Literacy is shaped by language and by culture. The diversity of languages and cultures therefore is matched by a diversity of forms of literacy. Literacies in particular languages and scripts are critical vehicles for culture learning, culture transmission, and culture preservation.

Literacy education has an important role to play in the preservation of indigenous languages and cultures. Many indigenous cultures and languages that lack a writing system and a written tradition have been overtaken by literate languages and cultures, and some have disappeared without hardly a trace.

Learning to read and write, and indeed learning to learn, are also about learning a culture. Schooling and the nature of the learning experience vary from one culture to another. In most contemporary societies, more than one culture of schooling and culture of literacy can be found.

Multiple ethnicities and multiple languages of literacies are characteristics of nearly all nations of the world. Teaching respect and tolerance for cultural and linguistic differences are important educational objectives. Providing literacy education in more than one language is also typical. For these reasons, language and literacy planning are important concerns in both the developing and the developed countries.

The following projects examine the role of culture in language acquisition and literacy instruction:

Second Language Literacy:
Haitian Multi Service Center, Boston, U.S.A.

Language and Literacy Preservation:
Oaxaca Language Preservation Center, Mexico