Challenging Representations: Constructing the Adult Literacy Learner Over 30 Years of Policy and Practice in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article addresses the question, How do changes in policy discourses shape public representations of literacy learners and the goals of adult literacy education? It examines specifically how the agency of adult literacy learners is constructed. We carry out a critical discourse analysis of two key adult literacy policy documents from the U.K.: the manifesto A Right to Read (British Association of Settlements, ) and Skills for Life: The National Strategy for Improving Adult Literacy and Numeracy Skills (Department for Education and Skills, ). We describe the overall structure and genre of the documents and analyze the semiotic resources in the texts to explore the discursive shaping of adult literacy learners. Our analysis shows that, while a functional discourse of individual deficit is prominent throughout the texts, each document expresses it differently. A discourse of rights and participation in the earlier text changes to a discourse of social inclusion, conditional on duty and responsibility and narrowed to the sphere of paid employment. The profiles of individual learners are heavily framed by the dominant discourses of literacy and education that constitute the texts. We argue that the discursive shifts we trace in these national documents relate to wider changes in notions of social disadvantage, rights and citizenship, and the emergence of literacy as a key indicator of progress. Our analysis demonstrates the powerful ways in which policy documents articulate relationships between national and transnational literacies.

Critical Discourse Analysis in Literacy Education: A Review of the Literature

“…They want to better understand how they are constructed/designed to help people gain access and/or better understand why powerful discourses hold the persuasive power that they do. Examples of studies that examine the discursive construction of policies include Dennis (), Gibb (), Hamilton and Pitt (), Johnson (, ), and Yamagami (). Other literacy researchers are interested in specific genres, such as young adolescent literature (e.g., Glenn, ; R. Rogers & Christian, ; Schieble ), or the notion of genre itself (e.g., Schaenen, ).…”

“…Moita‐Lopes (), in a study about “queering school literacy practices” (p. 33), begins with the idea of reflexivity and even discloses the sexual orientation of her two assistants but, oddly, engages in minimal reflexivity herself. Other studies with a low degree of reflexivity include Blum and Johnson (), Davison (), and Hamilton and Pitt ().…”

“…Other studies that concentrate on illustrating how inequalities are sustained through discourses include Hamilton and Pitt () and Trainor ().…”

Beyond Economic Interests

“…Grek, 2010;Hamilton, 2014;Hamilton & Pitt, 2011;Lo Bianco, 2008;Sellar & Lingard, 2013a, 2013bTett, 2014;Walker, 2009). In Australia where the editors of this volume are located, much of the discussion -the 'discursive rhetoric' (Black, Yasukawa, & Brown, 2015) that has traction with policy makers has been initiated and promoted by industry and employer groups, and as a result an economistic discourse has increasingly taken centre stage influencing: how literacy and numeracy are conceptualised, the rationale for programs, the ways learners are talked about, and how the professional identities of practitioners are formed.…”

Theorizing Boys’ Literacies and Boys’ Literatures in Contemporary Times

“…International educational policy has seen a noticeable emphasis on literacy over the last two decades, particularly among countries participating in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (Grek 2010;Hamilton 2014aHamilton , 2014bHamilton and Pitt 2011;Walker 2009). Such policy manifestations often evidence a conception of literacy based on functional skills (Sellar and Lingard 2013).…”