SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
EDUCATION 341-3
?
LITERACY: ORIGINS, CONSEQUENCES AND IMPLICATIONS
?
FOR EDUCATION AND CULTURE
(E1.00) ?
(Cat #42905)
Spring Semester, 1993
?
Instructor: S. deCastell
(January 5—April 2)
?
Office:
?
MPX8639
Tuesday, 4:30 - 7:20 p.m. ?
Telephone: 291-3627
Location: MPX 7610
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
assignedcourse readings ..............................................................................20%
2.
a book review of one of the supplementary texts ................................................20% (6-8 pages)
3.
a major paper on a topic of the student's own choice, relevant to topics
coveredin the course ....................................................................................30% (10-12 pages)
4.
a final exam, for which questions will be provided in advance ..........................30%
REQUIRED TEXTS
Perspectives on Literacy. Kintgen, E. Kroll, B. and Rose, M. Southern Illinois University Press.
Broken Words. Calamal, Peter. Southam Press.
RECOMMENDED TES
Literacy. Society and Schooling: A Reader (eds. S. deCastell, A. Luke and K. Egan). Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1986.
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.