LINGUIST List 15.1018

Sat Mar 27 2004

Review: Sociolinguistics: Collins & Blot (2003)

Editor for this issue: Naomi Ogasawara <naomilinguistlist.org>

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  • Sally Wellenbrock Hinrich, Literacy and Literacies: Texts, Power, and Identity

    Message 1: Literacy and Literacies: Texts, Power, and Identity

     Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 23:58:09 -0500 (EST)
    From: Sally Wellenbrock Hinrich <shinricokstate.edu>
    Subject: Literacy and Literacies: Texts, Power, and Identity


    AUTHOR: Collins, James; Blot, Richard K. TITLE: Literacy and Literacies: Texts, Power, and Identity SERIES: Studies in Social and Cultural Foundations of Language 22 PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press YEAR: 2003

    Announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/14/14-632.html

    Sally Wellenbrock Hinrich, Oklahoma State University

    OVERVIEW

    Collins and Blot build an argument that literacy is not merely an independent skill for comprehending texts, measured by an arbitrary institutional standard, but ''inseparable from values, senses of self, and forms of regulation and power'' (page xviii). Integrating themes from the French post-structuralists, the authors analyze ethnographic and cultural studies to illustrate how literacy has been interpreted in various points in history and in numerous societies.

    Chapter 1 introduces the concept that, in addition to printed text, literacy also relates to other cultural forms that hold meaning for the specific cultural group (p.3). Literacy is defined as an absolute concept related to educational development as well as the required skills needed to comprehend texts. Literacies, in contrast, represent ''sociocultural or situated models'' that incorporate historical and/or cultural variables (p.4).

    Chapter 2 delves into the development of the ''literacy thesis'' which promotes writing as the key to development of a superior form of civilization (from Halverson, 1991). The authors critically examine arguments by Goody (1986), Goody & Watt (1963) and Olson (1997, 1974) who diminish the status of oral-based cultures while privileging literate-based, Greco-European, cultures. Collins & Blot argue that those who recognize only in the context-independent nature of written text ignore the existence of the interpretive nature of both written and oral cultures. The authors invoke deCerteau's (1984) position that oral and written texts are ''complimentary,'' existing on a continuum rather than as objective absolutes (p. 30). Their argument concludes that it is necessary to shift from the literacy thesis view (that only a formal text represents literacy) in order to focus on the post- structuralist view where multiple literacies develop from everyday practices in addition to institutional criteria.

    In Chapter 3, the authors argue that situated literacies need to be developed and enhanced within each social context to create a local construction of meaning rather than through the application of arbitrarily defined skills . Drawing on geographically diverse work, Collins & Blot blend the original ethnographic focus of work done by Heath (1983, United States), Finnegan (1988, Sierra Leone) and Street (1984, 1993, Iran), with a critical analysis of the implications of each group's efforts to maintain an identity while resisting the power of institutional literacy.

    Chapter 4 focuses on the historic shifts in the interpretation of literacy during the rise of European nation states. Beginning in Renaissance Italy, the authors contend that the rise of printed text and writing was employed to separate society by class as well as by concept (written text over oral). Synthesizing historical accounts with deCerteau's (1984) concept of the ''polarizing'' effects of writing, Collins & Blot recount the 18th and 19th century growth of American public schools where the primary function of literacy was to inculcate discipline (while excluding women and slaves). Gradually the addition of basic skills training in the curriculum created ''a literature of national lore and self-improvement'' (p. 78). The authors then outline how the definition of ''illiterate,'' was again revised to represent not just a lack of learning prescribed texts, but also assigned to any form of non-standard learning, suggesting another shift in meaning that created disparities affecting personal power and identity for social and ethnic groups.

    In examining the historical development of institutional literacy in the late 1880s through the 1960s, the authors describe the effects of the increasing standardization of technology and schooling that ultimately developed into establishing testing standards to rank students in the school systems. By the 1950s & 60s, students were tracked into academic or vocational coursework based on aptitude and achievement test scores. Accompanying this structuring of coursework was the reinforcement of Standard English grammar and composition that reduced other forms of language to non-standard status. Collins & Blot suggest that, as a result, literacy and achievement became equated with the number of years a student stayed in school.

    Collins & Blot suggest that standardized testing began ''quantifying literacy,'' serving to enhance the ''quintessentially American desire to provide technical descriptions and solutions to complex problems'' (p. 86). The resulting literacy policies permitted the rise of faceless administrative power to rank and direct students into specific coursework while at the same time claiming education was a means of improving one's place in society. At the same time, resistance to this standardization was realized with the development of distinctive African-American oral literature and music using language in direct conflict with institutional standards. Based on the literacy thesis, emerging Black/African American dialects were associated with an ''illiterate'' use of Standard English.

