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

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.Literature in this field of educational research suggests that opinions around language that exist in some educational institutions may be contributing to this disenfranchisement.At best, the existence of this phenomenon highlights an excessive reliance on traditional values, to the detriment of the learner's ability to engage in the study of language.Perhaps even more troubling, is the acceptance of a wider and rather elitist ideology regarding the "correct" use of English.The assumption that there is one and only one "correct" way to use the English language is often coupled with the assumption that there is only one way in which ability with language can be acquired, developed and assessed -and that is in the form of written examinations.This study looks beyond and behind the view of what may be considered as "correct" or "incorrect" use of English language.Instead, the focus of this research is upon how encouraging students to use language more appropriate to context, identity, and their social environment, might assist them in reconnecting with language acquisition and development in ways which unite the vocational and the academic through the development of, and participation in, socially-situated literacies.