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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
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EDUCATION 341-3 (E1.00) ?
LITERACY, EDUCATION & CULTURE?
(Cat. #15420)
Regular Summer Semester, 1994
(May 2-July 29)
Monday, 17:30-20:20
Location MPX 8651/2
Instructor: Marlene Asselin
Office: ?
TBA
Phone:
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291-3395 (messages)
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 value 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 class seminars, including
regular reporting of assigned small group readings ....................................................20%.
2.
Weekly written summaries of readings and class discussions .....................................20%.
3.
Major paper on a topic of the student's own choice (10-12 pages .................................30%.
4.
Final exam ..............................................................................................................30%.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Literacy for a diverse society: Perspectives, practices and policies (E. H. Hebert), Teachers
College Press, 1991. 0-8077-3097-1.
Perspectives on literacy (Eds. E. Kintgen, B. roll, & MN. Rose) Southern Illinois University
Press, 1988. 0-8093-14584
Broken words. Calamal, P. Southam Press, 1990, 0-969221-0-0.
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
Literacy, society and schooling: A reader. (Eds. S. De Castell, A. Luke, & K. Egan). Cambridge
University Press, 1986. 0-521-313406.
