“Literacy in Three Metaphors” by Scribner

What does it take for one to be literate today? Is it any different from the world I grew up in then? 20 years ago was the first time I entered school. Was I not literate before I entered school? It is interesting to read and note that the big names in the academic world are still debating about how literacy is to be defined. Yes, it encompasses many parameters in which some might be contradicting the other. However, when we bring this reading down to Singapore's educational context, I would pick Literacy as Adaptation as our guiding beacon in the EL curriculum.

Reason being, the Ministry had picked and chosen what is important to be covered by which level in accordance to our context. The genre approach in which our curriculum takes on suggests that the Ministry has carefully selected what is necessary for us to function in society. As years progress, Singapore's EL curriculum changes too. These changes, I believe, is made to better cater to the future world in which our children will grow in. Here, the notion of literacy as adaptation stands strong simply because whatever that makes us literate as an individual is dependent on how our society has changed.

Back in primary school, we learnt how to merely write letters and its various degree of formality. Now, pupils learn how to write emails, a convention similar to letters, however differ in terms of immediacy and its capability to tap on various designs of meaning making. Presentations in class back then comprise of mounting boards and construction papers while now pupils can tap on PowerPoint or even Flash animations to deliver their ideas. Schools now have to evolve, and driven by the new curriculum, equip pupils with these literacy skills so as to ensure their relevance in tomorrow's world.