FINDING THE COMMONPLACES OF LITERACY

The multidisciplinary nature of the literature on literacy has hampere d efforts to understand the relationships between apparently disparate positions. The writer details the search for the commonplaces of lite racy, those common elements that must underlie all discussions of the topic. The potential benefits of conceptualizing the literature in thi s way are explored through an examination of pieces by Olson, Heath, a nd Freire, where the use of the commonplaces demonstrates the commonal ities in the different positions.