DOCUMENT RESUME ED 384 707 CE 067 996 TITLE Literacies am the Workplace: A Collection of Original Essays. EAE646 Language and Literacies: Contexts and Challenges in the Workplace. INSTITIMON Deakin Univ., Victoria (Australia). SPONS AGENCY Victorian Education Foundation. REPORT NO ISBN-0-7300-1923-3 PUB DATE 94 NOTE 196p. AVAILABLE FROM Adult and Workplace Education, Faculty of Education, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3217 ($20 Australian). PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Instructional Materials (For Learner) (051) EDRS :MICE MF01/PC08 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adult Basic Education; *Adult Literacy; Classroom Techniques; Competency Based Education; Educational Needs; Educational Objectives; Educational Practices; *Education Work Relationship; *English (Second Language); Essays; Foreign Countries; *Literacy Education; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Teaching Methods; *Technological Literacy; Unemployment IDENTIFIERS *Australia; Great Britain; Japan; United states; *Workplace Literacy ABSTRACT This book is part of the study materials for the distance education course, Language and Literacies: Contexts and Challenges in the Workplace, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University. It contains five essays about literacies in the workplace. The "Introduction" (Mike Brown) discusses the following topics: literacies in the workplace: competing discourses in TAFE curriculum; the competency agenda; planning and competency-based training (CBT); reviewing a self-paced professional development package on CBT; flexible learning; and discourses for a democratic curriculum. The essay "Literacies, Workplaces and the Demands of New Times" (Allan Levett, Colin Lankshear) develops the case that workplace literacy is a distinctive facet of adult literacy which in turn is part of lifelong education. The following topics are examined in "Fears, Fantasies and Futures in Workers' Literacy" (Peter O'Connor): developing a critical theory of workers' education, the context for workers' literacy, individual skills for individual problems, neo-Fordism and the Shamrock theory, economic rationalism, and a critical workers literacy. "Language Learning and the New Industry Context: Issues of Language. and Power" (Crina Virgona) addresses the following: English language teaching practice, language theory as a corollary to teaching practice, Fairclough's approach and the relationship between language and power, and industrial cultures and their training implications. The following topics are discussed in "'Just Like Farmland and Goldmines': Workplace Literacies in an Era of Long-Term Unemployment" (Rosie Wickert, Mike Baynham): the context for workplace literacies in new times, the theoretical underpinnings of the "new literacy studies," and investigations of literacy practices in context. All five essays contain bibliographies. (MN) O 00 IC) I U 4!: ' A., 'at LITERACIES AND THEWORKPLACE ACOLLECTION OF ORIGINALESSAYS OF EOUCATION U.S. DIPASITIOIENTRrourch and Improvomnt (Wit of Etloostsorwl REPRODUCE THIS INFORMATION "PERMISSION TO BY TIONAL RESOURCES BEEN GRANTED E0 CENTER (ERIC) MATERIAL HAS hat Wintdorddycd as movedis CIOCUTIlint from IMpotion ororoanitalion onounting st to improv 0 Minor ohMpsNov* boon rnird IOroductoon Quallty stated in docu- Pants of vow or oornions ottoetal rnnt do notncsanly rprnt RESOURCES ofpolicy EDUCATIONAL OEM Potiteoll TO THE (ERIC).- INFORMATION CENTER INTRODUCTION .BY MIKE BROWN 2 EAE646 LANGUAGE AND LITERACIES: CONTEXTS AND CHALLENGES IN THE WORKPLACE LITERACIES AND THE WORKPLACE: A COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL ESSAYS INTRODUCTION BY MIKE BROWN Deakin University This book has been produced as part of the study materials for EAE646 Language and Literacies: Contexts and Challenges in the Workplace, which is one of the units offered by the Faculty of Education in Deakin University's Open Campus Program. It has peen prepared for the unit team, whose members are: Mike Brown Salty Leavold Doris Tate Steve Wright. The study materials include: Literacies and the Workplace: A Collection of Original Essays' Literacies and the Workplace: A Reader J. Newcombe, Literacy at Work: The Workplace Basic Education Project Model of Delivery' These books may brr purchased from the Faculty of Education, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3217. Enrolled students also receive a course guide. Published by Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3217 Distributed by Deakin University Faculty of Education First published 1994 © Deakin University 1994 Edited, designed and typeset by Deakin University Course Development Centre Printed by Deakin University National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-publication data Literacies and the workplace: a collection of original essays. Includes bibliographies. ISBN 0 7300 1923 3. 4 1. Functional literacyAustralia. 