educators have traditionally

valued, and we will be looking at some of the current research and

scholarship that attempts to explain, justify and prescribe educational

practices intended to increase literacy.

PURPOSE

By the end of the course, students should be able to identify, analyze,

and justify or criticize the aesthetic, communicative, cognitive and

socially-transformative consequences attributed to or associated with

the acquisition of literacy. They should know something of its history

and be aware of the range of definitions traditionally and currently

given to literacy. They should have some understanding of the

distinctive contributions of conceptual study and empirical research

into literacy, and understand both the capacities and limitations of

each of these approaches to literacy research and practice.

OVER

S ?

EVALUATION

Grades are based upon four components:

1. consistent and active participation in seminars, including

presentations of assigned course readings - 20%.

2. A book review based on one of the recommended readings - 20%.

3. A paper on a topic of the student's own choice, relevant to topics

covered in the course - 30%.

a final exam, for which questions will be provided in advance -

30%.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Literac y , Societ y

and Schoolin

: A Reader (eds. S. deCatell, CLuke

and K. Egan). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986.

And one of the following (student's own choice):

Illich, I., Sanders B. ABC: The Al

habetization of the p opular mind.

San Francisco: Northpoint Press

Ong, W. (1982). Oralit

y and Literac y

. Routledge, Chapman & Hall.

Freire, P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness. Seabury Press

Kozol, Jonathan. (1985). illiterate America. Anchor/Doubleday Co.

Heath, Shirley Brice. (1983). Way with words. Cambridge University

Press.

Additional readings will be made available to students at cost.

A detailed outline of topics and schedule of readings will be made

available at the first class, along with a list of recommended readings.