This booklet is intended to help new adult literacy practitioners in Australia explore the possible meanings of the term "literacy." The booklet begins with the question, What is literacy? The next (and largest) section of the booklet considers various metaphors of literacy. A table detailing some ways of talking about literacy is presented. It lists the following topics: six conditions (sickness and/or handicap, ignorance, incapacity, oppression, deprivation, deviance); ways and means of responding to them; the goals of the possible responses/interventions; and situations where the interventions may be applied. Also included in the section on metaphors of literacy are discussions of the following topics: literacy as control; literacy as a "crisis"; literacy as autonomy and the importance of helping learners master basic skills; literacy as a right and a means of promoting social justice; literacy for social action and the concept of transformation; literacy as technology; and literacy as social practice. Concluding the booklet is a discussion of the implications of the various definitions of, and ways of looking at, literacy for adult literacy practitioners. Appended are nine selected definitions of literacy and eight examples of literacy as control. (Contains 41 references.) (MN)