Session Information
27 SES 05 A, Teaching Literacy: Relationships with Contextual Literacy Practices
Paper Session
Contribution
Most occupations of today contain work tasks that involve interaction with texts of some sort (Karlsson 2006, Lindberg 2007). Notions such as the ‘Knowledge Society’ or the ‘New Work Order’ (Gee, Hull, Lankshear 1996) point to ideas of the changing nature of work, where tasks that previously were oral or tacit now involve reading and writing due to processes such as standardisation, “just-in-time” production, quality control systems, etc. which in turn lead to increased demands on documentation and reporting (Gee, Hull, Lankshear 1996, Karlsson 2014, Lindberg 2007). The institutional frameworks for written communication at work support the expression of certain aspects of vocational knowing, silencing others, thus creating dominant writing norms at the workplace (Karlsson 2014, Nikolaidou 2014). For instance have previous studies of literacy practices in work in elder care shown how the assistant nurses have to supress crucial aspects of their vocational knowing, especially vocational knowing that can be considered as personal, in order to follow the institutional norm (Karlsson 2014).
Previous studies of literacy practices in vocational education in turn point at a gap between what kind of reading and writing is afforded in vocational education, and the literacy practices at workplaces (Berglund 2009, Göransson 2004, Nikolaidou 2011). This gap can create hindrances for the vocational students participation in work tasks, if it means that they are hindered from developing crucial vocational knowing that is embedded in dominant literacy practices at the workplace. But the literacies at school can also function in a broadening sense, promoting new alternative perspectives (Lindberg 2003).
This paper will explore the relation between the workplace and school literacies afforded in the Swedish school-based upper secondary apprenticeship education within the health and social care sector, in order to discuss the participation made available for the apprentice-students. A starting point for this is a reading and re-adaption of Janks (2000, 2010) notion of critical literacies to the field of vocational education as a way to think about the dilemma between the need for the vocational students to get access to dominant forms of writing and reading within their occupational areas, at the same time as these literacy practices function in supressing way silencing vocational knowledge that is personal or supressing workers own professional discourses in favour of institutional discourses (Nikolaidou & Karlsson 2012).
Janks (2000, 2010) claims that ”If we provide students with access to dominant forms, this contributes to maintaining their dominance. If, on the other hand, we deny students access, we perpetuate their marginalisation in a society that continues to recognise the value and importance of these forms. This is what Lodge (1997) refers to as the access paradox.” (2000: 176) Thus it is of importance to research what kind of literacies vocational students are afforded during their education, both at the workplaces and in school to be able to discuss what kind of working life the vocational education is preparing them for.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Barton, D., & Hamilton, M. (2000). Literacy Practices. i D. Barton, M. Hamilton, R. Ivanic, D. Barton, M. Hamilton, & R. Ivanic (Red.), Situated literacies: Theorising reading and writing in context. London: Routledge. Barton, D. (2007). Literacy: an introduction to the ecology of written language. Malden: Blackwell. Gee, J. P., & Lankshear, C. (1995). The New Work Order: critical language awarness and "fast capitalism" texts. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education , 16 (1), 5-19, doi: 10.1080/0159630950160102 Gee, J.P., Hull, G. & Lankshear, C. (1996) The new work order: Behind the language of the new capitalism. Boulder: Westview Press. Hull, G. (1992). "Their Chances? Slim and None" An Ethnographic Acoount of the Experiences of Low-Income People of Color in a Vocational Program and at Work. Berkley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education. Hull, G. (1997) Hearing other voices: A critical assesment of popular views on literacy and work. In G. Hull. (Ed.), Changing Work, changing workers: Critical perspectives on language, literacy, and skills. (pp 3-42). Albany: State University of New York Press. Janks, H. (2002). Critical Literacy: Beyond Reason. The Australian Educational Researcher , 29 (1), 7-26. doi: 10.1007/BF03219767 Janks, H. (2010). Literacy and Power. London: Routledge. Janks, H. (2012). The importance of critical literacy. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 11(1), 150-163. http://education.waikato.ac.nz/research/files/etpc/files/ 2012v11n1dial1.pdf Karlsson, A.-M. (2006). En arbetsdag i skriftsamhället. Ett etnografiskt perspektiv på skriftanvändning i vanliga yrken. Stockholm: Språkrådet och Nordstedts. Karlsson, A-M, (2009) Lindberg, V. (2003). Vocational knowing and the content in vocational education. International Journal of Training Research. 1(2), 40-61. http://jtr.e-contentmanagement.com/archives/vol/1/issue/2/article/3145/vocational-knowing-and-the-content-in-vocational Nikoilaidou, Z. (2014). Dominant Workplace Literacies in Venacular Disguise. Disputable Discourses on the Production Floor. In A.-C. Edlund, L.-E. Edlund, & S. Haugen (Red.), Vernacula Literacies. Past, Present and Future. Umeå: Northern Studies Monograph 3 & Vardagligt skriftbruk 3. Nikolaidou, Z. (2015). Lean genereated documentation in the Swedish manufacturing industry. I L. Kahlin, M. Landqvist, & I. Tykesson (Red.), Språk och identitet: Rapport från ASLA:s symposium (ss. 107-121). Södertörns högskola.
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