Book Review: Professors in the gig economy: unionizing adjunct faculty in America by K. CTR1+ Tolley

Abstract

dents Habits of Mind to enhance their ability and confidence to pass the high school proficiency test to become successful learners in education. An assumption of the various authors and editors of this book is that today’s adult education is not just limited to basic literacy and life skills. Instead, it involves getting students ready to be problem-solvers that handle complex operations confidently. Therefore, the lesson plans are content-based with various worldly scenarios that challenge students’ language skills, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking. The book’s organization is congruent with the authors’ argument and purpose, indicating a self-reflexive awareness of their perspective and positionality. However, readers will notice the book does not distinctly address gender, race, class, and other identity markers that can influence learning, which is an integral part of education, especially in considering the diversity of the current ESL population. In general, this book will be a valuable and resourceful handbook for educators working in ESL instruction for adults, as the teaching methods proposed by the book authors are based on research theories, and the book provides step-by-step correspondent examples and lesson plans, respectively, which can be readily adopted and implemented in the classroom with some modifications. However, the methods and resources proposed in this book are primarily targeted towards beginning ESL learners. While the book addresses writing strategies such as guiding students through the writing process, readers will find that teaching more advanced-level writing methods is not addressed. The book will contribute to helping ESL instructors get beginner ESL learners to become linguistically adjusted and equipped for the start of their academic or career pursuits. Addressing the above issues would facilitate students’ agency in academic writing. The agency can increase students’ control over how they navigate an assignment and how they continue developing as English users (Shapiro et al., 2016).