New literacies: historical and contemporary perspectives

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the history of English language literacy in England and relates it to concerns with regard to literacy in Africa. A series of English texts is examined, each representing a key innovation in English literacy practices: the written expression of oral creativity represented by Caedmon's composition of poetry in the seventh century; the use of literacy for bureaucratic purposes exemplified in the Peterborough Chronicle's account of Domesday Book; the growth of domestic literacy among the educated gentry in the seventeenth century; and the adoption of political and domestic literacy practices by members of the working class in the nineteenth. The central argument is that each innovation in literacy builds on already established practices, and in the final section this argument is used to make recommendations for the promotion of literacy in African environments.