The Nature of the Sociocultural Dimension of Literacy: The Reader and Writer as Text User and Text Critic

Th e sociocultural dimension of literacy shift s our attention from the text and the mind to literacy events and literacy practices. A literacy event is any human action that involves the use of print (Harste et al., 1984; Heath, 1983). Literacy practices are recurring or patterned literacy events within a particular community or social group (Reder, 1994; Scribner & Cole, 1981). Literacy, therefore, is not simply an individual act of language and cognition; it also represents patterned social actions or behaviors of the group. Literacy occurs not simply because an individual possesses and applies the necessary linguistic and cognitive strategies and processes, but also because group membership requires it (Devine, 1994). Th e way in which literacy is used by the participants within a particular social confi guration-that is, literacy practices-refl ects the very nature of the group and the group’s position within the society. Our interest, therefore, is to examine (1) the nature of literacy events and practices used by various social groups to mediate their interactions with the world and (2) how various social groups use literacy to produce, consume, maintain, and control knowledge.