Language and the New Capitalism.

The "new capitalism" is unfolding in the context of a "powerful, intrusive, highly regulatory techno-rationalist business world view," which, as manifested in education reform as well as in wider changes at the level of the state, has impacted powerfully on language processes and practices. This world view, embraced by many governments, is now inscribed on how literacy is conceived and taught within publicly funded and maintained educational institutions. Current educational reform discourse is reflected at the level of language learning in "lingering basics," the "new basics,""elite literacies," and "foreign language literacy." All these terms are grounded in ways of responding to the global economy. A clear functional symmetry exists between these broad literacy types and trends within the "new work order." The nearer that literacy approaches the world beyond school, the more functional and instrumental critique becomes, with emphasis on finding new and better ways of meeting institutional targets but where these targets are themselves beyond question. Self-direction and empowerment often amount to little more than the right of workers to discharge accountability for finding the most efficient and effective ways of meeting goals and performance levels, laid down by the real decision-makers. Educators committed to understanding language and social processes need to participate actively in public debate about classroom-based language/literacy education and the world beyond the classroom. (Contains 18 references.) (NKA)