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    I.
    FALL 1995
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    EVENING ?
    EDUC 341-3?
    LITERACY, EDUCATION AND CULTURE
    (E1.00)
    S. DE CASTELL
    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 favored 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 three components: (alternative means of evaluation negotiable!)
    1.
    a book review of one of the supplementary texts ......................................................30%
    2.
    mid-term exam ......................................................................................................30%
    3.
    a final exam, for which study questions will be provided in advance .......................40%
    REQUIRED TEXT:
    Perspectives
    on Literacy. Kintgen, E. Kroll, B. and Rose, M. Southern Illinois University Press.
    RECOMMENDED TEXT:
    Literacy, Society
    and Schooling. A Reader (eds. S. deCastell, A. Luke and K. Egan).
    Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986.
    SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS: (Choose ONE of the following for a book review)
    Literacy.
    D. Barton. Blackwell, 1994.
    Something on my Mind... J
    .
    Horseman. The Womens Press.
    Talking about Literacy. J
    .
    Mace. Routledge, 1992.
    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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