ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education (ACVE) ARCHIVE

Multiple Literacies: A Compilation for Adult Educators

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by Glynda A. Hull, Larry Mikulecky, Ralf St. Clair, and Sandra Kerka
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Literacies are tools for reading the world——bodies of knowledge, skills, and social practices with which we understand, interpret, and use the symbol systems of our culture. The conventional understanding of literacy (singular) is reading, writing, and numeracy. Recent developments are broadening this definition by including a wide range of symbol systems—reading, writing, viewing, speaking. Being literate thus means being able to combine these systems in complex ways to create meaning

This compilation looks at the various literacies as the application of critical abilities to several domains of importance to adult life in the 21st century. It begins with Glynda Hull's examination of critical literacy for "challenging times," making the case for its potential to move adult literacy education beyond "neutral and neutralizing notions" of technical skill. In the next chapter, Larry Mikulecky examines how people acquire digital/electronic literacy and how adult educators can support this effort. Ralf St. Clair uses environmental literacy as an example of education for effective critique rather than instrumental purposes in the third chapter. In the fourth chapter, Sandra Kerka takes a different perspective on health literacy by addressing its importance for all adults, not just those with low levels of basic skills. An annotated resource list provides sources of more information about critical aspects of the following literacy domains: multiple, critical, civic, digital/electronic, environmental, financial, geographic, health, media, and technological/scientific.