INTRODUCTION TO 21st
CENTURY LITERACY SKILLS
Course: CTE-BuildCur
Course Description: This course introduces the concepts of new literacies in
the 21st century as an evolving social phenomena and shared cultural practices
across learning areas. Field based-interdisciplinary explorations and other
teaching strategies shall be used in this course. The modules are unique in
examining new literacies through multiple theoretical lenses and in highlighting
critical literacy in the list to put premium on the importance of critical thinking
and evaluation of information. It helps in sourcing in the contemporary
information and knowledge production age and aids the teacher in the facilitating
logical interactive classroom discourse and exchanges.
Module 1: Week 1-2 (5 hours)
Instructor: Mr. Jan Marco A. Pacas
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Module 1
Week 1-2 (5 hours)
Experience Total Human Formation
Overview
Literacy is defined by dictionaries as the state of being able to read and write.
Although it is the ultimate thesis of this module that such a traditional definition no
longer suffices in the information age, a thorough understanding of literacy and its past
nuances will give you a solid foundation in exploring and discussing the “new” literacies
of the 21st century and why possessing them is now mandatory for both teachers and
students in all levels of education.
This module explores several definitions of literacy and what being literate means
in the multiplicity of contexts in the 21st century, with the goals of raising awareness in
readers who might be presently unaware of the evolving perspectives on literacy and
giving teachers the opportunity to pause and reflect on their own literacies even as they
attempt to teach the new literacies to their students.
General Instructions
● Read and follow instructions carefully.
● Some activities require research and thorough reading. Please be responsible to
do your part.
● Learning is self-paced and self-directed. Use your time wisely.
● Your success in this module largely depends on your diligence and hard work in
accomplishing the activities prepared for you.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the module, you must have:
a. Identified clear and practical definitions of conventional and expanded views of
literacy;
b. Compared and contrasted the traditional and modern concepts/view of literacy; and,
c. Self-evaluated his/her knowledge on new literacies.
Instructor’s E-mail address: [Link]@[Link]
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Contact Number: 09381118870
LSU hotlines: 088 521 0342 local 156 or 157
Module 1
Week 1-2 (5 hours)
Experience Total Human Formation
Explore
The word “literacy” stems from the word “literate,” which first appeared in the
15th century and is in turn derived from the Latin word litteratus, meaning “a person
marked with letters”—that is, “distinguished or identified by letters”—and it carried
with it the idea that such a person was cultured and educated. Since the subjects of the
time (e.g. grammar, logic, arithmetic, geometry, etc.) all had written texts (which were
composed of letters) that had to be studied, the ability to read and write was therefore of
prime importance, leading to the strong association of being “literate” with the ability
to read and write.
Miller (1973) divides this conventional concept of literacy into three subcategories:
1. Basic literacy—ability to correspond visual shapes to spoken sounds in order to decode
written materials and translate them into oral language. Simply put, it is the ability to
recognize letters and words.
Example: recognizing that the sequence of letters “b-a-s-a” forms the word basa in
Filipino, even without understanding what it means.
2. Comprehension literacy—ability to understand the meaning of what is being read.
Example: Knowing hat basa can mean either “to read” or “to be wet”.
3. Functional or Practical literacy—ability to read (i.e. decode and comprehend) written
materials needed to peroffrm everyday vocational tass.
Example: reading the text “Ang bata ay nagbabasa.” and being able to undersand that
basa here refers to reading and not to being wet.
Two things to notice for reading (and therefore literacy) to exist: (1) text (consisting of
symbols and grammar) to be read; and (2) a meaning or message being communicated
by the text for the reader to extract. Without a text, there would be nothing to read;
without meaning, the text is reduced to a series of incomprehensible doodles.
The act of reading implies a level of understanding. Without understanding the meaning
of the words, reading has not taken place. Schlechty (2001) defines the concept of
functional illiteracy as the state of being able to read, but not well enough to manage
daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level.
Instructor’s E-mail address: [Link]@[Link]
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Contact Number: 09381118870
LSU hotlines: 088 521 0342 local 156 or 157
Module 1
Week 1-2 (5 hours)
Experience Total Human Formation
Expanded Views of Literacy
Despite the popularity of American films in the Philippines, many Filipinos cannot
follow the actors’ dialogue, and thus resort to guessing the overall story based on the
actions on screen.
Despite the ubiquity of the traditional view of literacy, Roberts (1995) notes that “in the
past fifty years, hundreds of definitions of ‘literacy’ have been advanced by scholars,
adult literacy workers, and programme planners,” with even the United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2006) acknowledging that
literacy as a concept has proven to be complex and dynamic, it being continually defined
and interpreted in multiple ways.
In 2004, UNESCO formally defined literacy as “the ability to identify, understand,
interpret, create, communicate, and compute, using printed and written materials
associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling
individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to
participate fully in their community and wider society.”
Mkandawire (2018) posits that literacy is “a form of knowledge, competence, and skills
in a particular field or area,” being supported by UNESCO (2006), Barton (2007), and
Mkandawire, Simooya-Mudenda & Cheelo (2017), which acknowledged that—as we
have just pointed out—modern view appear to equate literacy with knowledge.
This shift in the definition of literacy from “reading and writing” to “knowledge” is
specially important as we explore the “new” literacies of the 21st century that seem far-
removed from the contexts upon which conventional literacy is based.
