Review: Essay Book Review: Literacy(ies), Culture(s), and Development(s): The Ethnographic Challenge Author(s): Daniel A.

Wagner Reviewed work(s): Illegal Alphabets and Adult Biliteracy: Latino Migrants Crossing the Linguistic Border by Tomas Mario Kalmar Literacy and Development: Ethnographic Perspectives by Brian Street Local Literacies: Reading and Writing in One Community by David Barton ; Mary Hamilton Source: Reading Research Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 2004), pp. 234-241 Published by: International Reading Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4151674 Accessed: 14/09/2009 16:39
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Reading Research Quarterly Vol. 39, No. 2 April/May/June2004 ? 2004 International Reading Association (pp. 234-241)

ESSAY BOOK REVIEW

IllegalAlphabets andAdult Biliteracy: Latino Migrants Crossingthe Linguistic Border.Tomas Mario Kalmar.2001. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 129 pp. Hardcover. ISBN 0-8058-3626-8. US$29.95. Softcover. ISBN 0-8058-3627-6. US$16.50. Literacyand Development: EthnographicPerspectives.Edited by Brian Street. 2001. London: Routledge. 228 pp. Hardcover.ISBN 0-415-23450-6. US$105.00. Softcover. ISBN 0-415-23451-4. US$33.95. Local Literacies:Reading and Writing in One Community. David Barton and Mary Hamilton. 1998. London: Routledge. 283 pp. Hardcover.ISBN 0-415-

ISBN 0-415-17150-4. US$34.95. 17149-0. US$100.00. Softcover.

The Making ofLiterate Societies. Edited by David R. Olson and Nancy Torrance. 2001. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. 349 pp. Softcover. ISBN 0-631-22742-3. US$36.95. Multilingual Literacies:Reading and Writing in Different Worlds.Marilyn Martin-Jones and KathrynJones. 2000. Philadelphia:John Benjamins. 377 pp. Hardcover. ISBN 1-55619-748-9. US$109.00. Softcover. ISBN 1-58811-025-7.

US$37.95.

culture(s), Literacy(ies), and development(s): The ethnographic challenge

DANIEL A. WAGNER
International Literacy Institute/National Center on Adult Literacy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

iteracy studies, whether focused on children, youth, or adults, have been around for a long, long time. Comprehensive reviews of the field from both general and specific perspectivesmay be seen, for example, in the various volumes of the HandbookofReading Research published since 1984. While cultural and even have ethnographic perspectives increasinglyappearedin the Handbook,these large
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volumesremainembeddedoverwhelmingly in the The ongoingdebatebetweenadcognitivetradition. vocatesof cognitiveand socialapproaches to learnand to educationmoregenerally, is ing in particular, still realand presentin journals like Reading Research and others.However, a majornew layerof Quarterly research with directbearing on current waysof about-and thinking actingupon-literacy is now morethana decadein the making.This research combineswhatmaybe seen as socialand political to reading and literacy. approaches on adultreading---called Research moreoften term or basic the adult education adult by by literacy its policymakers, and practitioners-hasa specialists, richandgrowingbody of literature. Fora relatively of has historical adult reasons, variety literacy been, and still is, viewedby manyto be chieflya political issue.This point was firstmademost prominently by PauloFreire (1970/1981), at leastpartlyin reaction to literacy conductedoverthe centuries campaigns & Graff,1988) and up to the present. The (Arnove launched mode is evidentin the recently campaign UnitedNationsLiteracy Decade,whichwas declared in February 2003, and in some nationalcampaign effortsin Nicaragua (Miller,1985). While the campaign mode has beensomewhat discredited 2001, reviewed (seeOlson & Torrance, is adult herein; 1989, 1992), literacy Wagner, clearly a politicalissuein manyif not most countries today whereestimated(realor politicized) rates illiteracy havebecomepartof the strategic processby which a its or seeks to gain an advangovernment opposition I was recently For on a level, personal tage. example, involvedin discussions with officialsin an African confided countryin which the governing leadership that so much publicpresswas sent out on its national literacy effortsthat they mightlose an upcoming electionif they did not succeedin makinga discernin loweringilliteracy abledifference ratesby the election date.I was askedif thereis anythingthatwe outsiders could do to help. How do (should/could) socialscientists react to suchchallenges? Manymightshrugtheirshoulders and say this belongs in the arena of policy or politics, but if we do wish to respond, how should we? Do we suggest a longitudinal researchstudy to determine which pedagogy would work best (a rathertypical academic response), indicating that little can be done quickly? Do we become gadflies and question the assumption that policy questions can be researchedand solved in the near term? Do we apply further iterations of the previous (largelyWestern) literatureon skill learning?Do we focus on sociopolitical issues such as first- and second-language

