PERCEPTIONS OF LITERACY AMONG CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE ADULT SECONDARY EDUCATION GRADUATES: A CASE STUDY OF STUDENT EXPERTISE FOR ENGAGING CULTURALLY SUSTAINING PEDAGOGIES

Abstract

As U.S. classrooms grow in diversity, a conscious effort has been made to decenter whiteness as the standard, and instead embrace students’ cultural and linguistic diversity as valuable to pedagogical practice and to engage social justice. Literacy educators look to culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP) to move beyond simply acknowledging the relevance of student diversity for instruction, to welcoming students’ home languages and cultural knowledge and perspectives into the classroom. However, research on the cultural practices and knowledge that adult secondary education students deem relevant to nurturing a culturally sustaining literacy education is quite limited. As most adult literacy and adult secondary education students self-identify as culturally and linguistically diverse, it is imperative that their perspectives on literacy education that sustains their cultures, knowledge, and identities be included in the discourse. The following dissertation is a qualitative case study of adult secondary education graduates from a high school equivalency diploma program. The purpose of the research is to explore adult secondary education students’ definitions of literacy, characterizations of the funds of identity and funds of knowledge relevant to literacy education, and suggestions for using culturally sustaining pedagogies for socially just literacy education. Theoretical frameworks for the study are Critical Race Theory, Funds of Knowledge and Funds of Identity, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies. Data sources include qualitative interviews, participant-written responses, and participant-identified literacy artifacts. In addition to expanding culturally sustaining pedagogy research, this study invites adult education students to share their expertise on approaching social justice in the adult education literacy classroom.