The new literacies begin to make sense as thy are the “skills and bodies of knowledge”
that are necessary for survival and productivity in the information age. In the same vein
of reasoning, the new literacies are not “new” per se—as in the sense that they never
existed before. Rather, we consider them to be new because the contexts in which the old
skills and knowledge are being employed are new, both in nature and in scope.
These so-called “new” literacies arose from the increasing availability of
communication technologies that were once unavailable to the average individual.
Technologies like blogging and vlogging, social networking, and even text-messaging
change and expand both the extent and the form of our communication—blending text,
sound, and images in ways unforeseen and unprecedented. Never before have opinions
of a twelve-year old child in an unheard-of-town in an unheard-of country been
available for everyone on earth to read and hear, and while adults might scoff at a child’s
Instructor’s E-mail address: [Link]@[Link]
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Contact Number: 09381118870
LSU hotlines: 088 521 0342 local 156 or 157
Module 1
Week 1-2 (5 hours)
Experience Total Human Formation
opinions, that child might have more than a thousand online subscribers who certainly
think his or her opinions are important, maybe even more so than the opinions of adults.
Simply put, three things have been critical in the rise of the new literacies:
Increased Research—we are communicating with more people, from more diverse
cultures, across vast distances than ever before.
Increased Means of Communication—we are communicating in more ways and at
faster speeds than ever before.
Increased Breadth of Content—we are communicating about more things than ever
before.
With the changes in with whom, how, and why we communicate, new literacies are
required not only to make sense of the changes, but also to use these new technologies
and paradigms in meaningful and productive ways—something required not only of
students, but of teachers as well.
To better address the need for teachers to be literate in these new literacies, the course
discusses and explores them in the ensuing modules, namely:
Globalization and Multicultural Literacy discusses how our increasing ability to
communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, in real time requires new skills and
attitudes in interacting with people with cultures, perspectives, worldviews, and
priorities different from our own, particularly with the end-view of not only peace and
understanding, but also mutual benefit and productivity.
Social and Financial Literacies explores the need for the ability to navigate our own
social networks—of both the online and offline variety—to not only communicate
clearly, but also to leverage resources which we ourselves might not possess. It also
addresses the notorious problem of short-sightedness in Filipino culture regarding
personal finances and how this must be addressed at an increasingly earlier age to help
mitigate the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor.
Media and Cyber/Digital Literacies explore the emerging need to locate, verify, and
ultimately manage online information, especially in an age where information is power
and where having the right (and wrong) information and the ability to communicate it
with others and use it to address real-world problems easily spell the difference between
both personal and career success and failure.
Ecoliteracy, Artistic and Creative Literacy explore the emerging demands for knowing
how to effectively and sustainably manage the natural resources that our increased
industrialization and demands for productivity are so rapidly eating up. It also explores
Instructor’s E-mail address: [Link]@[Link]
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Contact Number: 09381118870
LSU hotlines: 088 521 0342 local 156 or 157
Module 1
Week 1-2 (5 hours)
Experience Total Human Formation
how this increase in productivity also brings with it an increased demand for arts and
aesthetics and the need to develop ways of effectively communicating through the
creative arts in industries dominated by objective data.
Critical Literacy addresses the increasing need to discern the underlying (and often
tacit) messages behind the new “texts” of the 21st century, particularly in an ever-
increasingly multicultural society where ideas, cultures, and ideologies vie with one
another for power and dominance in the minds of the masses.
Engage
For you to get personally involved in the lesson and to pre-assess your prior
understanding, please do the following activities.
Activity 1: True or False
Directions: Answer the following questions about Module 1. Be sure to select your best
choice after answering each item. All the best!
__________ 1. UNESCO means the United Nations Education, Systemic, and
Cultural Organization.
__________ 2. The three things critical in the rise of the new literacies are increased
research, means of communication, and breadth of content.
__________ 3. Critical literacy explores the emerging demands for knowing how to
effectively manage our increased industrialization.
__________ 4. The highest conventional concept level is practical literacy.
__________ 5. The so-called "new" literacies arose from the increasing availability
of communication technologies that were once unavailable to the average individual.
Instructor’s E-mail address: [Link]@[Link]
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Contact Number: 09381118870
LSU hotlines: 088 521 0342 local 156 or 157
Module 1
Week 1-2 (5 hours)
Experience Total Human Formation
Activity 2: Compare and Contrast
Directions: Using any technological tools or creativity, compare and contrast the
traditional concept of literacy to that of the modern view of literacy.
Criteria:
Content and Organization of Ideas: 10
Originality and Creativity: 7 points
Appropriateness of Design: 3 points
Instructor’s E-mail address: [Link]@[Link]
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Contact Number: 09381118870
LSU hotlines: 088 521 0342 local 156 or 157
Module 1
Week 1-2 (5 hours)
Experience Total Human Formation
Evaluate
To check your personal mastery, do what is asked.
Activity 3: Enrich and Reflect
Directions: Although reading education in the Philippines aims to develop
Functional/Practical literacy in learners, what level of literacy is being developed when
classroom practices focus more on memorization rather than on understanding and
application? Answer the question comprehensively.
Instructor’s E-mail address: [Link]@[Link]
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Contact Number: 09381118870
LSU hotlines: 088 521 0342 local 156 or 157