out empirical Do we suggestcarrying learning? the measure to that householdsurveys try accurately various learned skillsthatare(or arenot) by populacan be supported estimates tions so thatgovernment Do we endorsethe governdata? by trustworthy will help solveits ment'sbeliefthat literacy programs Do we suggestmaking economicor socialproblems? whatcould be cona shortdocumentary portraying All the above,and more, learner? sidereda successful to governas logicalresponses havebeensuggested ment policymakers-not only in Africa,and not countries. only in developing Indeed,one of the most startling aspectsof litlearners is its of all research addressing ages eracy disacademic in and the both public stayingpower Nations United the courses. Literacy Throughout is Decadethe intensityof interestin this research to moment is a this Thus, timely likelyto increase. research domains considerone of the fastestgrowing and research how policymakers for addressing practiconsiderthe multivaried tionerscan productively dimensionsof literacy--whatis termedherethe challenge. ethnographic issuesnot only Definitionaland conceptual but of substance fostereffectivedebateson matters to activists and alsocausewell-meaning specialists one another. and misunderstand miscommunicate of the keywordsin the initialtitle The pluralization the potentialfor confusionof of this reviewsuggests of theirmeanings, terms,or at leasta multiplicity in the singuwhich seemto be moreunderstandable what is at stake larthanin the plural.It alsosuggests aretakeninto when ethnographic perspectives research. accountin literacy

and was once thoughtto be reading Literacy UNESCO it was but (1957) to by expanded writing, to includebasicmathematics. Further, according functo needed tools is set of a UNESCO, literacy livesof people(fora reviewof tion in the everyday & definitions,seeVenezky, Wagner, literacy
Ciliberti, 1990). Following the leadership of UNESCO, in a number of socialist countries, national programsand campaigns were launched under various banners to improve overall literacy.However, these met with limited success (Gillette, 1999). Since the mid-1970s, a number of social scientists have taken fresh looks at national literacy programs and at the singular concept of literacy.Some were psychologists with a cross-cultural researchers perspective. For example, Scribner and Cole (1981)

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Heath (1983) in the United workingin Liberia, that researchers States,and otherssuggested should resistmakingbroadstatements aboutliteracy and its thereexist (socialor cognitive)because consequences a variety of literacy as well as literacy events practices that are in crucial the (respectively) understanding made into and the outinputs promotingliteracy comesof literacy andactivities(a comprograms on such issues pendium maybe seen in Wagner, & Venezky, Street,1999). of mulAmong the firstto takethe perspective and formalize it throughethnographic tiple literacies research into a coherentand comprehensive apwas anproach BrianStreet(1984), a British-trained Streetdeveloped a bimodaldistinction thropologist. for conceptualizing One mode considered literacy. as a tool (or technology)for producing and literacy writtentext,which he calledthe auunderstanding modelof literacy, and one considered tonomous litercontext,whichhe calledthe acy in its fullestcultural modelof literacy. Basedon his initial ideological fieldwork in prerevolutionary Iranin the 1970s, Streetfound thatthe officialFarsiliteracy, usedby the Iranian in its and government literacy campaign in formalschooling,conformed to the autonomous model,while the Arabic-language learnedin literacy, Islamicschoolsand usedfor a varietyof everyday tasksincludingsmall-business conenterprises, formedto the ideological model.Because Arabicand Farsi differfromeachother,Streetclaimed literacy that they shouldbe calleddifferent as disliteracies, tinct from,but related the and event to, practice perforwarded earlier and Cole spectives by Scribner I useda (1981) and Heath (1983). Coincidentally, similarapproach to the termliteracies in the same in a remarkably similarsetting year,with research on Islamic (also education)in Morocco(Wagner, 1983;Wagner, Messick,& Spratt,1986). However, Streetwent on to elaborate the term literacies in a way thatpushedinto a numberof quitedifferent directions. Street's prolificworkin this areahasled to a numberof important research and to a publications
coterie of collaboratorswho have largely adopted his has been ethnographic approach.The term literacies picked up and adapted by many who have been previously frustratedby the singular notion of literacy as a unique "tool"that is or isn't possessed by individuals to varying degrees. From the perspective of many anthropologists and ethnographers-akin to their earlierviews on intelligence and intelligence testing -literacy in the singular is something appropriated by cognitivists, school pedagogues, and reading specialists whose principal goal seems to be the pur-

