Executive Summary 1

Executive Summary

Scribner, Sylvia. “Literacy in Three Metaphors.” American Journal of Education 93 (1984): 6-21. Print.

In this article, Sylvia Scribner approaches the question of “What is literacy” by questioning the pursuit of a single definition or, in her words, “essence” of literacy. This question is not a new one, according to Scribner, but rather one that has a body of scholarship and political history. As scholars and lawmakers try to single out what literacy is and how best to qualify and spread literacy, Scribner suggests that this definitional approach limits understanding the complexity of literacy moving beyond establishing criteria for literacy and assessing individual mastery and seeing literacy as a socially constructed and valued activity.

Scribner includes three central metaphors of literacy that demonstrate how singular perspectives are relevant but if left separate create boundaries in our understanding of literacy.

• Literacy as Adaptation: This metaphor underscores the practicality of literacy. For example, in our society, it a general rule that people need to be able to read and write to get a job. Although Scribner stresses the relevance for this type of literacy, she states that focusing strictly on these practical concerns establishes a short-sighted view of literacy that underscores the individual. Aptitude tests and other forms of assessment give us a sense of individual mastery, but on what basis can we test individual literacy? What is the standard?
• Literacy as Power: Scribner turns her attentions to the social influences of literacy in this metaphor. Literacy has a long association with social and political power. Scribner addresses how literacy can be used for hegemonic forces as well as social critics. Referencing Paul Freire, Scribner explains how literacy has been thought of as a means to socially liberate oppressed people and give voices to minorities people, including the elderly and blacks. Some theorists believe this type of social mobility is good, and it should be part of the work of spreading literacy. However, Scribner challenges this idea by asking how this can be monitored? Also, will one model of literacy lead to liberation in another culture?
• Literacy as State of Grace: Scribner, rather than emphasize the religious and spiritual overtones of this metaphor, states that there is a belief that literate persons carry some special purpose of exceptionalism. This idea steams from a cultural narrative that a “bookish” knowledge is equivalent to literacy. However, values vary from culture to culture, subculture to subculture, and belief in this type of literacy as the only literacy is elitist. Who defines the standards for useful literacy? How should they be cultivated.

To draw her argument together, Scribner refers to her ethnographic study of the Vai tribe. The Vai live by “Third World” means yet have been practicing literate activities for 150 years. Scribner explains that the three scripts of the Vai—Arabic, English, and Vai—carry different values for the community and individuals. Arabic is the language of their religion. English is the language of political and institutional power, taught at state schools. The Vai script is not taught in school but rather transferred from a tutor to a pupil through a continuous learning process.

Unlike in our society, writing is not a tool for survival, expressed in the Literacy and Adaptation metaphor yet writing takes place and carries with it various values and uses.

Scribner ends by returning to the original question of literacy and suggests that if the pursuit of a singular definition of literacy is fruitless that we should instead seek to understand variety of literacies. Such studies would help shape different types of instruction that respond to the dynamic and shifting conditions of literacy from one time and one culture to another.

Quotes

“They suggest that literacy is a kind of reality that educators should be able to grasp and explain, or, expressed in more classical terms, that literacy has an essence that can be captured through some Aristotelian-like enterprise” (72).

“It follows that individual literacy is relative to social literacy” (72).

“Replacing the school-grade criterion with a functional approach to literacy does not eliminate the time problem. Today’s standards for functional competency need to be considered in light of tomorrow’s requirements” (74).

“In the perspective of Western humanism, literateness has come to be considered synonymous with being ‘culture,’ using the term in the old-fashioned sense to refer to a person who is knowledgeable about the content and techniques of the sciences, arts, and humanities that have evolved historically. The term sounds elitist and archaic, but the notion that participation in a literate—that is, bookish—tradition enlarges and develops a persons’s essential self is pervasive and still undergirds the concept of a liberal education (Steiner 1973)” (77).

“If the search for essence is futile, it might appropriately be replaced by serious attention to varieties of literacy and their place in social and educational programs” (80).

“What is ideal literacy in our society? If the analysis by metaphor presented here contributes some approach to that question, it suggests that ideal literacy is simultaneously adaptive, socially empowering, and self-enhancing” (81).