Exploring the Role of Literacy in Students' Writing Development in the Further Education and Vocational Education Sector

Abstract

This paper seeks to address an important issue in Further Education English studies: where the position of writing lies within instrumental models of literacy and how this can be challenged in a Further Education context by developing a more critical, pedagogical approach. Exploration of this issue is realised through discussions centred on the notion of ‘Functional Skills’, which explicate how a focus on ‘text’ types and skills acquisition fails to take into account the students’ own literacies and socially-situated cultural resources that often lie outside of the dominant ‘system’ of school writing. Two case studies of student writing that are positioned outside of qualification-led assessment convention will serve to illustrate and emphasise the rich literacies that these students have command of, and are inducted into. The paper concludes by championing a socially-situated definition of literacy that offers students the opportunity to demonstrate their competency in language in a manner they are comfortable with.

How to Cite

Smith, M., (2016) “Exploring the Role of Literacy in Students' Writing Development in the Further Education and Vocational Education Sector”, Teaching in Lifelong Learning 7(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/till.2016.714

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Michael Smith

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