Skip to main content

Literacy Myths

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Literacies and Language Education

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Language and Education ((ELE))

Abstract

Literacy Myth refers to the belief, articulated in educational, civic, religious, and other settings, contemporary and historical, that the acquisition of literacy is a necessary precursor to and invariably results in economic development, democratic practice, and upward social mobility. These stand among many qualities with which literacy has been invested. Taken together, these attitudes constitute “the Literacy Myth.”

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Akinasso, F. N. (1981). The consequences of literacy in pragmatic and theoretical perspectives. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 12, 163–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnove, R., & Graff, H. (Eds.). (1987). National literacy campaigns in historical and comparative perspective. New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandt, D. (2001). Literacy in American lives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, J., & Blot, R. (2003). Literacy and literacies: Texts, power, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Duffy, J. (2000). Never hold a pencil: Rhetoric and relations in the concept of ‘preliteracy’. Written Communication, 17(2), 224–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farr, M. (1993). Essayist literacy and other verbal performances. Written Communication, 10(1), 4–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finnegan, R. (1973). Literacy versus non‐literacy: The great divide. In R. Horton & R. Finnegan (Eds.), Modes of thought. London: Faber and Faber.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finnegan, R. (1988). Literacy and orality. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finnegan, R. (1994). Literacy as mythical charter. In D. Keller‐Cohen (Ed.), Literacy: Interdisciplinary conversations. Creskill: Hampton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furet, F., & Ozouf, J. (1983). Reading and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelb, I. J. (1963). A study of writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goody, J. (1986). The logic of writing and the organization of society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Goody, J. (1987). The interface between the written and the oral. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goody, J., & Watt, I. (1968). The consequences of literacy. In J. Goody (Ed.), Literacy in traditional societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Originally published in 1963.)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gough, K. (1968). Implications of literacy in traditional China and India. In J. Goody (Ed.), Literacy in traditional societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graff, H. J. (1979). The literacy myth: Literacy and social structure in the nineteenth century city. New York/London: Academic Press (Reprinted with a new introduction. New Brunswick: Transaction Press 1991.)

    Google Scholar 

  • Graff, H. J. (1987). The legacies of literacy: Continuities and contradictions in western culture and society. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graff, H. J. (1995a). The labyrinths of literacy: Reflections on literacy past and present, revised and expanded edition. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graff, H. J. (1995b). Assessing the history of literacy in the 1990s: Themes and questions. In A. Petrucci & M. G. Blay (Eds.), Escribir y leer en Occidente. Valencia: Universitat de Valencia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graff, H. J., & Street, B. (1997). A response to Stan Jones, “Ending the myth of the ‘literacy myth’: A response to critiques”. Literacy Across the Curriculum, Centre for Literacy, Montreal, 13, 4–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, W. V. (1989). Ancient literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Havelock, E. (1963). Preface to Plato. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Havelock, E. (1976). Origins of western literacy. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Havelock, E. (1986). The literate revolution in Greece and its cultural consequences. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inkeles, A., & Smith, D. (1974). Becoming modern: Individual change in six developing countries. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Levine, D. (1980). Illiteracy and family life during the first industrial revolution. Journal of Social History, 14, 25–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levine, K. (1986). The social context of literacy. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • McQuillan, J. (1998). Seven myths about literacy in the United States, practical assessment, research and evaluation. 6(1). Retrieved January 9, 2006, from http://PAREonline.net/getvn.asp?v=6andn=1

  • National Endowment for the Arts. (2004). Reading at risk: A survey of literary reading in America. Research Division Report #46, June.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, D. R. (1977). From utterance to text: The bias of language in speech and writing. Harvard Educational Review, 47(3), 257–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olson, D. R. (1994). The world on paper: The conceptual and cognitive implications of writing and reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ong, W. (1967). The presence of the word. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ong, W. (1977). Interface of the word. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ong, W. (1982). Orality and literacy. London: Methuen.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pattison, R. (1984). On literacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resnick, D., & Resnick, L. (1977). The nature of literacy: A historical exploration. Harvard Educational Review, 47, 370–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schofield, R. (1973). Dimensions of illiteracy, 1750–1850. Explorations in Economic History, 10, 437–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scribner, S. (1984). Literacy in three metaphors. American Journal of Education, 93, 6–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • St. Clair, R., & Sadlin, J. (2004). Incompetence and intrusion: On the metaphorical use of illiteracy in U.S. political discourse. Adult Basic Education, 14, 45–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Street, B. (1984). Literacy in theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Street, B. (1995). Social literacies: Critical approaches to literacy in development, ethnography and education. London: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Harvey J. Graff or John Duffy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Graff, H.J., Duffy, J. (2017). Literacy Myths. In: Street, B., May, S. (eds) Literacies and Language Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02252-9_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics