Rethinking oral and literate identities in tertiary study at the closing of the Gutenberg Parenthesis

Abstract

This article considers the likely challenges for teaching and learning in the university in respect of the interplay of oral and textual forms of literacy within university settings at this concluding point of the Gutenberg Parenthesis, a timeframe said to be roughly between AD 1500 and 2000. We explore ways in which the formerly reified character of both text and thought now appears to be changing, post-Gutenberg, along with diminution in the status of the book and other texts. This article assesses ways in which textbooks at both secondary and tertiary level are currently imitating modes of communication from oral-experiential settings with an aim to get students engaged in (often collective) learning activities rather than in individualised reflection and learning. The literate devices from orality employed in the textbooks include multimodal presentation of content, chatty, interactive forms of writing, direct addresses to readers, repetition and foreshadowing, case studies, question and answer sessions, and use of lists. Questions around coherence of learned materials and critical literacy in student learning and capability are considered in the light of how textbooks are now being structured. We examine the layered rather than opposed character of literacy and orality and identify what could be described as a post-Gutenberg fusion of styles of learning. This article employs Ong’s perceived characteristics of orally based and literate thought and expression, using this approach to assess oral and literate forms of learning and communication within universities. We then address ways in which oral-experiential approaches to learning now appear to be modifying older Gutenberg-period assumptions about literacy at tertiary level and speculate on the nature of identity as a learner at tertiary level in the post-Gutenberg era.

Keywords:

• tertiary study
• Gutenberg Parenthesis
• oral identity
• literate identity
• university teaching and learning
• student learning

Acknowledgements

My thanks to anonymous reviewers for their helpful insights and suggestions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Frank Sligo

Professor Sligo is the Director of Stakeholder Relationships in the School of Communication, Journalism & Marketing at Massey University. His main research areas are in adult literacy, information richness, and poverty, and the knowledge–behaviour gap. Higher levels of literacy are correlated with higher income, trust in others, sense of political efficacy, and readiness to engage in volunteering. Massey University’s Adult Literacy and Communication Research (ALCR) Group has been funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, and the Tertiary Education Commission.