  |
Life At The Margins:
Literacy, Language, and Technology in Everyday Life
Juliet Merrifield, Mary Beth Bingman, David Hemphill, and Kathleen P. Bennett deMarrais
Language and Literacy Series
Pub Date: 1997, 240 pages
Paperback: $22.95, ISBN: 0807736643
 
|
:
"Significantly challenges current assumptions about low-literate adults, including the deficit perspective on adult literacy learners, the literacy-employment equation, and the intergenerational cycle of illiteracy hypothesis."
—Elsa Auerbach, University of Massachusetts "This book makes statements about racism, about classism, about gender discrimination, and about language discrimination. The examples of courage and spirit are inspiring."
—Hannah Arlene Fingeret, Former executive director of Literacy South, Durham, NC Unlike many books about adult literacy, which focus on abstract concepts related to test scores, this volume develops an understanding of literacy through the engaging life stories of twelve adults from diverse backgrounds living in the United States. In the process of coming to know these adults, we learn, contrary to commonly held assumptions and beliefs about literacy, that adults with limited literacy skills work hard and long, make limited use of public resources, can use technology when shown, and have pride and self-respect. In addition to all of the scientific information and policy implications yielded by this research study, this is foremost a compelling story of human struggle and survival. Readers will find themselves caring about these adults—feeling angry about their underemployment and their pain and excited about their triumphs. |
