New Literacy Going Global in Old School Ways :)

Critical Literacy Across Continents

Janks and Comber reported on a very intriguing social action through literacy project with global intents. The alphabet books were a great way to unearth a level of the students’ perceptions of their respective cities, and how they wanted their cities represented. It seemed like Janks guided the students through questioning in South Africa more than the students were directed or swayed in Australia. However, the comment is made that Janks was constructing an environment where writing was going to be presented to an audience as opposed to being only graded or assessed by a teacher. The concerns and issues the students faced in each city were sobering. Janks and Comber astutely noted that while giving the students the tools to express the injustices around them is important, in order for social action to occur then change must follow the students’ work. This research project provides a rich example of how literacy in a global context can be an aide to social action.

Crossing the Margins: Literacy, Semiotics, and the Recontextualisation of Meanings

Kell followed and analyzed the plight of one woman, Noma, in using language to be heard. Kell delineated Noma’s experiences into four strips or steps. First, she used her words in a meeting to express the problems she was having with a poorly built home she had been given; problematically she was never really heard or valued at these points. Second, she wrote a ten page narrative explaining the injustices she was experiencing by the poor facilities. She read this story aloud to friends and neighbors. Thirdly, she was allowed to read her story at the meeting where she had previously tried to express her concern. From there she was allowed to represent herself at the national meeting. It seems as if through her story she received recognition and value. Kell suggested that because Noma was disabled, she had not been seen as having anything valid to say. With the power of written language in her hands, people listened. Lastly,the national organization responded by rebuilding her house.

Through the plight of one woman, Noma, who found written language to be a source of power and opportunity, Kell answers Brant and Clinton’s question “Can we not see the ways that literacy arises out of local, particular, situated human interactions while also seeing how it regularly arrives from other places—infiltrating, disjointing and displacing local life?” (p. 148; Brandt & Clinton, 2002, p. 343). She also poses the question of how to fragment activity systems (one method for understanding context) into units of analysis. Thus, Kell attempted to break up Noma’s experiences and contexts into four strips or steps.

First, she used her words in a meeting to express the problems she was having with a poorly built home she had been given; problematically she was never really heard or valued at these points. Second, she wrote a ten page narrative explaining the injustices she was experiencing by the poor facilities. She read this story aloud to friends and neighbors. Thirdly, she was allowed to read her story at the meeting where she had previously tried to express her concern. From there she was allowed to represent herself at the national meeting. It seems as if through her story she received recognition and value. Kell suggested that because Noma was disabled, she had not been seen as having anything valid to say. With the power of written language in her hands, people listened. Lastly, the national organization responded by rebuilding her house. Noma’s story is one of particular interest in the power that came with her ability to use written language “locally” to “displace” restricting assumptions and disregard she encountered from those making decisions regarding her home.