Although we often think literacy equals reading, it is really much more than that. That may be the simplest explanation, but it is also the most incomplete.  Literacy has many facets:  reading and writing, talking and listening, critical thinking and analysis.

It is not uncommon to hear people talk about "financial literacy" or "computer literacy." What all of these literacies have in common is that they represent the functional use of skills in a particular functional area (money, technology, etc.). We aren't born with these skills. We learn them.

We can recognize the symbols of letters and numbers before we can spell words. We can use words long before we are able to write them.