Abstract

The social practices framework has had a major impact on adult literacy and numeracy research over the past quarter century in the US, the UK and other countries. To date, the social practices view has had far less influence on the development of policies and programs in adult literacy and numeracy education. To help this happen, new kinds of assessment tools aligned with the social practices framework are needed to support appropriate changes in curriculum design, learner assessment and program evaluation.In this article research is presented that illustrates how measures of adults’ engagement in literacy and numeracy practices can be used in conjunction with well-entrenched proficiency measures to provide a richer quantitative framework for adult literacy and numeracy development. Longitudinal data about learners indicate that adult education programs are more closely aligned with practice engagement measures than with proficiency measures. Program participation leads to increased practice engagement that, over time, leads to the very gains in proficiency currently valued by policy makers.

Highlights

  • The social practices framework for literacy has had a major impact on adult literacy and numeracy research over the past quarter century

  • The new understandings and discourses about adult literacy and numeracy generated by the social practices approach offer an important foundation for change, there is great need to develop corresponding innovations in curriculum design, learner assessment and program evaluation that will help adult education programs and practitioners deal with pressing practical needs

  • The Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning (LSAL) followed a target population for adult education defined as residents of the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, aged 18-44, proficient but not necessarily native English speakers, high school dropouts and without a General Educational Development (GED) or other high school equivalency credential.ii A statistically representative sample of this population was drawn from two sampling frames: random-digit-dialing for the general population and enrolment forms from the three major adult education programs serving the Portland metropolitan area

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Summary

Introduction

The social practices framework for literacy has had a major impact on adult literacy and numeracy research over the past quarter century. Some literacy practices have been sociohistorically constructed to transcend the limits of the local (Brandt and Clinton 2002, Reder and Davila 2005) Another barrier may be the widespread polarisation of qualitative and quantitative methods in many fields of educational research, including research on adult literacy and numeracy. Purcell-Gates, Jacobson and Degener (2004) found that students from adult education programs that focus instruction around authentic literacy materials and practices report greater improvements in their literacy practices than students from programs not centered around authentic literacy practices Each of these studies suggests that systematic use of practices-based measures may be invaluable for understanding and improving programs, neither utilised measures satisfactory for use in longitudinal work, essential for addressing these types of research questions (Reder and Bynner 2008). The final section discusses the findings emerging from these analyses and their implications for reframing the dominant discourse about adult literacy and numeracy from its narrow focus on proficiency to a broader focus that includes literacy and numeracy practices

The Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning
Population and sample
Interviews and assessments
Some Key Recent Findings from LSAL
Changes in proficiency
Changes in practices
Practice Engagement Theory and the LSAL data
Findings
Discussion and conclusions
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