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Literacy as a unified concept is no longer valid or useful for today's complex world, where globally we face many challenges and contradictions. Adult literacy is shifting rapidly, and the human need for visually communicating meaningfully and relationally - beyond 'reading and writing' - is vital for addressing wicked problems and difficult times. In this paper we ask, "What does 'literacy' mean for us now, as we prepare new generations of people, as we address severe health issues, poverty, state conflicts and the climate crisis is looming?" How can expanded understandings of 'literacy' offer educational hope and possibility for the many adults who have been shut out of the literacy club? How do we challenge the exclusionary colonial practices of 'literacy' and education that leave many bereft and having to settle for lives with limited opportunities and successes? In the adult education practices we employ, we are looking beyond conventional 'classroom' and 'literacy' viewpoints to develop expanded and inclusive understandings of learning. In this paper, we share stories of encounters we have had with individuals who have, in different ways, been previously excluded from opportunities offered through learning 'literacy.' Using an asset-based lens, we consider ways in which these individuals have learned, and ways we have learned from them, as we collectively question the usefulness of colonial conceptions that limit, rank, classify and assign status by particular 'literacy' standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caribbean students are repeatedly engaged in rigid forms of writing to meet the requirements of external exams, which often leads to negative attitudes to writing. With current shifts to multimodal and multi-literate texts to engage students' multiple literacies in learning, students' creation of graphic novels in Caribbean English classrooms can enable their engagement in meaningful creative writing. To illustrate this, I draw on my recent experiences with four inner-city boys at a Jamaican high school who showed marked improvement in their attitudes and their creative writing skills after creating graphic novels. The preliminary findings from my research suggest a need for more personalised learning strategies and for more opportunities for students to use their home language in Caribbean classrooms.

This research paper presents a section of findings from a 3-month qualitative study investigating the gendered practices and lived experiences of four Jamaican adolescent inner-city boys. It embraced a narrative inquiry approach anchored in case studies to document and assess how school and community gendered practices were impacting the boys' gendered behaviours and evolving masculinities in a post-colonial context. The data collected from semi-structured interviews, video diaries, created graphic novels, and observations revealed that the boys engaged their gendered identities through conformity to heteronormative hegemonic masculine practices, anti-feminine rhetoric, and homophobic epithets. Further, data revealed that they were often replicating school and community heteronormative practices and beliefs. They seemed compelled to conform to hetereomasculine norms even when it conflicted with their personal beliefs. The research concludes that a cultural shift in homohysteria and homophobia is necessary to allow for more inclusive masculinities among young men in inner-city communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the defining markers of Jamaican students' academic success (for teachers and students) is their ability to speak Standard Jamaican English (SJE) fluently. However, SJE fluency is challenging for many majorityspeaking Jamaican Creole (JC) boys who experience language conflicts within their social and educational contexts. Consequently, this study sought to investigate the impact of systemic negative perceptions of JC and its speakers on four inner-city adolescent boys (14-17 years old), who were dominant & JC-speaking--their perceptions of self, language ability, and attitudes toward English Language Learning (ELL). The study embraced a social constructivist approach, via use of multiple case studies, anchored within a narrative inquiry, over a period spanning three months. Within this period, the boys' lived language experiences were documented, through interviews, video diaries, and graphic novels. The study revealed that the boys experienced language complexities that left them feeling inadequate and disenfranchised, with systemic language practices that positioned them as deficit language learners. The study aimed to construct new knowledge to assist policymakers and educators in developing more inclusive language practices that can provide opportunities for all students to thrive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]