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Jake Chandler
Nancy Roche
Writing 1010-013
October 8,2014
Literacy as a Social Practice
"Our interest is in social practices in which literacy has a role, hence the basic unit of a
social theory of literacy is that of literacy practices." (Barton & Hamilton 7) The article being
discussed, Literacy Practices, by David Barton and Mary Hamilton seems to center around
literacy being seen as more than simply reading or writing, but as a social thing. They discuss
literacy events and practices in detail, leading us to believe these are key components in the
essay. This essay shows how literacy can help shape social structures and practices.
Literacy in various practices mean various different things. Literacy, in a social context, can be
something that is exclusive to it's own domain. A good example of this is how Barton and
Hamilton illustrate how "practices which involve different media or symbolic systems, such as a
film or computer, can be regarded as different literacies, as in film literacy and computer
literacy." (Barton/Hamilton 10) The authors want to make it very clear that literacy changes with
context. Barton and Hamilton say "literacies are coherent configurations of literacy practices."
(Barton/Hamilton 11) Where there's a grey area is the flexibility of a structured context, or a
domain.
Domain's contain regular activities where a certain discourse of literacy is without a doubt being
used. Obviously some domains may have similar practices or have pulled practices from one or
possibly multiple domains, but Barton and Hamilton seem to put much thought into the
"permeability" of a domain. They bring to light the domains of "home and community." Many
would, and many do see these as similar, if not the same domain, but Barton and Hamilton go on

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to say "Home and community, for instance, are often treated as being the same domain;
nevertheless they are distinct in many ways, including the dimensions of public and private
behavior." (Barton/Hamilton 11) This shows how Barton and Hamilton stray away from the idea
of literacy being a purely individualized practice.
Barton and Hamilton want literacy to be seen as more than being able to read and write. In
multiple literacy events, there is usually more than one person acting out a literacy practice to
complete a task. "literacy becomes a community resource, realized in social relationships rather
than a property of individuals." (Barton/Hamilton 11) they hammer this thought in by later
saying on the page "Shifting away from literacy as an individual attribute is one of the most
important implications of a practice account of literacy."
To summarize, what I believe Barton and Hamilton are trying to get across with this essay is
mainly that literacy is more than just reading and writing. Literacy is a molder of how we act, it
is used in all of our social interactions in a multitude of different ways. It is found in an endless
amount of ways in an endless amount of scenarios, and is an insurmountable art that we
incorporate into our daily lives.

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Barton&Hamilton, David&Mary. "A Social Theory of Literacy:practices and events."

Literacy Practices: 7-15. Print.