What Is Physical Literacy, Really?

Abstract

Physical literacy has become an increasingly influential concept in the past few decades, and is being woven into education, sport, and recreation policy and practice, particularly in Canada. The term is based on a metaphor that likens movement fluency to language literacy. Use of a metaphoric rather than a theoretical foundation has enabled various interpretations and re-definitions of the term. This article aims at an understanding of physical literacy that encompasses and reunifies the interpretations, helping physical literacy to be theoretically understood, practically researched, and instrumentally employed. The division of the holistic physical literacy concept into various interpretations is traced and the metaphoric basis of physical literacy is discussed. Through this analysis the unifying theme of communication is identified, and based on this a new definition of physical literacy is advanced and a model of physical literacy development is proposed. A series of questions that invite a multi-disciplinary approach to physical literacy research is presented.