Literacy & Literacies: a sociocultural approach to the uses of writing

Abstract

This paper aims at presenting retrospective studies on literacy, seeking to defend the uses of writing in educational contexts from the perspective of the New Literacy Studies, an interdisciplinary view that takes a sociocultural approach to language and literacy (Cf. Barton, Heath, Gee, Graff, Marcushi, Rojo, Signorini, Soares, Ribeiro etc.). It is discussed issues such as: whether or not there is a consensus in the literacy field; the nature of the literacy crisis in educational contexts; relationships among reading/writing power and culture; whether or not technology leads to higher literacy demands; how new literacies impact literacy instruction in classrooms etc. I conclude that the New Literacy Studies approach is a powerful way to reframe de nature of literacy instruction in order to give students chances to apply in daily life what they are learning in school.