Toward an understanding of literacy as communicative competence: Patterns of literate language learning and use.

摘要

In order to develop sound models or theories of literacy, or written language learning and use, there must be adequate descriptions of how written language is learned and used. Such descriptions call for an approach that should begin with an ethnographic investigation of the extralinguistic context and/or contexts within which those written language activities and practices actually take place. We must ground our models or theories in the real experience of real people. To do so, we: (1) need to learn about the repertoire of literate activities; (2) need to learn about the cultural and socio-situational circumstances that surround those activities; (3) need to learn about written language itself.;This dissertation makes four general contributions to generating sound models or theories of literacy or written language learning and use. (1) It proposes an understanding of literacy that allows us to ground our initial investigations of written language learning and use in the real experience of real people. (2) It offers a preliminary descriptive taxonomy of literate activities. (3) It suggests that within a single context or within a particular discourse community, there are different ways of reading and writing. (4) It lays the foundation for future research into the varieties of written language.;Once we begin to explore what we do when we learn and use written language, how and why some of us learn and use written language in ways different from others, we will then also begin to explain the meaning of written language in human life.