veyanceof efficientformalschoolingon the one handand formalized adultliteracy on the programs other.Further, many (if not most) individuals whose fallsbelowparin termsof statistical literacy standardsarefromethnolinguistic minoritygroups. and often attribute Anthropologists ethnographers this description to a lackof cultural sensitivity by thosepursuing the autonomous model. Eitherdirectlyor indirectly, the five booksreviewedhereowe theirintellectual originsto the and a cultural ethnographic challenge conceptionof literacies. The perspective of thesebookscontrasts with universalistic, drivenmodels psychometrically of reading andwritingthatarethoughtto be "culturefree."

Streetintroduces his editedvolume,Literacy and Development, with a seminaldescription and overview of his nearlytwo decadesof workfostering the notion that literacy can no longerbe seen as a contexts singular conceptthatcan be appliedacross with similareffect.To quote,
Literacy is not just a set of uniform "technical skills" to be imparted to those lacking them-the "autonomous"

culture, literacy, Pluralizing anddevelopment

model-but rather therearemultipleliteracies in communities and...literacy aresociallyembedded.(p. 2) practices The alternative, a moreculturally ideologicalmodel...offers sensitive viewof literacy as theyvaryfromone conpractices text to another; it positsinsteadthatliteracy is a socialpractice.... It is about knowledge: the ways in which people addressreadingand writingare themselvesrooted in conceptionsof knowledge, identityand being. (p. 7)

to Street,the meaningsand pracAccording ticesof literacy arealwayscontested; verparticular sionsand interpretations of literacy are"always rootedin a particular world-view and a desirefor thatview to dominateand to marginalize others" (p.
8). This perspective opens the concept of literacy to a range of interpretationsjust as Gardner (1983) did with intelligence. Nearly anyone with local knowledge or anecdotal information now is permitted, indeed encouraged, to challenge efforts that appear to impose literacy hegemonically upon any group. The literacies movement (or New LiteracyStudies, as some call it) challenges not only the cognitive tradition but even more directly challenges those doing literacy work in developing countries where issues of

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and powerareapparent to dominance,hierarchy, most observers. The most obviousexampleof the ideological dimensionof literacy at workappears when developofficialsobligeboth in-schooland outing countries' of-schoollearners to use nonindigenous languages that arenationaland often colonial.Nearlyevery and Development, and eschapterin Street's Literacy those and Choksi,Papen,Wright, pecially by Dyer takes Aikman,Herbertand Robinson,and Zubair, to the notion of a singleautonomous literexception and acy.Rather, they explorea varietyof languages as a literacies (multiplelanguages, scripts, practices) whatthey perceive as the failure way of interpreting of both school-based and adultliteracy programs. Forexample, Aikman(in Street)states,

want to use-a hopefulsignin a continentwhereotherpeohavedominatedfor too long. (p. 134) ple'sagendas

