Australian Journal of Adult Learning - Volume 64 - Number 3 - Adult (multi)literacies for global equity/social justice in challenging times

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa

Adult (multi)literacies for global equity/social justice in challenging times critiques the idea of literacy as a single unified concept and argues it no longer fits a world marked by competing challenges and contradictions. It presents how adult literacy is shifting toward broader, visually and relationally grounded communication beyond reading and writing, linking multiliteracies to education’s capacity to respond to health crises, poverty, conflict, and climate pressures. Using an asset-based lens, it questions exclusionary colonial literacy practices and explores inclusive learning understandings.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Adult (multi)literacies for global equity/social justice in challenging times

Reframing literacy beyond reading and writing

Asset-based, inclusive understandings of learning

Challenging colonial and exclusionary literacy practices

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 64, Number 3, November 2024 Adult (multi)literacies for global equity/social justice in challenging times Kathy Sanford University of Victoria, Canada Bruno de Oliveira Jayme University of Manitoba, Canada Tanya Manning-Lewis Thompson Rivers University, Canada Literacy as a unified concept is no longer valid or useful for today’s complex world, where globally we face many challenges and contradictions. Adult literacy is shifting rapidly, and the human need for visually communicating meaningfully and relationally-beyond‘reading and writing’ -is vital for addressing wicked problems and difficult times. In this paper we ask,“What does ‘literacy’ mean for us now, as we prepare new generations of people, as we address severe health issues, poverty, state conflicts and the climate crisis is looming?”How can expanded understandings of‘literacy’offer educational hope and possibility for the many adults who have been shut out of the literacy club? How do we challenge the exclusionary colonial practices of ‘literacy’ and education that leave many bereft and having to settle for lives with limited opportunities and successes? 448 Kathy Sanford, Bruno de Oliveira Jayme and Tanya Manning-Lewis In the adult education practices we employ, we are looking beyond conventional ‘classroom’ and ‘literacy’viewpoints to develop expanded and inclusive understandings of learning. In this paper, we share stories of encounters we have had with individuals who have, indifferent ways, been previously excluded from opportunities offered through learning ‘literacy.’ Using an asset-based lens, we consider ways in which these individuals have learned, and ways we have learned from them, as we collectively question the usefulness of colonial conceptions that limit, rank, classify and assign status by particular‘literacy’standards. Keywords: multiliteracies, adult education, social semiotics, international, alternative Adult (multi)literacies for global equity/social justice in challenging times Literacy as a unified concept is no longer valid or useful for today’s complex world, where globally we face many challenges and contradictions.Adult literacy is shifting rapidly, and the human need for visually communicating meaningfully and relationally--beyond‘reading and writing’--is vital for addressing wicked problems and difficult times. As noted by Cope and Kalantzis (2023),“To state the all too obvious, the world has changed dramatically”.In this paper we ask,“What does ‘literacy’mean for us now, as we prepare new generations of people, as we address severe health issues, poverty, state conflictsand the climate crisis is looming?” How can expanded understandings of ‘literacy’ offer educational hope and possibility for the many adults who have been shutout of the literacy club? How do we challenge the exclusionary colonial practices of‘literacy’and education that leave the many bereft and having to settle for lives with limited opportunities and successes? In the adult education practices we employ, we are looking beyond conventional‘classroom’and ‘literacy’viewpoints to develop expanded and inclusive understandings of learning.We share stories of encounters we have had with individuals who have, in different ways, been previously excluded from opportunities offered through learning Adult (multi)literacies for global equity/social justice in challenging times 449 ‘literacy’.Using an asset-based lens, we consider ways in which these individuals have learned, and ways we have learned from them, as we collectively challenge colonial conceptions that limit, rank, classify and assign status by particular ‘literacy’standards.We consider how, through these exclusive colonial practices, educators have created the need for remedial‘adult literacy’programs that do not value multiliteracies that individuals offer. We begin by challenging normative uses of the terms ‘literacy’and ‘multi-literacy’, par

FAQs

Why does the paper argue that treating literacy as a unified concept is no longer useful?

It states that literacy-as-one concept cannot adequately address today’s complex global challenges and contradictions, and that adult literacy must shift toward broader communication needs.

What expanded view of literacy does the paper advocate?

It argues for understandings of literacy that go beyond reading and writing, emphasizing visually communicating meaningfully and relationally, grounded in social contexts.

How does the paper propose to challenge exclusionary colonial practices in adult education?

It uses an asset-based lens to question colonial conceptions that limit, rank, classify, and assign status through particular literacy standards, highlighting the value multiliteracies offer adults who have been excluded.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa