Table 1: Situated Learning Integrated with Situated Literacy
  Situated Learning Based on Stein (1998) Literacy Events Based on Hamilton (2000) Literacy Practices
1 Content – the facts and processes of the task from daily experience, or the knowledge and materials Artifacts – material resources involved in the interaction Non-Material resources brought to the event such as knowledge and ways of thinking
2 Context – situations, values, and beliefs in the experience; the setting for examining the experience Settings – immediate physical circumstances Domain of practice within which the event takes place
3 Community of Practice – interpretation, reflection and meaning–making with each other and the body of knowledge Participants – the people interacting with the written texts Hidden participants involved in the social relationships of regulating written text
4 Participation – the active engagement of learners with each other and the materials of instruction Activities – action performed by the participants Structured routines that regulate action

SUMMARY

One of the goals of this research was to attempt to tease apart the interconnected ideas of literacy and learning: a task that had its challenges due to their similarities. As stated earlier, both situated learning and literacy as social practice have evolved from a shared notion that human activity is fundamentally social and, subsequently, our ways of knowing, perceiving and acting are shaped by the people, power balances, tools, relations, and experiences of that social way of being. But what is the relationship between literacy and learning? Barton and Hamilton believe that an understanding of how people learn literacy in both formal and informal settings, will "draw upon people's insights into how they learn" (p. 13). This view places literacy at the fore, and suggests learning is in a supportive role. Could the opposite view also be relevant? Could learning be a driving force that places literacy in a secondary role? Or perhaps the relationship between learning and literacy is more balanced. The discussion in the final chapter will attempt to respond to these questions.