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Virginia Commonwealth University

Theses/Dissertations

Adult education

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Exploring Literacies In The Assemblage Of Adult Education English For Speakers Of Other Languages Classrooms, Susan Watson Jan 2018

Exploring Literacies In The Assemblage Of Adult Education English For Speakers Of Other Languages Classrooms, Susan Watson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a posthuman perspective of adult second language and literacy learning using the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and his collaborative work with Félix Guattari, Masny’s (2005/6) multiple literacies theory or MLT, and DeLanda’s (2016) assemblage theory. Thinking with these scholars, I employ a post-qualitative, posthuman MLT conceptual framework to study literacy as a process that flows through and connects with globally-diverse students, languages, worldviews, and texts in the assemblage of adult education, English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classrooms. I posit this assemblage as a remarkable and important context for literacy research …


An Exploration Of Identity Negotiation In Adult English Learners’ Communities Of Practice, Kathleen D. Rolander Jan 2018

An Exploration Of Identity Negotiation In Adult English Learners’ Communities Of Practice, Kathleen D. Rolander

Theses and Dissertations

This study utilizes Lave and Wenger’s (1991) communities of practice (COP) model to explore how ELLs navigate their positions within and between their many language learning communities. Drawing on Norton’s (1995, 2013) work on ELLs’ identity negotiation and Wenger’s 1998 work on the reinforcing impacts of identities between multiple COPs, this study explores what adults consider to be their COPs, how they perceive themselves within and between them, and how past, current, and imagined or possible COPs impact each other.

A constructivist, multiple case study design was used to focus on participants’ perceptions of their identity negotiation processes through their …