Rewriting Literacy: How Contemporary Media Influence Young Adult Interest in Reading and Writing

This article suggests some ways of understanding how young adult perceptions of literacy are shaped by the present media environment. It begins with a brief description of the modes of learning and knowing that have characterized oral cultures on the one hand and print-literate cultures on the other. Finally, I argue that our present multimedia environment has fostered orally biased conceptions and approaches to writing among today’s young adults.