What is Literacy?
Books have been written about what literacy is. This brief article has a limited, but complicated, answer to "What is literacy?" Because the meaning of "literacy" now has so many variations, when using it, it's a good idea to define the meaning and explain the context.
How many Types of Literacy are there?
You may have noticed over the past several years that "literacy" is used in some surprising ways. A January 2018 The Advocate article suggests that there are 13 types of literacy. Some of these, we might agree, are a broadened definition of reading that provides a context for reading and understanding such as Digital Literacy, Media Literacy, Information Literacy, Functional Literacy, Critical Literacy and perhaps other contexts. Some, I would argue, are not so much a kind of literacy as a metaphor for understanding, knowledge and/or skills in a particular area; examples include Recreational Literacy, Disciplinary Literacy, or Civic Literacy.
In some languages, a word or phrase has more than one variation because in that culture the distinctions made are so important to its members. For example, many Eskimo (Inuit and Yupik) dialects have on the order of a few dozen distinct terms for snow, with some documented dialects going into the low 50s.*
What does it mean in the U.S. that we have so many different varieties of "literacy" particularly at a time when research has shown that reading proficiency of children, as measured by the NAEP and adult literacy, as measured by our country's participation in the PIAAC assessments, have both continued to seriously decline? Do these variations mean that literacy that means being able to read a variety of texts and understand them is less important to many of us? If so, should that be a concern?
I have been tracking the use in online articles of these various kinds of literacy terms for several years and have identified 50 literacy terms, not including adult literacy. Below is that list with links to where I saw the literacy term used.
For your edification or amusement here they are, in alphabetical order. When possible they are followed by a link to an article in which I saw the term used; those that are not followed by a link had one that, in the ephemeral world of the Web, has disappeared.
Agricultural Literacy
https://www.agliteracy.org/research/defining/
AI Literacy
http://www.dailyuw.com/science/article_f5eac95a-5ffa-11ea-9ae2-fbc1f7840c87.html and
https://bluntrochester.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20231215aibill.pdf
Algorithm Literacy
Artificial Intelligence Literacy
Balanced Literacy (found under Developmental literacy)
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Cancer Literacy
Carbon Literacy
Civic Literacy
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining and
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Climate Literacy
https://www.sierraclub.org/san-francisco-bay/climate-literacy
Coding and computational literacy
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining
Consumer Literacy
https://ocgnews.com/teens-rockdale-extension4-h-club-place-national-consumer-literacy-competition/
Content Literacy
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Critical Literacy
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Culinary Literacy
Cultural Literacy
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining
Data Literacy
https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2020/1/data-literacy-how-create and
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining and
https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/12/data-literacy-what-it-is-and-why-it-matters/
Death literacy
https://www.montclairlocal.news/2020/01/17/death-literacy-film-bevival-montclair-nj/
Developmental Literacy
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Digital Health Literacy
Digital literacy
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Disaster Literacy
Disciplinary Literacy
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Early Literacy
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Electoral Literacy
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1988846
Emotional Literacy
Financial literacy
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining
Food literacy
“We define food literacy as understanding the impact of your food choices on your health, the environment and the economy.” http://www.sactownmag.com/December-January-2020/Food-Literacy-Center-CEO-Amber-Stott/ and https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-12740-w and
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-09-adult-food-literacy-nutrition-habits.html
Functional Literacy
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Geo-literacy
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining
Health Literacy
https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/learn/index.html
Health Insurance Literacy
Heat Literacy
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(25)00007-5/fulltext
Historical literacy
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining
Information Literacy
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining and
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Integrity Literacy
Longevity Literacy
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/long-live-most-people-dont-112000237.html
Media Literacy
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining and
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Mental Health Literacy
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1538476/abstract
Multicultural Literacy
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining and
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
News Literacy
Nutrition Literacy
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1555725/abstract
Physical Literacy
https://extension.unr.edu/publication.aspx?PubID=2926
https://jhpn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41043-025-01027-6
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1678171/abstract
Racial Literacy https://theblackcurriculum.com/blog/blog-post-title-three-dxgps
Recreational Literacy
https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/
Sexual Health Literacy
https://bmcwomenshealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12905-022-02112-2
Scientific Literacy / science literacy
https://www.dailycal.org/2020/02/19/becoming-a-citizen-scientist-how-to-develop-scientific-literacy/ and
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining and
https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12910-025-01300-7
Sustainability Literacy
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20240801155408965
Technology Literacy
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/literacy-declining
Trauma Literacy
https://www.thebalochnews.com/2022/01/09/how-trauma-literacy-can-transform-our-lives/
Visual Literacy
https://www.latech.edu/2020/01/21/tech-to-host-visual-communication-and-visual-literacy-symposium/ and
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