Whatseemsclearfromthe Herbertand others on Ghanaand fromseveral Robinsonchapter is thattalkingabouta singlecultureis not appropriwhen thereareoverlapping ate, especially languages, From an at and ethnicities play. scripts,religions, to be able one outsider's try to perspective, might "litor a national about a "national" language speak one the more one the but closer looks, eracy" policy, seesthatthereexistsno singleGhanaian culture,but within lanrather cultures, (anddialects languages and tribal authorities, so forth.It guages),ethnicities, the is no wonder,then, that simplisticnotionsof thatwerepopularin United illiteracy eradicating afterWorldWarII gaveway to Nationsstatements who is who in a balanced more approaches regarding For the entirecourseof its existence,formalschoolinghas When viewed been synonymouswith Spanishlanguageeducation and, societyandwho mightwantliteracy. can be seenmorein termsof a whetherwrittenand/orspothis way,literacy moreover, "knowingSpanish" ken hascontinuedto be synonymous with being"civilized," need or value. questionthanas a predetermined and Peruvian. "modern," "developed," (p. 110) In a compellingafterword, questions Rogers what he callsthe "traditional (Thus), the (local)Harakmbut pictureof the relationlanguage-a key to knowland (international) edge,the spiritworld,andreproduction-is the cornerstone ship betweenliteracy developof (their)self-development agenda.(p. 117) is a direct that there relationship ment...(namely) in the original). betweenthe two"(p. 205; emphasis in thisvolumemakethe Numerouschapters in the as most authors do to on suggest, Rogersgoes must be reinacpoint thatlocalindigenouslanguages and what that volume, literacy illiteracy knowing forcedand usedby government is so context in most mean societies literacy providers. dependent tually This point is not an unknownor unexplored issue, is a dubioustask.He recthat determining causality however. Fewliteracy or government offiin a wayparommendsproblematizing specialists development cialsworkingin thesesocieties(mainlydeveloping In his words,"whose allelto literacy. development" areunaware of the difficulties countries) He suggests posedby develop"multiple (p. 211) is it anyway? the of in a multilinthesevariousdevelments"and states"likeliteracies, choosing language instruction (in develop- opmentsareoften in contestone with another" gualsociety-especiallywhereresources (p. in particular) constrain this might meanthat a goving countries government's 213). Moreconcretely, in providing material rates resources, interestin loweringilliteracy ernmentminister's capability adequate and human,to teachin all the languages needed.At rural on in have little the end, poor bearing may, the sametime, they mustbalanceothercompeting needsto havemorejobs or saferdrinking people's needsfor nationalhomogeneity and economic water. which are believed to be tied to national sucand Development In sum, Street's growth, Literacy in commerce. volume recent than more other ceeds (colonial)language opening any Forexample,the chapter by Herbertand up-indeed pluralizing-termsthatmanythought
Robinson provides a helpful and nuanced approach to the particularrelationships that can and do exist between spoken languages and their written equivalents in Ghana. As they say,
(E)ach literacyis practicedin differentlanguages,and is somewhatdifferentin eachcase.Do differences dependon not, at leastnot on language Probably (specific)languages? alone.Alongwith language differences go culturalpatterns,
made up of ancestral customs, historical antecedents, exter-

could be dealt with in the singular without risk of misinterpretation. Each of the four remaining volumes considered in this review supports such a problematization of the single term literacy.

nal influences, and politicalforces....Localpeopleareusing literaciesfor their own purposesand in the languages they

An important book from a policy perspective is the one edited by David R. Olson and Nancy This Torrance, TheMaking ofLiterate Societies.

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volumepresents a seriesof conceptual and historical on literacy across time,with a specialfoperspectives cus on developing countries. most impressive Perhaps is the introductory chapter by the editorsthatseeksa viewsof way to balancethe seemingly contrasting as a personal skillthatcanhaveconsequences literacy for the personand his or heroptionsin life with that of literacy as a socialpractice thatcannotbe removed fromsocietalcontexts. The authorsnote the importanceof literacy, that it can haverealconaffirming not ones sequences(though alignedwith simplistic like on a metaphors turning person's "cognitive lightAt the sametime, Olson andTorrance bulb"). say that literacy is "notthe solutionto a host of socialills and unemploymalnutrition, includingpoverty, ment. It is not, in most cases,evenrelevant to the solution of thoseproblems" (p. 13). They go on to say that "[it]does not followthatliteracy shouldplayno rolein socialdevelopment and cultural and change," existfor realpeothey concludethatrealpedagogies in "instituple that can andwill makea difference tionalcontexts...in which reading andwritingcan and in "complaya roleof perceived significance" munitiesand institutions to whichaccessis givenby virtueof beingliterate so thatlearners aresocially empowered by theirparticipation" (p. 15). A numberof chapters in TheMakingof Literate Societies remindus of the Streetvolume,as focus on the of localcontextand they importance the need to considermultilingualism as a key factor in literacy For Akohapoints development. example, out that in Beninand Burkina-Faso locallanguages arenot just important for improving literacy among also Freire's poor people;they work)will (recalling our minds"(p. 149). The author help to "decolonize that arethe only way suggests indigenous languages even national forward, though policyin both countriesappears to such an Akoha opposed approach. concludesthatnationalpolicymakers lackthe political will to challenge the AfricanFrench-speaking elite. makesa similarpoint, on a Fagerberg-Diallo moreoptimisticnote, in herchapter on the significant progressmade in literacy development among the Pulaarethnic group in Senegal. While French is still the predominant national language, Pulaarliteracy is growing rapidly in perhaps one of the best programs of indigenous literacy in Africa. Indeed, Fagerberg-Diallostates that the newly literate Pulaar call themselves "literacymilitants"on a "crusadeto see that each community sets up and participatesin local Pulaarliteracy classes"(p. 156). Whether as a cause or a consequence of this program, the Senegalese government actually set up a special

