Chapter One: Introduction

This chapter gives an explanation of the impetus for the research study and its significance in the field of adult literacy. The key concepts of abundance and disruption are introduced and woven through a description of my fieldwork location and the outline of my theoretical framework.

Why this Research

This research was initially triggered by a personal need to find out some good that was happening in adult literacy education. Having recently shifted from early childhood education to adult education, I received my first introduction to the field of adult literacy, the theories of Paulo Freire and issues of power in education during the completion of a literacy instructor certificate. I embraced all three wholeheartedly. But I was appalled and disheartened by what I learned through my practicum experiences, my observations of literacy programs and my literacy tutoring experiences. In these experiences, I learned about demoralization and debilitation within programs and classrooms, about the narrow perspective of what constitutes literacy and literacy education, and about the lack of respect and value for the adult literacy field itself.

My teaching practicum in an adult literacy classroom exposed me to administrative stereotyping of adults with low literacy skills and abuse of teacher authority and power. During my interview with a potential practicum supervisor, I was questioned about which "side" I was on regarding literacy teaching philosophy. The literacy instructor rolled her chair very close to mine, and leaning inches away, boomed, "Are you Freirian or are you skills-based?" This same literacy instructor informed me that she was there to teach reading, writing, and math skills and she was not interested in the students' lives or what they did with their literacy skills in their lives. Another experience that deeply influenced me was joining a community literacy organization that had a tendency to missionize literacy and had a condescending attitude towards learners. These experiences fueled a desire to understand the broader context and roots of such behaviour and to explore ways to influence change.

During my graduate studies I interviewed several literacy practitioners to explore their understandings of the present issues and to deepen my understanding of the field. I heard about teacher burnout, lack of support for literacy instructors, and the consequences of insecure and piecemeal funding. Literacy practitioners talked to me about the marginalization of literacy programs within the university-college setting, and the marginalization of themselves as teachers, and their students as learners. I heard about the funding priority of employment training over literacy education, and the need to "sneak in" a literacy component to most of the job training programs at a private college.