Questions About Literacy – Dr. Eric Drown

What does it mean to be literate?
How do people become literate?
What does it cost to become literate?
What can people gain by become literate?
What kinds of people are involved in the process of a person becoming literate? What kinds of relationship do they have with one another? To what degree are their interests complementary or in conflict?
What kinds of institutions are involved in the process of a person becoming literate? How do they interact?
How does the process of becoming literate entangle us (for good and bad) with other people and institutions?
What kinds of challenges or obstacles do people face as they seek to become literate? Where do those challenges and obstacles originate? To what degree can they be overcome? How? Whose interests do those challenges and obstacles serve?
For what reasons do people help or hinder other people in the process of become literate?
How do people know when other people are fully literate?
How do people know that other people aren’t fully literate?
What benefits or consequences can come along with being or not being literate?
How does becoming literate alter one’s personal identity and one’s social identity?
What set of beliefs about literacy are commonly shared in American society? To what degree do those beliefs match what actually happens in schools, workplaces, communities, and society?
What other beliefs about literacy might exist, but not be commonly shared or often expressed?