Literacy and Numeracy. Not Just English and Maths


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 “The general capabilities play a significant role in the Australian Curriculum in equipping young Australians to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century.” 

- The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (AACRA) (2018a, p.1)

Literacy as a General Capability and Literate thinking

People often believe that literacy is just the ability to read and write, however, it is actually much more than just that.
We use literacy everyday. For example, as soon as I wake up I check my phone and read the news headlines, if you do this too, you are using literacy skills. Other examples of everyday use of literacy include watching television programs, reading magazines, listening to people tell stories, looking up information on the internet and even playing video games (Childcare and Children’s Health, 2005).



ACARA (2018a) states that literacy involves using 

-       Listening skills
-       Reading skills
-       Viewing skills 
-       Speaking skills
-       Writing skills 

for different purposes in a range of contexts. Literacy includes the skills students need to successfully understand, analyse, make meaning of emotions, present thoughts and opinions and interact with other people in everyday life. 

In his speech, Langer (2004) defines literate thinking as the ability to engage in the kinds of thinking and reasoning that are usually used when reading and writing, however, using them in contexts where reading and writing are not evident. 

Think Literacy is only taught in English?... Think again

All subjects, including art, science and history all have their own literacy demands (Christie & Derewianka, 2008) For example, Literacy is developed in science as students learn to formulate questions as well as hypotheses that can later be scientifically interpreted (ACARA, 2018b). 

The Six interrelated elements of Literacy are displayed in Figure 1. below

Fig.1. Key Ideas For Literacy. Retrieved
from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/numeracy/


Numeracy as a capability

Numeracy is defined by ACARA (2018c, p.1) as the 

“knowledge, skills, behaviors and dispositions that students need to use mathematics in a wide range of situations. It involves students recognising and understanding the role of mathematics in the world and having the dispositions and capacities to use mathematical knowledge and skills purposefully” 

Our use of numeracy is evident in our daily activities such as cooking when measuring ingredients, driving to work by following and navigating roads and grocery shopping when determining which items give you more for your money (Department of Education and Training, n.d). 

Like Literacy, Numeracy is evident across all subjects in the curriculum and not just simply found in the maths classroom (Goos, Dole and Geiger 2012). For example, numeracy is evident in History when students are asked to use chronological sequencing to demonstrate significance between events (ACARA, 2018d). 


According to National Numeracy (2018). Numerate thinking involves the logic and reasoning to 

-       Interpret data, charts and diagrams
-       Process information
-       Understand and explain solutions
-       Make decisions based on logical thinking and reasoning
-       Use numbers and solve problems in real life contexts. 


The Six interrelated elements of Numeracy are displayed in Figure 2. Below


Fig.2. Key Ideas For Numeracy. Retrieved
from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/numeracy/


It is important that we, as teachers, not matter what subject, understand and acknowledge that literacy and numeracy are not just evident and taught in literacy and maths. We have the responsibility to develop the literacy and numeracy skills of our students in subjects across the curriculum in order to provide authentic learning. 





References

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (2018a). Literacy. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/literacy/

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (2018b). Science. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/science/?year=12010&strand=Science+Understanding&strand=Science+as+a+Human+Endeavour&strand=Science+Inquiry+Skills&capability=ignore&capability=Literacy&capability=Numeracy&capability=Information+and+Communication+Technology+%28ICT%29+Capability&capability=Critical+and+Creative+Thinking&capability=Personal+and+Social+Capability&capability=Ethical+Understanding&capability=Intercultural+Understanding&priority=ignore&priority=Aboriginal+and+Torres+Strait+Islander+Histories+and+Cultures&priority=Asia+and+Australia’s+Engagement+with+Asia&priority=Sustainability&elaborations=true&elaborations=false&scotterms=false&isFirstPageLoad=false

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2018c). Numeracy. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/numeracy/


Childcare and Children’s Health. (2005). Literacy as Part of Everyday Life. Retrieved from https://ww2.rch.org.au/emplibrary/ecconnections/CCH_P_November2005_English.pdf

Christie, F. & Derewianka, B. (2008). School discourse: Learning to write across the years of schooling. London: Continuum.

Department of Education and Training (n.d). Literacy and Numeracy Fact Sheet. Retrieved from http://education.qld.gov.au/literacyandnumeracy/pdf/factsheet-l-n.pdf


Goos, M., Dole, S. & Geiger, V. (2012). Auditing the numeracy demands of the Australian curriculum. PNA. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED573 240.pdf

Langer, J.A. (2004). Developing the Literate Mind [Speech]. IRA Cosponsored Reading Hall of Fame Session, Tuesday May 4, 2004. Transcript retrieved from https://www.albany.edu/cela/researcher/langer/IRA_Develop.pdf 


National Numeracy. (2018). What is Numeracy. Retrieved from https://www.nationa lnumeracy.org.uk /what-numeracy

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