They use ‘invisible’ and important literacies that go beyond traditional writing text, spelling, punctuation and other conventional literacies. These include other modes (such as collaboration or demonstration) or semiotics (signs, marks) present in different subject areas.
http://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=3097
I continue my quest to discover what the word “literacy” means in this day and age. In this article, I read the term “invisible literacy” for the first time.
The quote above is followed by more description in the article, and seems to push the meaning of the phrase towards “skills” or “discipline specific skills”. The definition described in this article is broad, although it does seem to focus on concepts like ‘signs’ and ‘translation’. Which is interesting because of the emphasis on communication over mere language.
Later on the article describes the importance of doing and making, for teaching these invisible literacies.
I wonder if these are like some of the grammar rules that I need to teach my students at time, the rules that no native English speaker would ever learn but they would instinctively follow and understand. For English language students, these invisible grammar rules often need to be made visible.
This is a good read.
A Point of Contact 