2. Literacy programsAustralia. 3. Elementary education of adultsAustralia. 4. EmployeesTraining ofAustralia. 1. Deakin University. Faculty of Education. Open Campus Program. 374.0120994 Acknowlsdgmonts Quotations on pp.4-5, 90-1, 99 & 167-8 from Social linguistics ane Literacies: Ideology in Oiscourses reproduced by kind permission of the publisher and the author. Material on pp.14-18 reproduced by kind permission of Moorabbin College of TAFE. Text 3 on p.120 reproduced by kind permission of the AFMEU Vehicle Division (previously the Vehicle Builders Union), Vic. Transcripts On pp.171-3, 175 & 176-8 reproduced by kind permission of the authors. Figs 2 & 3 on pp.9 & 10 reproduced by kind permission of NCVER Ltd. Fig. 1 on p.70 reproduced by kind permission of Routledge (previously Unwin Hyman). Cartoons on pp.3 & 11 reproduced by kind permission of the Age and the cartoonist. Development of the Graduate Diploma of Industrial and Adult Education was funded in part by the Victorian Education Foundation. 4 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 113 CONTENTS SERIES INTRODUCTION V NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS VII INTRODUCTION 1) MIKE BROWN LITERACIES AND THE WORKPLACE: COMPETING DISCOURSES IN TAFE CURRICULUM 2 THE COMPETENCY AGENDA 6 8 PLANNING AND CBT REVIEWING A SELF-PACED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PACKAGE ON CBT 12 20 FLEXIBLE LEARNING DISCOURSES FOR A DEMOCRATIC CURRICULUM 20 22 CONCLUSION 23 REFERENCES LITERACIES, WORKPLACES AND THE DEMANDS OF pe- NEW TIMES 25 ) ALLAN LEVETT AND COLIN LANKSHEAR 25 INTRODUCTION 27 NEW TIMES NEW REQUIREMENTS OF WORKPLACES 35 44 LITERACY 52 REFERENCES 54 BIBLIOGRAPHY FEARS, FANTASIES AND FUTURES IN WORKERS'LITERACY55 ) PETER O'CONNOR 55 LOOKING TO THE FUTURE 57 STARTING IN OUR OWN BACKYARD 63 A CONTEXT FOR WORKERS' LITERACY 82 IN THE SERVICE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALISM 88 PROMISING THE IMPOSSIBLE 92 TOWARDS A CRITICAL WORKERS LITERACY 97 BACK TO THE FUTURE 99 REFERENCES it LANGUAGE LEARNING AND THE NEW INDUSTRY CONTEXT: ISSUES OF LANGUAGE AND POWER 103 ) CRINA VIRGONA INTRODUCTION 103 A GLIMPSE AT ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING PRACTICE 104 A GLIMPSE AT LANGUAGE THEORY AS A COROLLARY TO TEACHING PRACTICE 106 FAIRCLOUGH'S APPROACH-LANGUAGE AND POWER 116 INDUSTRIAL CULTURES 123 TRAINING IMPLICATION 140 CONCLUSION 146 REFERENCES 147 BIBLIOGRAPHY 148 APPENDIX 150 'JUST LIKE FARMLAND AND GOLDMINES': WORKPLACE LITERACIES IN AN ERA OF LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT153 ) ROSIE WICKERT AND MIKE BAYNHAM INTRODUCTION 153 THE CONTEXT FOR WORKPLACE LITERACIES IN NEW TIMES 154 THE THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THE 'NEW LITERACY STUDIES' 155 INVESTIGATING LITERACY PRACTICES IN CONTEXT: SETTING THE RESEARCH AGENDA 165 INVESTIGATIONS OF LITERACY IN CONTEXT 169 THE WAY FORWARD 180 CONCLUSIONS 181 REFERENCES 183 6 SERIES INTRODUCTION The nature and purpose of education in the workplace has been the subject of much debate in Australia in recent years. While the vagaries of local and international competition have led many firms to reconsider the role of their workforce and the training reruirements this entails, governments have been equally keen to adapt existing education systems to the perceived needs of industry. Leading union bodies have been distinguished in this debate by their pro-active role, outlining the path by which a reconstructed industrial climate can win the nation a new place in the world economy. The study materials of which this volume is a part explore the approaches to learning currently modelled within industry. In the process the question inevitably arises as to whether existing orientations and practices are in the best interests of the various stakeholders in the workplace. The arguments developed in these volumes address themselves to a range of contemporary issues in industrial education. To date, prevailing approaches have rested upon narrow, instrumentalist notions of learning; in their different ways, the writers have set out to challenge this orthodoxy.In doing so, they highlight the silenceson questions of gender, class or ethnicitythat underpin the behaviourist outlook still dominant in the world of training. In preparing these study materials, the course team has sought to address issues that are of fundamental concern to those involved in the complex and demanding field of workplace learning. It is hoped that, in its own modest way, the pedagogy we have developed can serve to exemplify a different notion of what industrial education might become. NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Mike Baynham works at the University of Technology, Sydney, where he teaches on the ABE and TESOL programs and is Director of the Centre for Language and Literacy. Before coming to Australia in 1989, he worked for many years as a teacher and organiser in Adult BasicEducation