ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors discuss a broadening of what counts as literacy and an increasing development of links between literacy and other fields, notably in linguistics and education. Where some might have seen the original debate as a narrow focus on aspects of reading and writing, it is apparent that the arguments developed then have opened up the space for a broader discussion that crosses disciplines and fields and opens up the study of literacy to more challenging and insightful perspectives. Since the authors took to writing in the 1970s and 1980s about the possibility of moving the study of literacy from a technical, skills based approach to a more social and power aware approach there have been considerable developments in the field.
