Abstract
Literacy is a term which continually evolves in meaning. Over the past several decades, researchers in industrialised countries have invested tremendous effort in attempting to better understand how children learn to read and write. In other (mainly developing) countries, literacy often is taken to mean the reading and writing skills adults needed in order to partake in social practices or in economic development. These two separate literatures — children’s literacy and adult’s literacy — have only rarely come into contact. “Life-span” literacy, then, refers to an approach which may be applied to literacy development across an individual’s lifetime, from childhood to adulthood. “Life-space” literacy refers to the important social and cultural factors which influence individual literacy learning and literacy practice within and across contexts. This paper reviews the concepts of life span and life-space, and highlights some areas of useful intersection for future research and policy development. The basic argument is that the worlds of literacy, among child and adult learners, and across diverse parts of the globe, can be utilised synergistically to promote a more literate world.
Parts of this paper are derived from Wagner (1992). Literacy. Developing the future, Unesco Yearbook of Education, Paris: Unesco; and Wagner (1994). Life-span and life-space literacy: National and international perspectives. In D. Keller-Cohen (Ed.). Literacy: Interdisciplinary conversations. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
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Wagner, D.A. (2004). Literacy in Time and Space: Issues, Concepts and Definitions. In: Nunes, T., Bryant, P. (eds) Handbook of Children’s Literacy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1731-1_26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1731-1_26
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