S SIMON FRASER UNIVERSiTY I

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSiTY

EDUCATION 341-3 ?

LITERACY, EDUCATION AND CULTURE

(E1.00)?

(Cat #73581)

Regular Summer Semester, 1993 ?

Instructor: S. deCastell

(May 3 - July 30)

Office: ?

MPX 8545

Thursday, 5:30 - 8:20 p.m. ?

Telephone: 291-3627

Location: MPX 8651

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 upn four components:

1. consistent and active participation in seminars, including presentations of

assigned course readings ..............................................................................20%

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

covered in 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.

TEXTS:

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.