LINGUIST List 21.2518
Mon Jun 07 2010
Diss: Applied Ling: Kerfoot: 'Changing Conceptions of Literacies, ...'
Editor for this issue: Mfon Udoinyang
<mfonlinguistlist.org>
1. Caroline
Kerfoot,
Changing Conceptions of Literacies, Language and Development: Implications for the provision of adult basic education in South Africa
Message 1: Changing Conceptions of Literacies, Language and Development: Implications for the provision of adult basic education in South Africa
Date: 02-Jun-2010
From: Caroline Kerfoot <kerfootmweb.co.za>
Subject: Changing Conceptions of Literacies, Language and Development: Implications for the provision of adult basic education in South Africa
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Institution: Stockholm University
Program: Centre for Research on Bilingualism
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2009
Author: Caroline Susan Kerfoot
Dissertation Title: Changing Conceptions of Literacies, Language and Development: Implications for the provision of adult basic education in South Africa
Dissertation URL: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?searchId=1&pid=diva2:212620
Linguistic Field(s):
Applied Linguistics
Dissertation Director:
Christopher Stroud
Dissertation Abstract:
This study aims to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on thecircumstances under which adult education, in particular adult basiceducation, can support and occasionally initiate participatory development,social action and the realisation of citizenship rights. It tracesdevelopments in adult basic education in South Africa, and morespecifically literacy and language learning, over the years 1981 to 2001,with reference to specific multilingual contexts in the Northern andWestern Cape.
The thesis is based on four individual studies, documenting an arc fromgrassroots work to national policy development and back. Study I, writtenin the early 1990s, critically examines approaches to teaching English toadults in South Africa at the time and proposes a participatory curriculummodel for the additional language component of a future adult educationpolicy. Study II is an account of attempts to implement this model andexplores the implications of going to scale with such an approach. StudiesIII and IV draw on a qualitative study of an educator development programmeafter the transition to democracy. Study III uses Bourdieu's theory ofpractice and the concept of reflexivity to illuminate some of theconnections between local discursive practices, self-formation, and broaderrelations of power. Study IV uses Iedema's (1999) concept ofresemiotisation to trace the ways in which individuals re-shaped availablerepresentational resources to mobilise collective agency in community-basedworkshops. The summary provides a framework for these studies by locatingand critiquing each within shifts in the political economy of South Africa.It reflects on a history of research and practice, raising questions to dowith voice, justice, power, agency, and desire. Overall, this thesis arguesfor a reconceptualisation of ABET that is more strongly aligned withdevelopment goals and promotes engagement with new forms ofstate/society/economy relations.
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