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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.
    ?
    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.

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