Literacy And Learning In The 21st Century

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Rapid technological advances and ongoing processes of globalization have given rise to serious consideration of the goals and responsibilities for institutions of formal learning in the 21st century. The 21st Century Workforce Commission (2000) suggested that "the current and future health of America's 21st century economy depends directly on how broadly and deeply Americans reach a new level of literacy— '21st-century Literacy'" (p. 4). Organizations such as the International Reading Association (2001) and the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL; 2003) are developing educational frameworks for 21st-century literacy and skills. Also, members of research, education, and business communities have formed Breitling Replica partnerships to create such frameworks, working together to identify proficiencies that currently are or will be extremely valuable in future work and academic environments. These consortiums aim to strengthen the U.S. education system (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004, n.p.) and to ensure the United States' competitiveness ...
... in a global, technology-mediated market.

The NCREL (2003) described the need for digital literacy skills on their engages 21st Century Skills Website, emphasizing the notion that traditional literacy skills are now only a starting point for engaging in other forms of literate interaction:

As society changes, the skills needed to negotiate the complexities of life also change. In the early 1900s, a person who had acquired simple reading, writing, and calculating skills was considered literate. Only in recent years has the public education system expected all students to build on those basics, developing a broader range of literacies. (International ICT Literacy Panel, 2002, as cited in NCREL, 2003, n.p.)

The digital literacy skills identified by various 21st-century consortiums include proficiencies such as basic print literacy, scientific, economic, technological, visual, information, and multicultural literacies as well as global awareness (NCREL, 2003). It is important to note that developing such proficiencies can pose an extra challenge for certain populations of students, such as ELLs, if they are relegated to classroom contexts where the primary focus is mastery Breitling Replica Watches of traditional forms of print-based literacy. Clearly it is crucial that ELLs receive quality instruction in and access to standard, academic forms of language. However, as discussion in this article will demonstrate, activities based on popular culture as well as new technologies and ICTs can offer opportunities for the development of standard language proficiency in tandem with the development of digital literacy and 21st-century skills.