'ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆಯನ್ನು ಸಾಂಪ್ರದಾಯಿಕವಾಗಿ ಓದುವ ಮತ್ತು ಬರೆಯುವ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯವೆಂದು ಬಣ್ಣಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ವಿವಿಧ ಸೈದ್ಧಾಂತಿಕ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರಗಳ ವ್ಯಾಪ್ತಿ ಮೂಲಕ ಈ ಪರಿಕಲ್ಪನೆಯನ್ನು ಹೇಳಲಾಗಿದೆ ಮತ್ತು ವ್ಯಾಖ್ಯಾನಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ.

Literacy is the ability to read and write. Broadly, literacy may be viewed as "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, humans in literate societies have sets of practices for producing and consuming writing, and they also have beliefs about these practices. Reading, in this view, is always reading something for some purpose; writing is always writing something for someone for some purpose. Beliefs about reading and writing and their value for society and for the individual always influence the ways literacy is taught, learned, and practiced.