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Overview
"....undeterred by sociological pessimism, Colin Lankshear hacks away at the underbrush, clearing a path for a new critical-liberatory discourse"James Paul Gee, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts.
This book explores everyday social practices and how they influence who people are, what they become, the quality of their lives, the opportunities and possibilities open to them, and those they are denied. It focusses especially on language and literacy components of social practices, asking:
* How are language and literacy framed within different social practices?
* How are social practices in turn shaped and framed by language and literacy?
* What are the consequences for the lives and identities of individuals and groups?
* How can we understand these relationships, and build on this understanding to develop critical forms of literacy and language awareness that enhance human dignity, freedom and social justice?
In addressing these questions the book draws on social practices from diverse settings: from classrooms using conventional texts to so-called "enchanted workplaces"; from a Third World peasant cooperative enterprise to modern technologically-equipped homes and classrooms. The result is a rich sociocultural account of language and literacy, which challenges narrow psychological and skills-based approaches, and provides an excellent theory base for informing the practice of literacy educators.
It will be compelling reading for academics, teachers and students of language and literacy education, critical literacy, discourse studies and cultural studies.
Colin Lankshear began his academic career in NewZealand, as an educational philosopher. His interest in the work of Paulo Freire led him to researching literacy within school, community, and workplace settings spanning the First and Third Worlds. He is currently Professor and research coordinator in language and literacy education at the Queensland University of Technology. His books include Literacy, Schooling and Revolution, Critical Literacy: Politics, Praxis and the Postmodern (edited with Peter McLaren), and The New Work Order: Behind the Language of the New Capitalism (with James Paul Gee and Glynda Hull).
James Paul Gee is the Jacob Hiatt Professor of Education at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts. His books include Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideologies in Discourses, The Social Mind, and The New Work Order.
Michele Knobel lectures in language and literacy education at the Queensland University of Technology. Her research and publishing interests address children's classroom and out-of-school language and literacy practices, technological literacies, and second language learning.
A former Headteacher of a secondary school, Chris Searle is now a Lecturer in English in Education at Goldsmiths College, London.