ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how these terms have changed in meaning over time and, more importantly, how the relations between them have also changed, so, for instance, how policy has changed in importance as an influence over educational practice, and how theories have risen and fallen as influences on educational practice. The term literacy can keep close to reading and writing and can address how these activities are situated in specific areas. The chapter enriches the field of adult literacy education by putting discussions of its future directions in the context of what is going on in related fields. It also discusses 'workplace literacy' as the reading and writing in a specific workplace. Beyond these areas, the term literacy has come to be used in more metaphorical ways, such as in referring to someone as 'politically literate', 'emotionally literate', 'computer literate' and so on.
