Traditionally, literacy has been narrowly defined from a technical perspective as the "acquisition of literacy skills, that is, reading, writing and speaking a language" (Chu 342). The neutral quality of this definition that focuses on the process of decoding and encoding the text fails to take into account the socio-political and cultural dimensions of literacy. Similarly, formalized statements such as the expanded definition written in the National Literacy Act of 1991 of the United States also project a fatade of objectivity. In this document, literacy is defined as:
an individual's ability to read, write and speak in English and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals and one's knowledge and potential (qtd. in Chu 342).
However, in a multicultural society of the U.S., the limitation of literacy to the knowledge and proficiency of the English language clearly excludes the existence of minorities in this society (Chu 342). For Jiminez, more than just a technical term, the conception of literacy in this country is often utilized as a means of preserving the status quo that protects privileges enjoyed by the dominant groups in the society. Even more significantly, within the educational setting, the formal statements issued by educators and legislators have been instrumental in shaping the type of curriculum, instructional approach and assessment. Therefore, instead of helping minorities increase their literacy, this limited and exclusionist perspective of literacy has succeeded in undermining the academic achievements of minority groups and increasing socioeconomic inequalities (122).
In the remainder of this paper, the traditional perspectives of literacy, language acquisition and the impact on the education of the minorities will be discussed. By illuminating the limitations of these perspectives, this writer will propose a broader...