Swimmin’ Against A Tide of Social and Cultural Prejudice in Education: Reuniting the Vocational and the Academic in the Study of Language

Abstract

Focusing primarily on how curriculum theory and assessment directly impact upon learning, this paper presents and discusses learners’ lived experiences of studying GCSE English at a Further Education (FE) college in London. The aim of this small-scale research is to deepen understanding of why disengagement with formal modes of the study of English language is so prevalent among learners in FE. It also analyses whether student engagement in English language learning can be increased by introducing more socially-situated literacies into vocational learning and language development activities. This approach to exploring how students respond to the disconnect between socially-situated literacies and functional literacies is informed by Gadamer’s ‘Fusion of Horizons’ [5]. Subsequently, my interest in Gadamer’s work leads me to the respective works of Zimmerman [9], Freire [4] and Bernstein [2]. It is argued that low attendance and disappointing outcomes in GCSE English re-sit written examinations in FE are in part, symptoms of wider issues surrounding a deep-rooted disengagement with, and lack of motivation for, the study of language. However, my experience as a teacher of vocational education indicates that the same students can engage meaningfully with language when the mode of language they study more closely reflects the realities of their cultural, personal and social experiences and life histories.