Quality control in the new workplace: Implications of ethnography for language and literacy learners

Abstract

This article focuses on contexts of language and literacy in use, particularly on the complex social meanings of language and literacy in the workplace. Taking a social practice perspective, it draws on literacy theory and research developing from the New Literacy Studies. It analyses ethnographic findings across four Canadian workplaces to show the complexity of social meanings of language and literacy in use, calling into question the approaches of many language and literacy programs that present meanings as largely embedded in language structures. A brief set of vignettes from worksites is introduced relating to language and literacy events around quality control, an important area of concern in 21st century business and industry. This is followed by a discussion of how the interaction of language with the contexts of quality control events is implicated in meanings around social relationships, power, access to knowledge and resources, and issues of language proficiency. The article identifies how learners can be advantaged by engaging in the dynamics of language and literacy use with insight and initiative and outlines implications for language and literacy workplace educators.

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