Annotation on Holme, Randal.
2004. Literacy: An Introduction.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Chap. 14
Literacy and
Patterns of Mind
In this chapter on
literacy and the patterns of the mind, the author is discussing the mental
processes at work when learning to read; the framework needed to manoeuvre
between metaphors and understanding in order for the learner to crack the code
of reading. He is also discussing the meta-angle of reading and writing, both
in a contemporary and a historical perspective.
The chapter goes through the
different frames and schematics (mental patterns) needed in the decoding
process, such as images and conceptual metaphors. Without an understanding of
conceptual metaphors, the abstract ideas surrounding and interacting with
humans at all times will elude the reader, thus losing grasp of content.
The author also covers the discourse
of genre and how it is important to recognise the literary practices connected
to the genres. Further, he says that the full potential within each genre, or
image schema, can be accessed through writing.
The metaphors connected to reading
and writing, how humans seem connected to, and captured by cause and effect,
and the representation of origin seem important in this chapter. Reading and
writing in a historic perspective could be as simple as a method of recording
our ‘raison d’être’. Historically this could be shown as a family tree, or a
totem pole, or other written evidence of human existence. Genealogy, spatial
metaphors and lineage could be shown as an ascending spatial order in images of
family trees, and wisdom, from for example the Middle Ages.
Towards the end of the chapter, the
author contemplates all the various versions of literacy, and how to extend the
spatial metaphors through which we grasp and analyse abstract meanings from,
for example, the grammatical analysis of sentences.
He concludes with seeing a link
between practices, frames and schemas. The metaphors used in the search for
knowledge, through reading and writing, belong within a discourse.
The main themes of
this chapter seem to be that reading and writing are both mental and physical processes
that have to develop together to give the learner a higher understanding and
fuller capacity to develop further within the field. It is also my
understanding that to be able to function within a society the learner has to
familiarise him or herself with the commonly perceived metaphors, figures and
tropes to be able to understand reading, and produce writing, thoughts that are
strangely compelling.
Further I understand that the way we
relate to the world of letters and fonts, images and visuality is coded within
us in a way we do not contemplate on a daily basis, and it becomes intrinsic
and internalised through the process of growing up. Also, the author is making
the point that to be able to recognise discourse is as important as learning to
spell and getting the motor skills to write. It is a part of a far bigger
process than isolated spelling and pencil movement.
Writing exists in history, while the
action of reading is more ‘here and now’, and by mastering both, the learner
opens up access to the past as well as the present and in some way a prediction
of the future. We use literacy daily to
access our history and our reason to be here. To make use of metaphors to
understand is one of the elements that make us human. The tree-metaphor
stretches beyond the representation of the physical tree in the forest, and can
be applied in situations and arenas not normally connected to wildlife, for
example in sentence analysis and in describing family, or even corporate
constructions. To comprehend this metaphor (the tree metaphor being a metaphor
for metaphors in general) it is important to know that one word can have a
variety of connotations, and this knowledge comes with experience.
The author is playing with all of these thoughts in a complicated,
yet comprehensive way. It is sometimes a bit hard to follow what medieval
images and sentence analysis has to do with the process of learning to read and
write, but he makes his case in the conclusion, where he states how he wanted
to take an unorthodox look at a the mental challenges involved in something as
normal as learning to read and write. It is highly respectful to brave taking
on the philosophical side of language and identity, and language development
through reading and writing in a discourse where the linguistic view stands out
as the most acknowledged.
