Literacy in the Lives of Working-Class Adults in Australia: Dominant Versus Local Voices

Adopting a 'social practice' approach to literacy research based on ethnographic methods, this book provides a strong critique of dominant understandings of the role of literacy in the lives of adults in Australia. It explores how groups of working-class adults can manage the literacy practices of their everyday lives by drawing on social networks of support. It is based on research conducted by the author over a forty-year career in adult literacy education, featuring the voices of varied adult groups, including: prisoners, the long-term unemployed, local council workers, manufacturing workers, adult literacy students, marginalised young people, vocational students, and patients living with a chronic illness (type 2 diabetes). Each chapter explains how dominant society views these adult groups in relation to literacy, and provides a qualitative examination at the local level of how members of these groups manage the literacy practices of their everyday lives.

• | Author: Stephen Black
• | Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• | Publication Date: Jun 26, 2025
• | Number of Pages: 00240 pages
• | Binding: Paperback or Softback
• | ISBN-10: 1350378119
• | ISBN-13: 9781350378117