what is literacy

In Gee's perspective, literacy is not only restricted in the ability to read and write but also the control of language. Same word can have different meanings, literacy is a way to control and organize the meanings to express the right idea that the author want to express. In Gee's article of "what is literacy", the control can be list in 4 parts:" dominant, non-dominant, primary, and secondary discourses. "
It did change my understanding of literacy. I thought that literacy is just the way human express themselves and record knowledge and wisdom for the next generation, but after the reading I realized that literacy is not so simple. It's just like the creature paramecium, to normal people, it may means nothing, but to people who knew their importance, paramecium is one of the most amazing creature in the word.