Charles Hayward

How about literacy classes for literacy learners and ESOL classes for ESOL learners?

acquiring vs. learning

Policy evolution in NZ

• 1996, IALS Survey• 2001, More than Words• 2002, TEC (funding)• 2003, Adult ESOL Strategy• 2004, NZSS• 2006, ALL• 2007 – 2012 TES• 2010 – 2015 TES• 2010, Getting Results in

Literacy and Numeracy

• LN on the radar• Adult Literacy Strategy• Labour Govt. $$• 50,000 / 250,000• Kiwi English• ‘Literacy Crisis’• Maori, Pasifika• Priority Groups• ‘literacy includes the

language needed to communicate for SOL’

What’s happening in Auckland?

Similar ends different means

Literacy learners• Fluent in English• Implicit grammar• Large vocabulary• Social empowerment

• Confident users of (written / read) English

ESOL learners• Vocab development• Grammar rules • Prosody• Linguistic approach

• Confident users of English

The Great Divide

Can literacy be measured? (Brian Street)

Autonomous model• Set of de-contextualised,

unchangeable (fixed) skills• Deficit measured• ‘functional’ skills taught / gainedJames Gee• Skills for the job market, • literacy quantified (bought and

sold)

The Literacy Myth (H.G. Graff, 1982)

Literacy autonomously :• Economic growth• Reduce poverty• Reduces crime• Promote democracy• Increase civic

engagement• Prevent AIDS / other

diseases

• Increase cultural diversity

• Lowers birth-rates• Increase productivity• Able to participate in ...• Less waste / re-work• Fewer accidents• Higher morale• Staff retention

Newly converted!!!

‘Unambiguously represents meaning’

• Not dependent on knowledge of context• ‘Essay-text’ form of meaning• One cultural interpretation among many• Ideological basis for schools and unis

• Vygotsky, Scribner, Cole, - tests of explicitness

Explicitness continuum

Syntactic mode• Precisely encode• Varied lexical items• Explicit syntactic

structures• Meaning from grammar

and lexis• Social interaction

downplayed

Pragmatic mode• Loose strings of clauses• Prosodic devices• Hearer’s inferences• Shared knowledge• Social interaction /

participation of listener

syntactic mode = essay text

• Easy to measure the 4 skills• Bench mark tests: IELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL• 4 or 5 paragraph essay• Deficit model• Stair-casing / scaffolding• Record incremental progress• Grammar, lexis, functions

A real English teacher!

Settlement in Glasgow

Kiwi English

pragmatic mode = context

• Community of practice• Workplace culture• Codes• Jargon• Relationships• Relations of power• Office politics• Shared history

Ideological model• Literacy practices

community of practice

Can not ‘use multiplication and division strategies to solve problems that involve

proportions, ratios and rates’

Dr. Stephen Black

• The ‘literacy crisis’ – crisis rhetoric• Deficit-oriented, individualistic, education via

measurement and control• a range of different literacy and numeracy ‘practices’

at work rather than a set of universal literacy and numeracy ‘skills’

• This approach requires an ethnographic-type of analysis involving close observations and dialogue with those engaged with workplace practices – the workers

Phil Cave, Manufacturing Manager, Thames Timber

Training Goals:• Improve the bottom line• Understand business kpi’s• Sustainable training culture for years to come• Improve Literacy, Numeracy and Leadership

for (25) First Line Management leaders• Foundation and motivation for future NZQA

quals

In-house Literacy, Language and Numeracy (LLN) Initiatives in New Zealand Workplaces

• Department of labour 2009• Employers who chose to set up (and meet the

costs of) their own LLN initiatives• Business based outcomes vs education-based

outcomes (Government / Provider)• ‘some companies will always prefer to fund

and deliver their own LLN initiatives’ (Department of Labour, 2009, p. 44).

TEC funded PD

NCALE• Autonomous model• Deficit model• Stigma• Fill up with essay-text /

school ‘skills’• Valid for measuring

increased productivity?

MAdLitNumEd• Ideological model• Access to

Communities of Practice

• Social Practices / NLS

Traditional / emerging approaches

• Autonomous model• Syntactic mode• Essay-text literacy• Focus on the individual• Literacy classes• Standardised tests

• Ideological model• Pragmatic mode• Community of practice• Focus on social context• Embedded learning• Competence in context

How do we measure ‘pragmatic’ competence?

• Achieving competence in unit standards (pc’s)• Study skills unit standards added to quals• Induction training• Lean manufacturing• Assessment centres

Synergies for Numerate and Literate New Zealanders

Language learners• There needs to be a

‘language’ component (53% of workers in Ak were born outside NZ)

• Language learners have specific needs, different from literacy learners

Literacy learners NQF 1-3• Social practices model• Ethnographic workplace

understanding• Taught in context• Assessed in context

Any questions?charles.hayward@englishlanguage.org.nz