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Drawing on resources from anthropology, linguistics, psychology, and education, this paper examines critically the effects of literacy on cultural traditions, linguistic behavior, socio‐economic organization, cognitive processes, and child development. Attention is given to the question of whether literacy causes new cognitive capabilities or only promotes the deployment of preexisting ones. The paper also considers the implications for anthropological, psychological, and linguistic theories of the increased attention given to the study of literacy and its effects on language, thought, and society. Suggestions are offered about how school curricula and general educational policies could make use of relevant findings in devising literacy programs that are socially and culturally relevant.
F. Niyi Akinnaso (Tue,) studied this question.