What Is Literacy When Machines Can Write?

By John Dolman

Dolman challenges the traditional understanding of what constitutes literacy. He argues that “We’ve spent centuries conflating the mechanism of writing with writing itself, treating pen-and-paper as if it were literacy rather than simply one way of making literacy visible.” While AI seems to be threatening the accepted concept of literacy, the issue is that we have never really understood what it is. He proposes that writing is “organizing thought, structuring argument, and expressing ideas coherently for an audience” whether through the voice, a quill, a keyboard, or with the help of AI.

Dolman lists three types of literacy which must be taught.

1. Traditional literacy through extensive reading provides the models for writing.
2. AI literacy is understanding what generative systems can do and their limitations as well as how and when to use them.
3. Information literacy is the ability to evaluate sources.

He then focuses on four steps in the writing process.

1. Inspiration – hand-written or voiced notes
2. Ideation – organizing ideas with possible feedback from AI
3. Iteration – writing by hand or using speech to text
4. Publication – choosing the format for the expected audience

From Dolman’s experience, he has found that about a third of his students preferred to write by hand, a third prefer to type, and a third prefer another method such as voice to text. He questions why educators insist that one method, handwriting, should be used for all.

He is not advocating that handwriting be abandoned but that literacy not be defined only by the use of pencil and paper. He acknowledges that handwriting is cognitively beneficial for learning but requiring the same means of assessment for all is not equity.

He asserts that now, because “machines can write” educators need a better understanding of literacy and how to measure it. This question closes his argument, “if writing is the system and not the mechanism, what are we actually teaching, and why are we so invested in pretending otherwise?”

You can find Dolman’s full argument here.