S
    SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
    ?
    EDUCATION 341-3
    ?
    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.

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