Literacy in the Lives of Working-Class Adults in Australia

<b>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.</b> 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).<br/> <br/>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.