Education and Literacy as Metonyms for English: Adult Basic Education and Domestic Workers in South Africa

Abstract

This paper centers on the English language learning of South African domestic workers and compares how discourses of adult education parallel individual domestic workers' narratives of education, literacy and English. Namely, the author finds that within individual learner narratives and boarder South African language policies, "education" and "literacy" become metonyms (or words that take on a different meaning than their written definitions) for "English language education" and "English literacy". This is problematic for although South African domestic workers learning English can often read, write, and speak in multiple South African languages, they are socially identified, and often identify themselves, as 'illiterate' and 'uneducated', thus reproducing the symbolic power of English (inter)nationally. The author addtionally contends that these metonyms not only reflect broader societal notions of these same terms, but also reconstruct the ways in which these women, and other adult English langauge learners globally, personally think about and use these terms. Findings from this research are linked to policy and practice implications surrounding language and literacy instruction for adult learners.