and nationallanguages, which ministryfor literacy is one of the few of its kind in the world.From the Pulaar Fagerberg-Diallo's perspective, experience a blend of both autonomous and ideologirepresents cal models,as "l[n]ew literates can veryclearly identiboth the fy cognitiveand the socialgainstheyhave madethroughbecomingliterate. Furthermore, these both on a personal leveland on the gainsarerealized levelof the entirecommunity" (p. 173). In a later Doronilaechoesthe chapteron the Philippines, sameintegrative thatthe "relaapproach, suggesting and the eradication of literacy tionship...between 254). povertyis not simpleand straightforward" (p. Doronilaclaimsthatgainswill require improvement in teachingskills,moreof a focuson livelihoodand income generation, and an integration of literacy with otherlife activities. Toward the end of TheMakingofLiterate with chapters on Japan,Mexico,and Societies, some interesting inC.J.Daswanipresents Germany, betweenliteracy and power sightson the relationship in India,whichhe callsparadoxically One negative. to the Hindi wordfor literate, insightis in reference which can be writtenas "raakshas, mean[ing]a 'dethatlitermon'"(p. 290). By this, Daswanisuggests ate persons,perhaps the Indianeducated elites,are sometimesseenas becomingdemon-like,beingable to controlothers.This thoughtcertainly must have occurred to manyunschooled in peoples many countriesaroundthe worldoverthe centuries. In the finalchapter on development policyforand Ouane mation,Jung argue,like manywho have in this review, thatliteracy "isnot a appeared already into magicwandthatwill transform proverty but it mayenable"persons and groupsto wealth," achievetheirown rightsand goals"(p. 333). The firstcommentfits well with preceding ethnographic while the latterseemsstill to be problemaccounts, atic basedon the findingspresented in the Olson andTorrance volume.

andliteracies Languages
Is the pluralization of literacyto literacies equivalent to that of pluralizing languageto languages? Are the same as multiliteracies? In multiple literacies Multilingual Literacies Marilyn Martin-Jones and KathrynJones addressthis issue in 16 chapters that deal principally with literacy (and literacies) in multilingual societies. As the editors state,
Focusing on the plurality of literacies means recognising the diversity of reading and writing practices and the different

