21st Century Literacies: Comprehensive Notes

Global and South African Perspectives on 21st Century Literacies

Fundamental Literacies

Language Literacy:
- Central to academic learning and communication.
- Involves constructing and negotiating meaning across contexts.
- Enhances listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
- Vital for critical and creative thinking.
- Aids in problem-solving, decision-making, and critical evaluation.
- Boroditsky (2009): Language shapes thought and experience.
- Fantini (2012): Language is fundamental to being human.
Visual Literacy:
- Involves understanding information presented as images.
- Relies on interpreting signs and symbols.
- Brain processes visual information faster than text (Smith, 2015).
- Improves message comprehension and information retention.
- Visuals are a kind of language that requires effective reception and interpretation.
Information Literacy:
- Essential in the “Information Age”.
- Critical for success in a globalised business world.
- Involves selective use of information.
- Requires knowing where to find and how to use information appropriately.
- Association of College and Research Libraries (n.d.) outlines skills for information literacy.
Digital Literacy:
- Involves finding, evaluating, utilizing, sharing, and creating content using information technologies and the Internet (Cornell University Digital Literacy Resource, n.d.).
- Requires both receptive (understanding) and productive (creating) skills.
- Media Smarts (n.d.): Digital literacy is a lifelong process.

South African Context: Cultural Literacy

Understanding diverse social, educational, socio-economic, and commercial platforms.
Essential for good communication in social circles, academic groups, and business communities.
Manner of engaging with others reveals willingness to grow meaningful relationships.
Rooted in compassion and empathy (ubuntu).
Requires conscious effort and hard work; should aim to engage with others in mutual understanding, care, and respect, acknowledging cultural differences and exploring similarities.

Importance of Mathematical Literacy

Enables independence and sustainability in socio-economic sector of society.
Understanding terms linked to mathematical principles.
Involves reading, writing, and speaking the language of mathematics (CState33, 2010).
Necessary for everyday activities (calculating time, percentages, etc.).
Inability to do this puts individuals at a disadvantage in studies and daily lives.

Uneven Access to Education in South Africa

Limited access to educational environments that develop these literacies.
Factors: financial constraints, poor resourcing, inadequate implementation of standards/curriculums, socio-economic factors.
Proactive South African citizens must prepare for the future and contribute to economic enrichment.
Anderson (2013): Core literacies provide knowledge/skills for market participation and responsible global citizenship.

Language Literacy: Receptive Skills

Receptive Skills: Receiving and decoding language (written, speech, graphics/images).
Decoding: Interpreting, inferring, formulating conclusions.
Receptive skills assist with building vocabulary.
More receptive skills equip individuals to better perceive and engage with the world.

Reading Written Text

Central to language literacy; an acquired skill.
Requires conscious decision and has a goal or purpose.
Central purpose: reading to understand (reading for meaning).
Involves decoding words for understanding.

Reading Strategies

Skimming:
- Speed-reading for gathering general information quickly.
- Limited comprehension.
- Looking for signposts: titles, headings, topic sentences, keywords.
Scanning:
- Finding specific information; locating keywords.
- Not a detailed reading of the text.
Exploratory Reading:
- Identifying the main idea of the text.
- Identifying the structure of the text and how the argument is developed.
- Does not serve as an analysis or critique.
Analytical Reading:
- Close reading, critical reading, or reading for study purposes.
- Aiming for in-depth understanding of the text to formulate opinions.
- Requires deep engagement with and deconstruction of the text.
- Detailed investigation and careful analysis lead to well-informed evaluation.

Context of Texts

Texts do not exist in isolation; every text has a context.
Four different contexts:
- Immediate Context: Context in which text was originally written.
- Broader Historical Context: Shaped by social, cultural, political, economic factors.
- Subject Matter's Historical Context: The content of the text may be set in a different time frame.
- Reader’s Context: Influenced by personal circumstances.
  *Contexts are essential for accurately evaluating content and purpose of a text; Reader cannot only bring their personal perspective, must consider author's context, historical time frame, and settings of the content. Understanding the intentions of the writer is key.
Mandelas Long Walk to Freedom - A political activist vs. a university student reading the book in 2017.
*Academic reading requires identifying, extracting information, and formulating arguments or opinions, through analytical, critical, or close reading (reading between the lines).

