Creating Community in Adult Literacy and Language Education: The Impact of Multiliteracies-Informed Curriculum Development

This qualitative study involved the creation of a unit of materials for adult literacy learners informed by design-based research (Anderson & Shattuck, 2012), multiliteracies theory (New London Group, 1996), and task repetition pedagogies (Hanzawa & Suzuki, 2023). While design-based research offered opportunities for collaboration and iteration between myself, as the researcher, and two in-practice language and literacy educators, multiliteracies theory and task repetition opened up pedagogical opportunities to honour the demands being placed on these two educators. Through developing the materials collaboratively and listening to the educators’ experiences, I sought to understand how they were impacted by a multiliteracies-informed curriculum. These educators were creating communities of belonging for adult literacy learners in a system which focused on deficiency. Their roles required a tolerance for complexity and creative pedagogies to bridge gaps between theory and practice. While a skill-focused approach to literacy remains part of these educators’ teaching realities, this study points to a need for fluid definitions of literacy which respond to changes in context and learners. Through this fluidity, adult literacy and language educators are better supported in imagining new literacy futures for their learners.