presentation at Lit Up Literacy Forum at the State Library of NSW

1. Keiko Yasukawa
School of Education, University of Technology Sydney
Adult literacy learners’ stories:
analysis and reflections
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2. Acknowledgements to …
All the adult learners in Australia and
the UK who shared their stories with
us, and the teachers who supported
them
Tara Furlong
Michael Chalk
Ros Bauer
Julie Furnivall
Lynda Cameron
ACAL
RaPAL
NSWALNC
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3. The project
A joint initiative of the Australian Council
for Adult Literacy (ACAL)and the UK
Research and Practice in Adult Literacy
(RaPAL).
Shared concern about the invisibility of the
learners in popular discourses about
literacy.
An opportunity to give voice to the adult
learners’ experiences of learning and
literacy in their lives.
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4. Why learner stories?
Celebrating the experiences and
achievements of adult learners
Looking for saliences across the
Australian and UK adult learners’
experiences
Influencing policy by weaving
learners’ stories and lives into the
statistics about adult literacy
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5. And why resilience?
a strong, common theme
emerging from the lives and
experiences of the learners
across Australia and the UK
(and probably beyond)
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6. What did the stories tell us?
An analysis using ‘the capabilities
approach’:
A literacy capability is the ability
to achieve a desired purpose by
applying appropriate skills in a
specific situation of engagement
with texts.
(St Clair, 2010, p. 35)
economic
health
cognitivefamily
social &
political
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7. Why literacy matters …
Through going to the writing class, I've gained
employment as a support tutor there. (Lindsay)
… for me to have a constant source of work, I
needed to improve my English…have to use a
computer or do some kind of paperwork at
home or at work. It's part of life. You can't hide
from it…. Improving my English has also helped
me in my workplace in many different ways. It
gives you self-confidence. I have been the
Health & Safety Rep for over 3 years now.
Sometimes you'll have to read things out. I was
terrified of that kind of thing in the past. (Mark)
economic
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8. Why literacy matters …
Before I didn't feel comfortable to speak to
people in the street or at doctors or
phoning the bank - now I can. … And
confidently. For legal things I need to really
understand properly and speak exactly the
right words in English, and Fran helped me
get it right. And she helped me when
sorting housing was difficult…. I am
meeting lots of new friends in the
community and I am able to look after
older people who don't have families with
them. (Jasima)
social &
political
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9. Why literacy matters …
My mum came to the classes
and I understood her more as a
person, not just a parent…. I
have developed strong family
and social networks… (Amanda)
I help my children with
homework and I talk to my
children in English… (Issak)
family
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10. Why literacy matters
Reading and writing started to get easier
for me and before I knew it I was reading
a book. I never thought I would do that
but I'm reading now and I'm enjoying this
for the first time in my life. I'm reading
and writing like there is no tomorrow. …
Since I left the TAFE class I went on to do
more study! … I'm now in training to be TA
(training assessor)... I get a kick out of
helping people do their test ...I tell them I
can understand what they are going
through because I was once like that
myself. (Brett)
cognitive
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11. Why literacy matters …
Another plus is being able to read
instructions for myself, and not relying
on someone else to do it for me.
Medication was always a difficult one
because that's something you can't
really safely guess at, but sometimes I
did! (Stewart)
Before I would be scared to speak, and
take a friend with me to the doctor to
speak for me - now I go by myself.
(Jasima)
health
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12. Literacy matters in complex,
interlocking ways …
confidence
independence
feeling
connected
skilled
self-worth
hope
goal-setting
pride
identity
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13. Why student stories matter ….
Learners, volunteers, and staff collaborate
together on projects which promote the
utilisation of learners' interpretations of the
world …. The kind of relations set up in
community based literacy programmes are
not representative of the way things work in
other community or social settings where
those with the greatest social privileges such
as wealth and education are the ones whose
voices are heard and who give direction. In
these small community based programmes,
the learners are the experts. (Gaber-Katz,
1996, pp. 54-55)
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14. A word of caution about student stories …
Adult learners’ life histories are typically not
neatly ‘ordered’ and able to be written as a
story line with a neat resolution.
Teachers need to be critically aware and
sensitive to what they are suggesting
learners write, and why.
Teaching a traditional story genre to write
life histories may lead to the production of
fictional life histories.
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15. A word of caution about …
…. the life histories produced by adult
learners in our classrooms are, in
important senses, fictions. The
provocativeness of this claim depends in
part on the everyday meaning of the word
fiction—something that is untrue,
invented; fiction as opposed to fact—and I
argue that we may not so much be
allowing students to discover and express
a "true" self as we are teaching them to
invent one.
(Michelson, 2001, p. 5)
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16. References:
Gaber-Katz, E 1996, The use of story in critical
literacy practice. Gender and Education, 8(1),
49-60.
Michelson, E. (2011). Autobiography and
selfhoods in the practice of adult learning.
Adult Education Quarterly, 61(1), 3-21.
St Clair, R 2010, Why literacy matters:
understanding the effects of literacy education
for adults, NIACE, Leicester.
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17. THANK YOU
For a free e-copy of Resilience:
https://acal.edu.au/resilience-stories-of-adult-learning/
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