Abstract

Program delivery for adult literacy students is driven by a skills– and task–based view of literacy, in which literacy is often viewed as a process of decoding and learning to complete paper–based activities, such as filling out an application form. This is exemplified by the predominance of programs that use workbooks and skill–building curriculums, as opposed to materials and activities that are directly connected to the ways in which students learn and use literacy in their daily lives (Beder, H., & Medina, P., 2001; Purcell–Gates, V., Degener, S., Jacobson, E. & Soler, M., 1998). Alternative models of literacy education for adults have turned to critical theories in education, namely participatory literacy, but this approach has not been widely accepted by the field. In order to move beyond a skill–building curriculum entrenched in schooling methods of literacy development that could also garner broader field support, programs need another way of understanding learning and literacy. Evolving sociocultural ideas of both literacy and learning could provide this.

The closely aligned theoretical discussions of situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) and situated literacy (Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Hamilton, 2000) were used to explore literacy and learning activities in an adult literacy program that combined literacy education and employment preparation in three distinct learning settings. The parallel discussions provided a socioculturally–based framework that permitted a detailed analysis of what learning and literacy looked like. Guiding the study was the following question: How do situated views of literacy and learning contribute to an understanding of the employment preparation program and its three settings?

A qualitative case study design was used to shape data collection and analysis. The six data sources were 1) observations, 2) individual and small group interviews with eight students, 3) a group interview with the students, 4) a group interview with the instructors, 5) an analysis of documents such as planning materials, curriculum and student writing, and 6) a reflective journal. In–depth descriptions of the three settings were derived from a constant comparative method of data analysis.