This literature review expands and builds upon Luttrell's work by situating her critique within the larger contexts of adult education and literacy in North America, through an examination of theories of power and of the discourse on literacy and on education. To understand Luttrell's argument of the need to problematize teacher/student relationships and positioning, this literature review first looks at definitions and theories of power in relation to education, then examines the dominant ideologies within literacy and education discourse. The review of the literature finishes with a more in-depth discussion of Luttrell's work about the lopsided relationship and the principles of learning centred approaches.

Power Theories, Literacy & Education Discourse

One of the purposes of this chapter is to show how positions and roles of teacher and of student are related to the definitions and purposes of power and literacy within education. We give meanings to the roles and positions of teacher and student. The meanings we give to things are part of our discourse, which is a set of cultural practices or recognizable patterns of the ways humans are together in the world. Discourses are our ways of being, knowing and doing in the world (Lankshear, Gee, Knobel and Searle 1997). Discursive practices within discourses are the stories we believe, the stories we can tell and the practical engagements these stories imply (Lewis 1993). This includes stories about the meanings of student, of teacher and how these roles are enacted in the relations amongst students and teachers. The stories, or discursive practices, differ according to cultural groups and within cultural groups, and are differentiated by class, gender, sexual orientation, ability/disability, and ethnicity. Our ways of being as teachers and students are culturally and socially constructed; we are shaped by and we also shape the discursive practices.

The social practices within discourses also "signify positions in subjectivity which are always multiple and which are always negotiated within the broader political and economic relations that mark our day-to-day lives" (Lewis 1993:113). The broader political relations this thesis looks at are the definitions and purposes given to literacy and power, and how that is enacted within education. This study adopts the view that teachers and adult literacy students are differently empowered individuals. The power differentials are related to the cultural meanings we give to power, to literacy and to education.