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writingas theywouldwith listeningand speaking? One is left wondering. similar In the two finalbooksof this review, demore in issuesareraised,but much conceptual and casestudies.DavidBarton tailedethnographic for example,proLocal Hamilton's Literacies, Mary of this volume,StreetproIn the firstchapter of literacy videsa richand comprehensive portrait to the abovequestion.He states videshis response in town mid-sized a in contemporary practices single and multiliteracies literacies that the termsmultiple a strong Britain.Coininga termthat reinforces shouldnot be usedinterchangeably; indeed,with the of literacies, conceptualization of reifica- language-based both terms,thereis whathe callsa "danger authorsfocuson what they call vernacular literacy tion"(p. 19), in the sensethat thesetermsmightbein everyday thatare"rooted experipractices---those come seen outsideof or divorcedfromcontextand ence and serveeveryday (p. 251). In addipurposes" of that the plurality Streetsuggests Rather, of observed practice. tion to several literacy categories to on the social shouldbe centered practices life, perliteracy obvious seem that (e.g., organizing practices areput. He concludes sonalcommunication, and literacies whichlanguages Barton and private leisure), to the ethnographers, with his own challenge subtleeveryday threerather namely and Hamiltondescribe the of theoretical to "move theirethnofrom thatemerged critiques beyondsimply literacy practices model and to developpositiveproposautonomous sense research life, making, (documenting graphic cri- and socialparticipation). measurement thesesix in curriculum, Takentogether, als for interventions education" teriaand teacher formsof literacy can, as the authors say,be (p. 29). practices that that followin with dominant In the diverse contrasted literacy practices chapters the and formal from which embrace follow education, Literacies, religion, groupsrangMultilingual and Chinese natives to East from London workplace. ing to Bartonand Hamilton,an imporon this elaborate researchers According Gujarati immigrants, tend to "require dominantpractices is that tant uses for various in detail the point point by describing to knowlaccess whom teachers and For areemployed. instance, through whichwrittenlanguages experts vernacular while controlled" is 22), literacy (p. usesaredescribed writtenlanguage edge amongBritish and use active is practice mainlythrough acquired Creoleaswell as expertwritingmediators (Baynham with thosewho simplyknow morethanoneself. and Masing).Still,whetherthis volumevalidates the Nevertheless, earlier commentaboutmultipleand multilit- This shouldcome as no surprise. Street's dimennonformal the is that by reifying implication is unclear. eracies practices By showingthatliteracy Bartonand and production, of sion literacy learning conaretightlywoveninto particular ethnolinguistic vernacular that notion the Hamilton literacy support texts,one wonders(or is it wanders?) amongthe varindeedcrucial,rolein people's an essential, plays and multiple of multiplelanguages iegatedlandscape motivation lives-one thatcould enhancepeople's whetheror not anyground literacies and questions form. written the for learning hasbeen gained. and TomasMarioKalmar's Alphabets Illegal a singleentitythat Is language fundamentally detailed a AdultBiliteracy ethnograpresents finely is playedout in many,manydifferent waysaround who havesettledin a small of Mexicanmigrants phy or nearlysynony- rural the world,and, as such, is it largely communityin southernIllinois.It depictsthe This questioncan be studied mouswith literacy? to learnand use English of adultimmigrants struggle time and space,as across in infinitevariation in the realworld,not just a as a secondlanguage volume. this to in her afterword implies Hornberger world dominated by teacher, text, and learner.This
genres, styles and types of texts associatedwith various activities, domains or social identities.... In multilingual and scripts contexts,differentlanguages, languagevarieties add other dimensions to the diversityand complexity of literacies. (p. 5)

The fundamental difference seems to stem from the fact that language learning is natural for nearly all humans, while literacy is not. Or is literacy learning natural?If all parents in the world were literate in their mother tongues, and if all children were as surrounded by print material as they are by oral language, would so many remain illiterate?If children were engaged with print materialsthat were equivalent to their oral language environments, would they naturallygrow up as proficient with reading and

small volume is a classic ethnography,with participant observations, captured notes and clippings, interviews fully laid out, and occasional interpretations by the author. However, the text is somewhat difficult to follow when the migrants are portrayed using what is termed illegalSpanish language and literacy skills in English, what the author calls the grammar equivalent of illegal chess moves. above, a much like what was termed socioliteracy

looks andAdultBiliteracy IllegalAlphabets

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writtenversionof sociolinguistic discourse and with considerable analyses, emphasis placedon of the oralandwrittenrecord. transcriptions is create Emphasis placedon how the migrants and of out their "hybrid" speech alphabets dailyuse of Spanishand English. Kalmar's datatranscriptions feel real,somethat is one of the of thing strengths the ethnographic to the more of educhallenge quantified approaches cationalresearch. Readers can readilybelievethese dataand thus see that thereis moreto literacy in this eitherSpanishor settingthansimplylearning As Gee writesin a Englishlinguisticsystems. foreword to the Kalmar volume, thoughtful
is not first and foremosta mentalpossessionof [L]iteracy individuals. Ratherit is firstand foremosta socialrelationshipamongpeople,theirwayswith words,deeds,andthings and theirinstitutions.Literacy is primarily and fundamencultural andpolitical world. tallyout in the social,historical, It is only secondarily a set of cognitive skills,skillswhichsubserveliteracies as socialacts in quite diverseways in different contexts.(p. iv)

Bartonand Hamiltonand Kalmar show a worldof literacy: and that reading, writing, speaking blendtogetherand arenot easilydisentangled. Their workcontrasts with psychometric research that tries to channeldatainto convenientcategories. These the New Studies ethnographies represent Literacy whereinthe term literacies most comfortably resides.

