Expanding Literacies

English Teaching and the New Workplace

Edited by Mary Sue Garay & Stephen A. Bernhardt

Subjects: Education
Series: SUNY series, Literacy, Culture, and Learning: Theory and Practice
Paperback : 9780791436769, 383 pages, February 1998
Hardcover : 9780791436752, 383 pages, March 1998

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Table of contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Section One: Considering the New Literacies

1. Of Work and English
Mary Sue Garay

2. Toward a Working English for Twenty-First-Century Schools and Colleges
Mary Sue Garay

3. Work in Transition: Trends and Implications
Stephen A. Bernhardt and Bruce W. Farmer

4. Technology, Education, and Workplaces of the Future: A Parent's View
Patricia Sullivan

Section Two: The New Workplace in Context

5. Beyond Basics: Workplace Skills in the New Manufacturing Environment
Sally K. Robinson

6. Technical and Political Literacy: Training and Communicating in the Nuclear Power Industry
Carolyn Boiarsky and Sarah Liggett

7. Literacy Practices in the Healthcare Industry: The Challenge for Teachers
Paul R. Meyer and Patricia Teel Bates

8. Workers at Risk: Or, How You Read and Write Might Save Your Life
Beverly Sauer

Section Three: Classrooms Sensitive to the New Workplace

9. Transferring Writing Knowledge to the Workplace, Are We on Track?
Anne Beaufort

10. Adjusting School Writing Curricula to Reflect Expanded Workplace Writing
Larry Mikulecky

11. Tech-Prep Concepts and the English Classroom: All Students Must Be Work-Ready
Gregory Johnson and Robert Taylor

12. Secondary Technical Communication: Moving Beyond Vocational English
Mary Helen Steinauer and Janet Hyden

13. Workplace Literacy and the Two-Year College: Democratic Vistas
Katherine E. Staples and Pamela S. Ecker

14. Preparing All Students for the New Workplace Literacy: Avenues for English Instruction in High Schools and Colleges
David A. Jolliffe

15. Creating Partnerships for Literacy in the College Workplace
Libby Falk Jones

16. The Oregon Initiative: Pursuing America's Choice for High Skill Schooling
Del Schalock and Joyce M. Reinke

Section Four: Bridges Between Education and Business

17. Partnerships: Intellectual and Institutional Relationships between Education and Business
Jeanne Marcum Gerlach and Dwane Kingery

18. Forgoing New Partnerships: Exemplary Business/School Coalitions
Helen Constantinides and Mary Sue Garay

Contributors

Index

Examines the escalating literacy demands of the new workplace, and makes suggestions for reshaping traditional English classes to better equip students with new skills to meet these needs.

Description

1999 Best Collection of Essays in Technical and Scientific Communication presented by the National Council of Teachers of English

Expanding Literacies presents eighteen fresh essays that explore how English teaching at both secondary and post-secondary levels can be made more work-relevant. The book shows teachers, administrators, and workplace trainers how to put aside disabling dichotomies of school versus work in favor of preparing students with new skills for new workplaces. Within a theoretical context that encourages development of situated uses of language, the volume identifies ways to reshape traditional English classes so that students are prepared to be successful in work environments that demand teamwork, problem solving, and complex communication skills. Some chapters examine the escalating literacy demands of specific workplaces: manufacturing, health care, chemical and nuclear industries, and high-tech settings. Other chapters examine what we currently do in schools and describe new models and theoretical approaches to better equip students for a changing workplace. The book has a wealth of practical ideas for structuring classrooms, making assignments, and choosing materials that will help students make the transition from school to work.

Jerald Wallulis is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. He is coeditor of Changing Social Science: Critical Theory and Other Critical Perspectives, also published by SUNY Press, and author of The Hermeneutics of Life History: Personal Achievement and History in Gadamer, Habermas, and Erikson.

Reviews

"This book is readable, accessible, and informative. There's nothing available to compare with it. I have thirty-six years experience teaching English and am presently in business consulting on scientific writing. I've redesigned half my workshops on the basis of this book!" -- Bruce Appleby, Professor Emeritus, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

"A hallmark text marking a major movement toward a new conception of pedagogy. " -- Lisa J. McClure, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale