Protean Shapes in Literacy Events: Ever-Shifting Oral and Literate Traditions by Shirley Brice Heath

As people turn to literacy, oral tradition habits are lost. Oral tradition is said to tell meaning without starting it. On the other end of the spectrum language in the literate tradition tells the meaning explicitly. The expository essay is a great example of the literate tradition. Formal education, scholarship, is what has driven us in the countinuous direction of oral tradition to literate tradition. To examine where a particular community lies in the oral or literate traditions one must look at the literacy event. “A literacy event is any occasion in which a piece of writing is integral to the nature of participants’ interactions and their interpretive processes ”. Heath observes how literacy events are very different in context, from filling job applications to handing out handouts as a girl scouts do. She goes on to say that “There are more literacy events which call for appropriate knowledge of forms and uses of speech events than there are actual occasions for extended reading or writing.”
The community of Trackton was observed in their language use. In this community all adults can read and write and hold respectability for literacy. Literacy events in the written language uses were observed here. The adults did not explicitly read to the children but answered questions that the children asked about messages in writing. The children told stories modeled on the oral tradition of the adults. Storytelling is an integral part of the children’s lives and are triggered by the stimuli in their environment. Heath gives the example of a two year old boy who tells about a day at church. He was inspired to tell his story by a distant bell sound. The sound of the bell works as the stimulus to his spontaneous storytelling.
Adults in this community read and write socially. These literary events took place in many purposes; they were instrumental, interactional, news-related, confirmation based, for provision of permanent records, memory supportive and as substitutes for oral messages. Literacy events were also observed in church at the community and showed how messages are said differently orally and written out. A prayer delivered by a school teacher was observed, the written out one was very simple in writing and formal. The oral delivered speech was very informal and more elaborate. Heath notes the differences in both events in their use of formulaic vocatives, in the expression of Personal Involvement. She notes the difference in the expression of sentence structuring and the informality of the oral delivery. Heath points out that the “… meaning of words people carry with them depends on the integration of those words into personal experience.” At the workplace adults in the community are not required to practice their literary skills as well as in formal institutions such as a bank. In the end Trackton community members show their understanding of written materials through oral means. They do not solely fall within the literate or oral traditions, but in both.
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