In search of Literacy....Week 2

The definition of "literacy" would so far prove to be one's simple ability to read and write, which in the sense is considered tangible in that it is proven and fact. Through our reading and different definitions we would find that the word is far more than that, and that it is also linquistic in many forms. Competence and the ability to be "literate" outside of a language, which Gee describes as primary and secondary Discourse, is what we are learning about being literate.
Language and linguistics are literacy, but in ways I now know are in the simplest form. When I was a child, I learned to speak from my parents and family members through the various forms of interpretations of what I wanted and needed on a daily basis to survive. For example, I learned to state when I was hungry or when I was tired. If I wanted to play with my dolls, I voiced that to my mother through the spoken language that I was taught. With that being said, it should be stated that literacy is a form of language spoken with the tongue. However, definition would state that it also comes in written form. I am not only able to state that I am hungry but I could write it down on a piece of paper if I chose to do so. I could tell my mother through written notes that I love "peanut butter and Jelly for lunch" everyday. It is simple, or so I thought.
Our recent discussions from the question posed "What is Literacy?" has shown me that literacy is much more than spoken or written. It is what I consider to be an action word, a form of a verb, and a movement that far expands language and penmanship. I would state now that my definition of literacy would be a display of functional skills that reiterate that which is spoken through language by a form of actions. As our readings stated this week, through Discourse in the forms of primary and secondary nature, we live out our lives in the home and in society. Yet we do so in 2 different ways, one in the way we are taught to function at home, and then again as we play out what we learned at home in society. The skills I use at home to be independent in how I get up for school, wash my face, brush my teeth, and get dressed shows I am capable of acting "independently." In society, I can use these same set of skills to go to school, do my schoolwork, go to lunch, play with others, and not have to be taught day after day what to do next. It becomes a repeated process in a sense. I learned that literacy is also shown through the lifestyles that we live, and in things that are shown to us that are repetitive just through living.
I can now define literacy as a state of movement, and not just that of language and a written word.
M.Goodwin