Reading Widely & South African Context

Criticality achieved through broad exposure to texts, equipping individuals to understand current practices and cultural dynamics.
Important to know what's going on in surrounding world; be aware of issues of inequality.
Empowering by learning, interpreting, and communicating

Language Literacy: Listening

Listening is a receptive skill influencing our interactions and relationships.
Important to pay attention and stay focused; Enables transitioning from receptive to productive language effectively.
Difference between 'hearing' and 'listening'; Hearing is passive, listening is a conscious decision to pay attention.
Skilled listening leads to developed interpretations.
Takes place in specific contexts with own set of influencing factors.
Requires careful consideration of message and circumstances, known as active listening.
*Context is important; Like 'reading between the lines', understanding meaning beyond direct words. Vital factors in experiences. Demographic, attitudes, understanding

Language Literacy: Productive Skills

Allow us to create something; Writing and speaking.
Effective writer or speaker will communicate successfully.
Communication is a basic need. Promotes better understanding.
Writing and speaking take place in a variety of contexts. Should aim to use these skills to achieve the best possible situation outcome.

Speaking

Rely on both voice and words. Speaker encodes, and receiver decodes
Speaking and social interaction go hand in hand
Information, social, relations, individualities, and ethics all influence spoken communication
Crucial to consider Verbal and non-verbal cues, both your own and others', cultural diversity, language knowledge, audience, the linguistics, etc.
. This ensures effective communication, rather than hinders it.
English may be the most essential language for global business success at the moment.

Writing

Essential in academic and professional world; communicator encodes, message is sent/received through text.
Involves a two-way exchange
Written text contains both verbal and non-verbal elements. Direct and indirect
Direct written- Implies one on one feedback for the receiver
Indirect written - targets a larger audience with no expectations for feedback
Writing should aim for clarity/ intelligibility, be concise, make purpose clear, be planned/ structured, be accurate and contain a lack of errors
Always consider intended audience, purpose, style, nature, type, genre to consider when writing content for the text
Language (and literacy) plays a powerful role
Language and social dynamics, is a much more than just a ‘system’.
It's a structure of signs, symbols, images, sounds through which meaning is created and transmitted whether received or produced
Always bear in mind cannot be separated from contexts in which it occurs.

Information Literacy Section

Contemporary World New Technology, Impact, and Necessity

New technology is constantly emerging
Leads to best information leads to cutting edge with better, better resources and ways to respond to problems
Information literacy skill be learned and developed.
Analysts believe that people who have access to ‘excessive amounts of information’ are ‘less productive, prone to make poor decisions, and risk suffering serious stress-related diseases’ (Tjaden, 2007).
Valuable to explore how information and how it can be evaluated. Academic and Professional
Success will be determined by how effectively they can location and effective they can evaluate it. Can be private, public, physical or online, other people the internet and media
Risk: if make poor choices this can have consequences.
According to the Association of College and Research Libraries (n.d.) the following must be able to be done:
Establish what kind of information is required;Identify the scope or range of information that is necessary;locate options for sourcing the necessary information;Filter the options wisely and appropriately, according to what is relevant and permissible;Ensure that the information is accessed within legal and ethical boundaries;Validate the information in relation to the sources – i.e. whether they are trustworthy and credible;Identify and acknowledge the original source of the information; and apply this information appropriately.
As a student developing skills, you must also work with discretion and integrity. These are key factors that govern how you access use and acknowledge information
Key for academia and professional life. Know what is valid!
The reality is that most of the information we read, hear or see – especially be unfiltered.
As we begin to filter information and quick to discover that large quantity has no value or relevance.
Below are recommendations should be followed handle the information: determine how information should be used, consider the context, create personal data base. Table 1 shows simple relationship between process and source information
Access to resources that can be consulted such as libraries are others this includes those with necessary knowledge and expertise. Access is a human right
Strive to provide original work, any assignment should be authentic and reflect your thoughts
Academic contacts there is a constant interchanging ideas in one’s thoughts, it’s easy to lose track of what one knows and what others are already doing
On other hand there are strong allies to support each other at work
In this process you will need to Consult external experts to Distinguish. If you had indicated between own someone else’s.
Publicly acknowledging that is from external Source. Not undermining academic talent in what you produced
It's is essential that honesty, trustworthiness authentication reality, regardless, which will that you know, and even if you have that person's work.
This will damage one’s reputation and be a serious offense with disciplinary action.
Work can be supported by other specialists, by consulting will help your credibility in your work
Authors not only need to discuss a specific information, but should also draw a lot of data and information. Most mostly of the time in writing a paper, you're referring to another source and give credit to the ‘owner’
Acknowledge the owner of the information, even if is only to explain the viewpoint
There are men systems and convention than can be used to show this
If uncertain, over-reference
Referencing will be discussed in detail in unit 5 of text hook

