*SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITII

EDUCATION 341-3

LITERACY, EDUCATION AND CULTURE

(E1.00)

Spring Semester, 1994

Instructor:

Dr.

S. deCastell

(January 4- March 31)

Office:

MPX

8545

Monday, 16:30 - 19:20

Phone:

291-3627

Location:

MPX

7600F

Messages:

291-3395

PREREQUISITE:

60 Hours of credit.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

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 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...................................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 covered in the course ......................................30% (10-12 pages)

4.

a final exam, for which questions will be provided

inadvance........................................................................30%

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Perspectives on Literacy. Kintgen, E. Kroll, B. and Rose, M. Southern Illinois University Press.

Broken Words. Calamal, Peter. Southam Press.

RECOMMENDED 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.