4. Literacy development

How is literacy defined and what role can librarians play in promoting literacy development? In this section, we present research and theories addressing the impact of digital media technologies on literacy development. Finally, we consider the ways youth librarians are using digital media and technology to support teens’ and young adults’ literacy development.

What is literacy?

Literacy is complex concept. Researchers and educators define literacy in various ways. In the digital age, the term includes a wide range of skills beyond reading and writing, including using devices like e-readers and tablets, interpreting information found online, or creating and sharing on digital platforms like YouTube. The notion of literacy has evolved from focusing on reading and writing skills, to embracing a holistic set of skills needed by young people to learn, interact, work, and participate in everyday life (Snow, 2006).

What “new” literacies have formed in the digital age?

Catherine Snow (2004), an expert on literacy and language development, has found that there are varied ways of approaching literacy, including a componential vs. holistic view. For young children, part of literacy development includes building component reading skills such as phonological awareness and letter knowledge. For teens and young adults, many educators focus on a holistic view, or “whole person” approach, to literacy development. As teens and young adults increasingly master component reading skills, a holistic view would focus on the forming connections and meaning through reading and writing.

For instance, young people are encouraged to bring their own lived experiences to stories, literature, reading, and writing. Through a holistic lens, a young person who informally contributes to gaming websites, writes on discussion boards, or keeps a journal is actively developing emerging literacy skills. Further, a holistic view might examine the social and environmental factors that contribute to literacy development. For example, inequitable distribution of resources (e.g. lack of funding in schools, uninvolved parents) would be a source of risk. Youth librarians can play a central role in encouraging literacy development by participating in activities like sharing titles of a teens’ favorite genres of books, obtaining information about the young person’s interests, or understanding their values concerning books, literature, and learning.

Learning to read in the digital age

Rose and Dalton (2009) also discuss digital media’s potential for offering new learning opportunities not available through printed text. For instance, digital media may act as a “scaffolded learning tool”, or an additional support system, for a variety of young readers (p.81). The potentials for enhancing learning and reading through digital media include:

• Customization/flexibility. Students have opportunities to personalize their reading experience, obtain feedback, and interact with peers.

• Separation of content and display. In printed materials, content and display are fused. Separating content and display in a variety of ways can support learners. For example, digital text be presented as “spoken words”.

• Links to other content. Online texts often hyperlink to such tools as vocabulary definitions or second language translations for the English as a second language (ESL) readers.

Rose and Dalton’s research on digital media’s potentials for reading was published in 2009. However, many of their findings still remain applicable. What additional affordances are related to today’s emerging technology that could support literacy development?