LESLLA defines "literacy"

Abstract

Literacy is a central interest of LESLLA practitioners, researchers, and learners, and our definitions of literacy shape what and how we teach, research, assess, and advocate. As such, it is relevant to explore the meanings we attach to the concept of literacy. This paper takes up interpretive content analysis (Drisko & Maschi, 2016) to examine how literacy was defined or conceptualized in the 196 LESLLA proceedings papers from symposia held 2005-2019. Analyses show there were five overarching genres of proceedings papers, and their definitions or conceptualizations of literacy mainly mirrored common scholarly definitions of literacy from the last few decades. It was more common for papers to imply a definition or conceptualization of literacy than to explicitly state one; it was least common to not define/conceptualize literacy. Additionally, many LESLLA symposium papers utilized more than one definition or conceptualization of literacy, at times combining theoretical traditions that some scholars consider incommensurate, perhaps indicating that some LESLLAers take an eclectic approach to developing their definitions of literacy. An unexpected research gap was found, that is, few papers shared LESLLA learners’ perspectives, and fewer made these the main focus of their inquiry. Finally, questions for reflection are posed.