    In chapter 5, Collins & Blot suggest that issues of literacy and language were externally shaped in the 1960s through large, government- driven programs to develop and promote a national image of a well- educated citizenry. The concurrent emergence of social movements (such as rights for women and minorities) allowed individuals to engage in a search for alternate identities in order to construct solidarity within a particular social or ethnic group. The authors point out that while the schools promoted certain literacies in a non-inclusive way, the schools also failed to provide literacies that would help students in their lives outside and beyond school. Collins & Blot demonstrate conflicts of identity developing from ''schooled literacy'' using studies by Heath (1983), Rose (1985, 1989) and Gilyard (1991). The authors contend that a contradiction exists in modern American education which endorses ''recognition of difference'' while it simultaneously imposes standardized programs, such as literacy requirements and testing norms, on all students in equal fashion (p. 121).

    Chapter 6 begins with examination of historical texts for transformations of the cultural history of indigenous peoples of Latin America framed in the rhetoric of colonial languages. Through literacy programs originally targeted to create a localized workforce, indigenous groups were forced into using colonial languages to live within and to form resistance against the dominant culture. Using a post-structuralist view of writing the authors look at forms of local opposition in the histories of Hispaniola, the Andes, and post-colonial Aztec/Mayan cultures to examine the meaning of literacy. The authors revisit anthropological and ethnographic records to show how certain groups reshaped the received literacy to meet their needs on an everyday basis in spite of the legal and historical motives behind the existing texts of conquest.

    In the final chapter (7), Collins & Blot argue for the importance of valuing local ''social memory'' in addition to creating a ''textual preservation'' of memory (p. 163). The authors refer to the rise of ''computer literacy'' and technology as transformation of texts to cybertext as another step in the history of literacy, not the final phase of text. What is at stake is not the form; rather it is in understanding that ''meaning is not in a text, but in an interpretation'' (p. 172). They caution that any derived meaning is ultimately affected by the ''power'' and ''identity'' of the interpreters (p. 173). The authors outline two principal definitions of literacy used in current practice. First, the ''unitary account'' derived from traditional literacy, where drill, behavior and testing form the basis of education, ''which foreground carefully measured and quantitatively ranked progress'' (p. 173). The other model is ''whole language relativism'' that includes plural literacies, where printed text is not the solitary form, but a form which also accepts literacies based on cultural symbols, visual arts and computer technologies as well as the ''child's home-based discourses'' (p. 173).

    Collins & Blot close with the comment that any complete definition of literacy needs to account for ''the long-term historical pattern'' that is absent in either of the present interpretations (p. 174). Concluding that the definition of literacy is still politically and socially contested, the authors predict further interpretations and implementation of policies related to the relationship between literacy and literacies will remain at the forefront of debates in education. The final chapter did not propose any conclusions about what should be done to resolve the questions; rather the reader is left to ponder the implications of the authors' arguments in the ongoing debates.

    CRITICAL EVALUATION

    For those interested in delving into the implications of the orality- literacy dichotomy, Collins & Blot have added an intriguing perspective into the ongoing debate. The authors' discussion of the historical development of local practices in Latin America and Africa added a new dimension to the more frequently cited studies of British colonial expansion and subsequent domination of the English language around the world (Pennycook, 1998; Kachru, 1992; and many others). Multiple studies and detailed references presented in the text, however, require the reader to pay close attention to the authors' arguments in order to follow some of the more complex lines of reasoning. There are two related subjects that I would like to see expanded in any future edition or in another volume. First, throughout the text, the groups cited in the examples were based on homogenous cultures within a given society. How are multiple literacies to be realized when communities must address the needs of citizens representing many different social and linguistic practices? I would like to see an analysis of studies describing groups working together to construct a local framework that recognizes multiple situated literacies.

    Second, although Collins and Blot make a strong argument against standardized testing, how would the authors suggest that all children be assessed fairly? need to present some means of demonstrating how students are progressing. It would have been helpful to have an additional chapter or subsection focused on groups developing assessment practices that incorporate the concept of multiple literacies.

    In closing, I can also recommend the book as a worthwhile resource for those interested in the continuing discussion of literacy issues as well as for those interested in cultural diversity and language contact.

    REFERENCES

    DeCerteau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley: University of California.

    Finnegan, R. (1988). Literacy and orality. Oxford and New York: Basil Blackwell.

    Gilyard, J. (1991). Voices of the self. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

    Goody, J. (1986). The logic of writing and the organization of thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Goody, J. and Watt, I. (1963). The consequences of literacy. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 5(3), 304-345.

    Heath, S.B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Kachru, B. B. (Ed.).(1992). The other tongue: English across cultures (2nd ed.). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Olson, D. (1997). From utterance to text: the bias of language in speech and writing. Harvard Education Review, 47, 257-81.

    Olson, D. (1974). The world on paper. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Pennycook, A. (1998). English and the discourses of colonialism. New York: Routledge.

    Rose, M. (1985). The language of exclusion: Writing instruction at the university. College English, 47, 341-359.

    Rose, M. (1989). Lives on the boundary. New York: Penguin.

    Street, B. (1984). Literacy in theory and practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Street, B. (1993). Cross-cultural approaches to literacy. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    ABOUT THE REVIEWER

    Sally Wellenbrock Hinrich is a doctoral student and teaching associate in TESL/Linguistics at Oklahoma State University. Her dissertation focuses on cross-cultural issues in plagiarism. She is also interested in World Englishes and collaborative learning.