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SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
EDUCATION 341-3 ?
LITERACY: ORIGINS, CONSEQUENCES AND IMPLICATIONS
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FOR EDUCATION AND CULTURE
(E1.00)?
(Cat
#
97451)
Fall Semester, 1992 ?
Instructor:
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Dr. S. deCastell
(September 8— December 4)
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Office:
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MPX 8545
Thursday, 4:30 - 7:20 p.m.
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Telephone: ?
291-3627
Location: MPX 8651/52
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.
EVALUATION
Grades are based upon four components:
1.
consistent and active participation in seminars, including presentations of assigned
course readings, and a course journal ("Learning Log") - 50%
2.
a major paper (in two drafts, one at mid term, one final) on a topic of the student's own
choice, to be approved with the instructor and relevant to topics covered in the course
(10-12 pages) - 50%
REQUIRED TEXT
Literacy. Society and Schooling: A Reader (eds. S. deCastell, A. Luke and K. Egan).
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986.
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
Perspectives on Literacy. Kintgen, E. Kroll, B. and Rose, M. Southern Illinois University Press.
Broken Words. Calamal, Peter. Southam Press.
Something in My Mind Besides the Ever
y
da
y . Horsman, J. The Womens Press.
A detailed outline of topics and schedule of readings will be made available at the first class, along
with a list of recommended readings.