International Literacy Day, a holiday aimed at proving the importance and relevance of this phenomenon, is celebrated worldwide on September 8th. On this occasion, we spoke to Associate Professor of the SUSU Department of the Russian Language and Literature, Candidate of Sciences (Philology), linguist Larisa Kornilova and discussed the understanding of literacy in the modern world, trends associated with it, criteria for a literate person, and much more.
– Could you please define literacy? Does this concept have a specific interpretation?
– Indeed, it has a specific interpretation, because there is a good reason that UNESCO approved September 8th as Literacy Day in the mid-1960s. If we talk about the literal interpretation of the concept, then literacy is the degree of proficiency in oral and written speech within the framework of one’s national literary language, in accordance with the rules established in it. But now it is the 21st century, and it is not enough for a modern person to only have reading and writing skills to be literate. What important today is functional literacy. This concept was also introduced in the 60s of the last century and it represents the ability to apply the knowledge and literacy skills that a person has developed in their life and professional activities. Therefore, since we are talking about a modern interpretation of literacy, this is a multi-aspect concept. In application to professional activities, we can talk about environmental, mathematical, informational, computer and other literacy.
– Do you think literacy is rather subjective or does it have specific characteristics so that literacy can be assessed? Are there any criteria at all that distinguish a literate person from an illiterate one?
– If there is an interpretation of literacy, then, in my opinion, it is logical to assume that there are also criteria that determine it, and it is really possible to assess the level of literacy. Moreover, scientists are even developing methods for determining the level of literacy. And they take into account the following factors: the prevalence of literacy among the population, the geographical conditions, the ethnographic composition of the population, as well as the political system and economic structure.
If we say that the framework of the concept of literacy is expanding, then literate people are also distinguished by the fact that they are professionals in their field, possess information and use it correctly. Today, information literacy is a very important indicator for characterizing literate people.
– Do you think that there are more literate people today than, say, 10-20 years ago?
– If we refer to research studies, the literacy of the population of the Earth increased from 56% to 76% from the 1950s to the 1990s. It is a very large increase in literate people. In the next 10 years, it increased to 82%, and from the 2000s to the present day, only by 2%. In my opinion, such a slowdown in growth may be due to the fact that a large amount of information has become available to people, which is quite easy to obtain, but which is not always easy to understand. It is often difficult to perceive, classify and somehow apply information in your life.
Based on my professional activities, I cannot say that the literacy level is decreasing. In my opinion, there are more literate, competent young people today than there were 20 years ago. It is quite possible that this is due to the fact that young people are computer literate, and master modern technologies easier than the older generation. And in the 21st century, perhaps, another sign of a literate person is media literacy: the ability to highlight the necessary information in a media text, which is presented in different forms (visual, audio, mixed).
I think that literacy (if we understand it as the ability to read and write in your native language in accordance with the literary norm) is still not decreasing today, although many people think differently. Due to the development of computer technologies, the rapid spread of media texts, the authors of which, unfortunately, are sometimes not very literate people, there is an effect that there are more illiterate people, but perhaps this is wrong.
– Do you think it is possible to increase the level of literacy and, if so, how to do it?
– Yes, of course, it is possible. It is very simple: we should remember the Russian language lessons we had at school and do the most common exercises. To increase the level of literacy, you need to read more, especially quality literature, it is useful to write dictations, correct, edit, analyse texts. I also recommend watching video lessons, video lectures on the Russian language. To obtain a good result, it is advisable to do such work on a daily basis.
– You have mentioned media literacy. So, what do we do about that?
– The question, in my opinion, is quite complex. Nowadays, anyone can start their own blog, post video lectures, lessons, declaring themselves as professionals in any field. Therefore, it is very important to be able to navigate the media space and understand how much you can trust a particular media personality and media text.
– In your opinion, is literacy important in the modern world? Why?
– The answer is obvious, I think, not only for me. Of course, literacy is important, and all roads are open to a literate person, especially if we talk about literacy not only as the possession of writing and reading skills, but also as the ability to apply these skills in professional activities and in life when achieving any goals. Literacy is needed, and, in particular, in the use of computer technologies, media literacy, information literacy. It is impossible to live without it now. It is needed, important and will remain in demand, although the concept of literacy has undergone a transformation today. If I were asked 20 years ago about what it is, I would limit myself to thinking only about the skills of literate reading and writing. But life has changed, today a literate person does not simply have a command of reading and writing, more complex and modern skills are needed, and today we interpret the concept of literacy somewhat differently.
Anastasiia Kungurtseva