Several decades domain ago the sociolinguistic in the socialsciencesmadegood on its challenge to formallinguistics, and psycholinguistics, on how individuals learnlanguage. The volumesbrieflyreviewedhereindicatethatthe ethnographic challenge in literacy studiesalsois hereto stay.This seemsso evenin the faceof continuingpoliticalefforts,at leastin the UnitedStates,to reinforce the need for
strictly quantitative experimental studies of how selected and stratified samples of subjects learn to read. The ethnographic approach is a challenge to those who would seek to summarize data using statistical averagesand approximativecoding schemes. In a not very scientific way of speaking, you what get you pay for. Neither extreme-qualitative or quantitative-is likely to give the full picture of literacy(ies) learning and uses in society. Are there problems with the ethnographic approach beyond

Theethnographic Conclusions: challenge

thoseexemplified No doubt, by the abovevolumes? reservations abound.Most important, the research audienceoften lacksa frameof reference for integratdata such as that for reported Kalmar's ing subjective Mexicanmigrants. Someethnographies alsoread morelike casestudieswith weakconceptual bases(in contrastto most of whatis in the volumesreviewed researchers must be cautiouswhen herein).Further, new termsarecoinedthatmayobscureor confuse Literacies meaning,especially amongpractitioners. be such a because will (and case, may policymakers wonder what this means after do) already yearsof usthe this Naturally, opensup manyaving singular. enuesfor futherinvestigation. When Literacy, Culture and Development 1993) was pub(Wagner, lishedovera decadeago, it seemedreasonably safeto assumethateachof the nounswould staysingular. Timeshavechanged,or havethey? As the UnitedNationsLiteracy Decadecontinon and an ues, a renewed emphasis globalchallenges increased focuson reaching the poorestof the poor areinevitable. What successmaybe achieved in the will that years surelydependon research remaining considers the behavior of realpeoplein realtime in variedcultural worlds.The fieldof literacy, especially when focusedon thosemost marginalized, will need to address the hybridsituations of peopleoften between two or more worldsthat do worlds, caught not lend themselves to prioror unchanging cateof reference. The kinds research of in gories reported thesevolumes-each of which takesliteracy, culture, and development in its most pluralized form-will becomea greater and morevocalpartof necessarily the ongoingdiscussion of how to promotea more literate world.
DANIEL A.WAGNER is professor ofEducation and Director ofthe National Center onAdult attheUniversity ofPennsylvania, Literacy which National includes thefederally funded U.S. Technology forLiteracy and Adult Education. HeisalsoDirector ofthe Laboratory International coestablished and the Institute, byUNESCO Literacy ofPennsylvania. hasextensive in experience University Wagner national international educational issues. and Hecanbecontacted at National Center onAdult Institute, Literacy Literacy/International ofPennsylvania, 3910Chestnut St.,Philadelphia, PA University orbye-mail atwagner@literacy.upenn.edu. 19104-3111, USA, REFERENCES
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GILLETTE, A. (1999). The Experimental World Literacy Program:

A uniqueinternational In D.A. Wagner(Ed.), The effortrevisited. future

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AUTHOR'S

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This articlewas partiallysupportedby funding from the Spencer Foundation.The authorwould also like to thank David Moore for his versionof this review. veryhelpfuleditorial guidanceon an earlier

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withtheJanuary/February/March Research Book 2005 issue,Reading Essay Beginning Quarterly's Review editor will be Shelley Effective Xu. books for review immediately, maybe sent potential Hong to Xu at the address below. Shelley HongXu #121 9090 MoodyStreet CA USA 90630, Cypress,