From the Escuela Moderna to the Työväen Opisto: Reading, (W)Riting, and Revolution, the 3 'Rs' of Expanded Proletarian Literacy
Gary Kaunonen
Abstract
In working class education, one of the primary goals in addition to basic literacy was the formulation of class-based interpretations of society. In the late 19th and early 20th century, as literacy programs began to filter into the lives of proletariat, an attempt to expand the definition of literacy past basic reading and writing skills occasioned the rise of institutions that defined literacy as not only reading and writing, but also knowledge of class and economic theory. Thus, these early proletarian programs developed a broader definition of literacy, past basic reading and writing programs, to class-based educational curriculum.
Tactics and Strategies of Relationship-Based Practice: Reassessing the Institutionalization of Community Literacy
Paul Feigenbaum
Abstract
This essay revises Paula Mathieu’s call for relationship-based tactics of engagement over institution-based strategies. Because engaged scholars operate within institutional contexts, they should utilize both tactics and strategies to make the academic institutional paradigm more conducive to relationship-based engagement. In supporting this long-term goal, community-literacy practitioners can adapt Brian Huot’s theory of instructive evaluation to enable collaborative assessment of community partnerships. One possible mechanism for such institutional invention would be the establishment of quasi-strategic, quasi-tactical Community-Literacy Associations.
'The English Effect' on Amish Language and Literacy Practices
Tabetha Adkins
Abstract
Using Jack Goody and Ian Watt’s theory of literacy as a normalizing agent, I show how the presence of the English language and “English Only” values and policies have affected the Amish and their home language, Pennsylvania Dutch, and their religious language, “High” German. These changes are seen as detrimental to the Amish who, like linguistic scholars William Labov, John E. Joseph, and Joshua A. Fishman, equate language with identity.
Adult Basic Education and Health Literacy: Program Efforts and Perceived Student Needs
Michael Mackert, Meg Poag
Abstract
This project examined health literacy efforts among adult basic education providers in Central Texas. Methods: A survey was conducted with all adult literacy providers in Central Texas (N=58).
Results: Most programs provide health-related information. Literacy programs see needs for helping students communicate with doctors, filling out insurance paperwork, and knowing where to go for treatment. Programs express interest in lessons designed to improve health literacy and networking workshops to collaborate with healthcare providers.
Conclusion: Literacy providers recognize the health literacy needs of their students but do not always have the resources or capacity to improve their programs.
Mediation and Legal Literacy
Elizabeth C. Tomlinson
Abstract
This study uses fieldwork to investigate the sponsorship of legal literacy within a court mediation program. This examination of institutional involvement in literacy sponsorship demonstrates the ideological nature of literacy by showing the importance of context, investigating literacy-based relationships, and uncovering the intertwined nature of oral and written forms of discourse. Little research has examined the sponsor’s perspective on literacy, and this study also examines how sponsors may accrue and distribute benefits. Further, the study explicates an approach to literacy sponsorship through mediation which, while still embedded with disparate power relations, may provide an equitable literacy sponsorship model for other community organizations.
From Read Ahead to Literacy Coalition: The Leadership Role of the Central New York Community Foundation in the Creation of a Local Institution
Frank Ridzi
Abstract
This paper applies the lens of recent literature on neoinstitutionalism and institutional entrepreneurship to understand the stages of growth in a new community Literacy Coalition. It explores the interactional, technical and cultural phases of institution building identified in other case studies as they emerge in this community study. Finally, it emphasizes the work of local institutional entrepreneurs and acknowledges the involvement of macro-level institutional entrepreneurs that coordinate the approach of communities such as this one and help to bring about the isomorphic qualities seen in coalitions across the nation.
ISSN: 1555-9734