ABSTRACT
Being literate implies using, understanding, reading and writing the language as exemplified in the attainment targets of the National Curriculum for English (DfEE, 1999a). In addition to these different dimensions of literacy there are also different types of literacy, in different social situations, in different applications of language (such as advertising) and in relation to different cultures, styles, genres and traditions. Not all of the dimensions are equally important, or found at all, in the different types of literacy. For example, reading and writing are not vital to an oral tradition of joke telling. The National Curriculum for English aims to recognise the breadth of what constitutes being literate.
