National Council of Teachers of English

Definition of Literacy in a Digital Age

NCTE’s Definition of Literacy in a Digital Age makes it clear that the continued evolution of curriculum, assessment, and teaching practice itself is necessary.

Literacy has always been a collection of communicative and sociocultural practices shared among communities. As society and technology change, so does literacy. The world demands that a literate person possess and intentionally apply a wide range of skills, competencies, and dispositions. These literacies are interconnected, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with histories, narratives, life possibilities, and social trajectories of all individuals and groups. Active, successful participants in a global society must be able to

 

Elements of the Framework for Literacy in a Digital Age

Applied to learners of English language arts, today’s literacy demands have implications for how teachers plan, model, support, and assess student learning. We believe that learning is a lifelong process which invites students and teachers alike to benefit from reflecting on questions associated with the continued literacy demands. Understandings of the definition of literacies used here have implications for learner agency, access, action, and opportunities.

 

Participate effectively and critically in a networked world

The internet is one of the primary information sources of the modern era, making it a necessity for learners to understand how to participate and navigate the networked world. Building and utilizing connections between people, ideas, and information provides opportunities for them to be critical consumers of information, builds agency in their own work, and prepares them for the global world beyond the classroom.

 

Explore and engage critically, thoughtfully, and across a wide variety of inclusive texts and tools/modalities

Learners have access to a wide variety of texts and tools. We engage with many multimedia texts in our daily lives for a variety of reasons. These texts not only give learners new information but also allow us to see our worlds in new ways. Engaging with texts that vary in format, genre, and medium gives us new perspectives and insights. Having knowledge and understanding of the various texts and tools available is important for using them intentionally. Being literate means making choices and using texts and tools in ways that match purpose. It also means thinking about texts and tools in new ways.

 

Consume, curate, and create actively across contexts

As empowered learners engage in literacy practices, they need opportunities to move from consumers to producers of content. More specifically, learners need to move from content consumers to content curators to content creators. These stages do not have to operate in a sequence, nor should they be mutually exclusive as learners fully utilize the reader/writer nature of digital texts.

Consume

 

Curate

 

Create

 

Advocate for equitable access to and accessibility of texts, tools, and information

Not only should learners have opportunities to explore and engage with a wide variety of  inclusive texts and tools, but they should also be provided equitable access to these texts and  tools on a frequent basis. Learners must have ready access to information and information professionals that provide expertise in print-based and digital-based texts and information sources. Additionally, learners with disabilities should be provided equitable access to text, tools, and information and, when necessary, advocate for this access in all of their learning experiences.

 

Build intentional global and cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought

Learners need communicative skills in order to work collaboratively in both face-to-face and virtual environments to use and develop problem-solving skills. Cooperation is not collaboration, and learners need to be actively working with one another to pose and solve problems and construct narratives. When learning experiences are grounded in well-informed teaching practices, the use of technology allows a wider range of voices to be heard, exposing learners to opinions, perspectives, and norms outside of their own. Understanding the ways in which connections support learning and being intentional about creating connections and networks are important for learners.

 

Promote culturally sustaining communication and recognize the bias and privilege present in the interactions

Culturally sustaining communication provides an opportunity for (and is possible when) learners draw on racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse sign systems/modalities to consume, curate, and create in face-to-face and digital spaces. Teaching practices grounded in this framework create opportunities for learners to inquire about how language and power converge in print or digital texts to create and perpetuate biases against marginalized communities. Learners need opportunities to practice recognizing patterns in discourse which are rooted in the oppression of nondominant groups (e.g., race, gender, sexuality, ability) and a variety of strategies they can use to interrupt this discourse.

 

Examine the rights, responsibilities, and ethical implications of the use and creation of information

Networked, digital spaces offer the opportunity to instantaneously share, aggregate, and access torrents of information from others. These spaces also raise questions about aspects of intellectual property and ownership of ideas, content, and resources online. The rapidly changing digital texts and tools create new categories of ethical dilemmas around these issues. It is important for learners to understand the ethics, or “principles governing an individual or group,” as they interact with information in current and future contexts.

Learners must understand and adhere to legal and ethical practices as they use resources and create information.

 

Determine how and to what extent texts and tools amplify one’s own and others’ narratives as well as counter unproductive narratives

It is important for learners to have multiple opportunities to engage in multimodal literacy practices as a means to communicate information that supports participating in a diverse and democratic society. Learners are navigating digital spaces during a time when narratives are being constructed for a variety of purposes. Learners need a heightened awareness about how texts and tools can be used to produce and circulate biased narratives aimed at justifying exclusionary practices and policies that disproportionately impact nondominant communities. Learners also need sustained opportunities to produce counter-narratives that expose and interrupt misguided texts that do not represent the fullness of their identities or life complexities. To engage in participatory literacy practices, learners need opportunities within the curriculum to author multimodal stories in order to examine power, equity, and identities and grow as digitally savvy and civic-minded citizens.

 

Recognize and honor the multilingual literacy identities and culture experiences individuals bring to learning environments and provide opportunities to promote, amplify, and encourage these differing variations of language (dialect, jargon, register)

The use of learners’ variety in narrative and lived experience enables us to use our own potential to achieve in deeper and more authentic contexts. In addition, the use of learners’ native dialects in education enhances the social, cognitive, emotional, and linguistic development of learners in and out of school. In a multilingual society, the issue of dialects in education, and more specifically the languages of instruction, often are not problematized or debated. The literacy identities and dialects invited into the classroom are often dependent on a variety of factors such as historical, economic, pedagogical, sociolinguistic, cultural, ideological, theoretical, or/and political. As learners utilize and enculturate in current and future digital contexts, they need opportunities to promote, amplify, and encourage differing forms of language. This includes variations within the same language, social and regional dialects, standard and nonstandard varieties.

 

NCTE 21st Century Literacies Definition and Framework Revision Committee

 

We wish to extend our appreciation to the following individuals for their feedback at various stages of this revision:

This position statement may be printed, copied, and disseminated without permission from NCTE.