THE OFFER OF LITERACY PROGRAMS AND THE GUARANTEE OF SOCIAL FUTURES: ANALYSIS OF UNESCO’S LITERACY POLICIES AND ITS LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES

ABSTRACT

In this article, I analyze literacy policies by UNESCO and its ideologies, from advertising materials for the 50th anniversary of the International Literacy Day (UNESCO, 2016). Drawing on theories about literacy and language ideologies (STREET, 2003, 2014 [1996]; KROSKRITY, 2004; WOOLARD, 1998; PHILIPS, 2004; SZUNDY, 2016), the analysis shows that UNESCO literacy policies rest on ideologies that assess language in a cognitive, neutral, depoliticized, and context-free perspective, thus revealing an autonomous model of literacy. Since we consider that notion of literacy inoperative for a critical teaching agenda, I problematize it so as to think of alternative literacy models which are more socially just and in line with the education of social agents capable of (inter)acting with/on the literacy practices that drive the construction of meaning in contemporaneity.

Keywords:
literacy; language ideologies; UNESCO literacy policies