B. Learning Settings

The three distinct settings that comprise the employment preparation program—the coffee shop, the classroom and the job placements—will each be examined based on Stein's (1998) four elements of situated learning in adult education: content, context, community of practice, and participation. Stein's interpretation is directly connected to Lave and Wenger's (1991) description of situated learning and both are used to guide the findings. In addition, ideas connected to situated literacy have also been used, particularly in relation to analyzing literacy activities as they occur within the three settings. These interrelated ideas of situated learning and literacy will be used to analyse the employment preparation program in order to answer the guiding research question: What does literacy and learning look like in each of the three settings? Each of the three settings will be described separately, and within each description, each of the study's sub–questions will be addressed. These sub–questions focus on the following: the material and knowledge content in each of the settings; the physical and non–physical aspects of the settings that shape the context for learning; the people and activities that comprise a community of practice in each setting; and the ways in which people participate with each other and the activities in each setting.

To understand each of these elements and how they will be described in the next sections of this chapter, a brief definition of each will be reviewed first. The content description will capture the facts and process of the materials and knowledge in each setting (Stein, 1998). Materials refers to the printed materials and visual materials that are used. Knowledge or the non–material resources refers to the ways in which people think and the understanding that is connected to the daily lives of the students. In addition, the ways in which the materials and knowledge are meaningful to the students will also be analysed. Based on Stein, context comprises both the physical and non–physical environments of the three learning settings. Physical aspects include a description of the décor, furnishings, and tools of the settings. Non–physical aspects are the values, norms, and culture that are made apparent in each setting. In addition, it is important to uncover whose values, norms, and culture comprise the context in order to discuss individual and institutional power balances. Elements that define a community of practice, according to Lave and Wenger (1991), are a focus on learning, compared to teaching; strong goals for learning because learners understand what needs to be learned and the purpose for learning; an ability for learners to see and understand the whole, and not simply discrete and unrelated pieces of knowledge; the idea that learning is improvised practice; and viewing the curriculum as opportunities for engaging in practice, and not a set of "dictates for proper practice" (p. 92). Finally, participation is the process of becoming, state Lave and Wenger (1991), becoming a legitimate member of a community of practice. It "involves the construction of identities" (p. 53) in that a person who participates in a community of practitioners in a productive activity, is developing a new way of seeing him or herself. Each of these elements will come to life as they are seen in the program's three distinct settings.