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Hannah LeViere Noah Tysick ENG 111 October 9 2013 Becoming Literate Being literate does not necessarily mean having the ability to read and write, to understand information, and to express ideas both concretely and abstractly (Daly 173). Recently two authors, Elizabeth Daly and Eric Lane wrote about this subject Dalys article Expanding the Concept of Literacy and Lanes article America 101 How We Let Civic Education Slide And Why We Need a Crash Course in the Constitution Today both articles look at being literate and where it is headed. Article America 101 How We Let Civic Education Slide And Why We Need a Crash Course in the Constitution Today is better written than Expanding the Concept of Literacy and here is why. Both of the authors Lane and Daly give their credentials. By giving their credentials, the authors are showing that they are literate in that field. Lane a Professor at Hofstra Law School and senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice (Lane 182). Thus, by giving his credentials Lane shows that he is literate in civic literacy. Daly, Dean of the School of Cinema and Television in the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California shows that she is literate in pictures, moving pictures,

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and the effects they have (Daly 173). By looking for credentials it can help one tell if in fact the author is literate or not in his or her field. In Dalys article she uses emotion rather than reasoning to keep her audiences attention. Throughout her article, as she tells stories of her life, Daly says I often ask my colleagues to imagine that they are living and teaching in Padua around the year 1300 (174). Although Daly uses emotion, Daly does use reasoning to back up her beliefs and emotions. Daly uses four statements that are the foundational principles for the work being done at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy (IMA) at the Annenberg Center at the University of Southern California (USC). Lane uses reasoning and facts to persuade his readers. Since the 1960s, fewer and fewer schools require civic courses. Lane states this fact and others through out his article as Lane uses these facts he is using reasoning to persuade his readers rather than an emotional appeal (185). One purpose to these articles is to inform others about literacies and where it is headed. There are many types of literacies and there are many ways to write them. In the article America 101 How We Let Civic Education Slide And Why We Need a Crash Course in the Constitution Today the author talks about civic literacy in other words how to comprehend the government and be able to put ones own input into the conversation(182). Daly talks about expanding our notion of literacy to include multimedia

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languages (173). Both authors look at two separate literacies yet there must be a common understanding to ultimately express ones ideas. When watching the news What would it be like to try to fully share these and other momentous events without access to the language and power of the screen? (Daly 175). For one it would mean that people would be using there imagination to decipher what they are reading or hearing rather then being able to actually see it for oneself. To make a point Lane looks at various surveys. One found that fortyone percent of respondents to a national survey were not aware that there were three branches of government, and 62 percent couldnt name them.(184). If one does not know its government and how it is run how can one trust them to do the right thing. For writing an academic article there are rules that one must follow. Most academic authors tend to stay away from using first or second person voices first voice being me, myself, and I and second voice being you, youself, and your. In the article Expanding the Concept of Literacy first person voice is used through out the article as the author states I believe the reason (174). By using first person, Daly is stating what she thinks, rather than stating it as a fact. Whereas Lane uses statements such as complacency is now the main problem. Instead of saying I think complacency is now the main problem (186).

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When writing an article one must look at who the reader is and what one wants them to get out of it. For Lane and Daly it is to an academic audience looking at literacy and the future of literacy. Daly looks at where literacy is going in reference to modern technology and how it is changing the way education is going. On the other hand Lane looks at civic literacy and where it came from where it was important to where it has become almost none existent in todays society. This lack of knowledge is undermining our whole governmental system. As both authors look at different types of literacys Lane looking at civic and Daly looking at multimedia which is growing and civic that has become obsolete. Art has always been apart of history from sketching and painting to today taking pictures and videos it is not to be disregarded but if that is all one looks at and does not look at the writing itself one can miss the true meaning. Civic education and civic literacy are both becoming a thing of the past if this keeps up and does not change this country will be unable to govern itself with out the knowledge of civic literacy. After looking at both of these articles Expanding the Concept of Literacy and America 101 one can see that each of the authors have brought their views to light Daly talking about multimedia literacy and Lane about civic literacy one can see that there are many variables that shape an article. Daly choosing emotion over reasoning to get her point across or

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Lane using reasoning over emotion this is just one variable out of many that one can look at to decipher an academic article.

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Work Cited Daly, Elizabeth. Expanding the Concept of Literacy EXPLORING RELATIONSHPS: globalization and Learning the 21st Century. Boston: Parson Learning Solutions, 2013. 173-182 print Lane, Eric. America 101 How We Let Civic Education Slide And Why We Need a Crash Course in the Constitution Today EXPLORING RELATIONSHPS globalization and Learning the 21 st Century. Boston: Parson Learning Solutions, 2013. 183-190 print