Visual Literacy section

Our ability to process or interpet visual information
*Provide channel through which we can access abroad domain of knowledge Understanding

Visual media does infiltrated nearly every area or our social engagements.
Are confronted with countless graphics and images to daily basis, ranging from films, television shows, advertisements (in both print and video format), billboards, road signs comics cartoons photographs artworks and even emoticons.
Visual Literacy skills are therefore have divided into to categories receptive and productive skills like spoken and written text receptive referring ability to contact close look analytical is very process interpreted meaning result action the response, where is very very communicating all of the questions can serve as a guide you can assist. Productive visual means ability to communicate through visual median.

Digital Literacy Section

Digitizing transform the way information is exchanged world digital media competencies processing and information digital world.
Use, Understand, and create for digital literacy to be proficient. As previously in this chapter, it is therefore crucial to be selective about how you and where you look for information as well as how you use. You must be mindful of yourself and online and digital spaces
Common forms of receiving content, e-mails, webpages, social media sites, online blogs, etc
It is recommend to consider your options, evaluate your sources carefully, filtering information, product yourself.
Protect yourself.
The digital world requires its own set of competencies, this means that a message and processing be influenced. Once again, we will need to acquire specialised receptive skills and productive skills in this area
Important element in developing productive literacy of content digital tools can arrange from informal online interactions posting, information on social media sites, to community for professional purpose via software applications and online technology, and computer system coding web applications platforms etc.
The more useful the contact is here for audiences to contact in there situations. Always make sure that copyright are used.
Using them activity of community, in society, embrace by students also learning expansion through that will put the water in for your tips

Cultural Literary Section

Culture refers to deep-rooted ideas, beliefs, traditions, social customs and characters a community individuals come from diverse backgrounds equality through all policies have been proposed, however
because we live sociopolitical and were careful. Some are beliefed that is better to key that is Neither. All of these. Is a better approaches to engage with. The Prejudice need to be the heart and mind
Some aspects in order in different expertise is important
We are taking with one another and it comes to be a different of these it.
Challenges of developing cultural literacy, that our own assumptions bring judgments trust
Even if policies are put in place this is still superficial process
Cannot quick fix. Needs inner conviction to change perception, in thoughts
Cultural diversity is not a personal context
All sectors need to encourage to have open-mindedness, and tolerance in community with all to become culturally
Becomes with common understanding between all through their relationships to improve all
South African participates relies on all these skills

Mathematical Literacy Section

Skills in order for us to contribute and perform task effectively and accurately and is a skill that can determine everyday in order make the appropriate decisions.
This can help to have better career opportunities as to your integral of the core aspects for everyday lives all
South Africa’s history with economic inequality becomes evident and basic tasks.
Important to apply concepts from different point of view in every situation.
Statement’s National Curriculum as listed and what they offer and the rationality mathematical and what it involves and we will come that