"literacies"

[Odessa Dawn]

What does the word 'context' in the following sentences refer to?
Why literacy development should be a priority in a context of direct relevance to you and how literacies might be approached within that context.
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/187256-question.html

Noun

literacy (plural literacies)

1. The ability to read.
2. Understanding of something (ex. computer literacy).

literacy - Wiktionary

literacy /

l

t

r

si/ n. the ability to read and write: The literacy rate in that country is low.
Heinle's Newbury House Dictionary of American English

British English

literacy noun

/ˈlɪt.ər.ə.si/

/ˈlɪt ̬.ɚ-/
Definition
the ability to read and write Far more resources are needed to improve adult literacy.
knowledge of a particular subject, or a particular type of knowledge Computer literacy is becoming as essential as the ability to drive a car.

literacy noun - definition in British English Dictionary & Thesaurus - Cambridge Dictionary Online

Sorry, no results for “literacies” in the Collins English Dictionary.


CollinsDictionary.com | Collins Dictionaries - Free Online

literacy

- definition
noun [uncountable]

/ˈlɪt(ə)rəsi/
the ability to read and writeTeachers have been asked to concentrate on literacy and numeracy.

adult literacy classes (=for adults who cannot read or write well)


literacy - definition. American English definition of literacy by Macmillan Dictionary

FRAZE·IT in English ▶
30 sentence examples using Literacies
Web Definitions for 'literacies':
No definition found.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.
Literacy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In a word, I failed to understand the meaning of the word "Literacies" since it is uncountable in some dictionaries. Is "Literacies" the plural form of literacy? Is it a comprehensive word that includes all forms of fields of literacy such as ability to read, write, communicate, using computer, thinking etc.?

​

 

[White Hat]

This article might help us grasp this particular usage of the word "literacies":

Today, reading, reading instruction, and more broadly conceived notions of literacy and literacy instruction are being defined by change in even more profound ways as new technologies require new literacies to effectively exploit their potentials. These include technologies such as gaming software, video technologies, technologies that establish communities on the Internet, search, webpages, and many more yet to emerge.

So, basically, each literacy is some kind of a skill. A person good at using video technologies has a literacy in that particular area. Someone who knows how to search the Internet using various combinations of symbols and letters has acquired a literacy in this area. Does this make sense?

 

[Odessa Dawn]

Today, reading, reading instruction, and more broadly conceived notions of literacy and literacy instruction are being defined by change in even more profound ways as new technologies require new literacies to effectively exploit their potentials (Coiro, 2003; Kinzer & Leander, 2003; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Leu, 2000a; Smolin & Lawless, 2003). These include technologies such as gaming software (Gee, 2003), video technologies (O'Brien, 2001), technologies that establish communities on the Internet (Chandler-Olcott & Mahar, 2003), search engines (Jansen, Spink, & Saracevic, 2000), webpages, and many more yet to emerge.

Moreover, these new literacies change regularly as technology opens new possibilities for communication and information. We see this happening today as people redefine literacy practices while they communicate on a chatboard associated with a website, talk to one another using a video cam, or participate in virtual reality role-playing games (Cammack, 2002; King & O'Brien, 2002; Kinzer, 2003; Lewis & Fabos, 1999). The ability to linguistically manipulate identity as well as the norms of conversation to fit these new electronic spaces has implications for both the development of language and conceptions of the role of technology (Crystal, 2001).
Reading Online - New Literacies: Toward a Theory of New Literacies

Now, I know what is meant by literacies since the part in red color refers to recent technologies in the previous paragraph. So, literacies in general means new/recent technologies. I couldn't go through the whole piece in one shot because it is full of new terms that need to be defined from dictionaries. I will try to print it and read carefully.


​

Does this make sense?

Yes. It does.

Grateful to you! Thank you for setting me free from the shackles of ignorance.

​

 

[emsr2d2]

So, literacies in general means new/recent technologies.

​

That's true in this piece.However, there are, I'm sure, other literacies which don't refer to new technology. There are people who can read/use/understand Morse code - that's a literacy. So are Braille, sign language and shorthand. Those can't be described these days as new technologies.

 

[White Hat]

Forgot to point out that "literacy" is an ability - not a technology.

 

[Tdol]

It's not uncommon nowadays to see words that were traditionally used uncountably taking a plural form in things like jargon.