Adult Literacy, Situated and Participatory Pedagogy in Overcoming Challenging Learning Discourses in Zambia

Abstract

Literature on adult learning pedagogy has been inundated with divergent opinions on the affordances of situated and participative pedagogy in adult learning. There is a dominant view that adult learning programmes that take a situated and participative approach are essential for facilitating learning by overcoming the learning challenges encountered by learners. This article discusses the contradiction between theory as espoused in the literature by different scholars and practice as evidenced by the findings of two case studies in Zambia that explored the teaching and learning in adult literacy classes. The discussion is centred on the proposition that situated and participative teaching offers a solution to teaching and learning challenges in youth and adult literacy classes. An ethnographic approach was used to generate the findings of the study. It was established that participatory teaching did not play a role in the teaching of literacy in the literacy classes, rather the teaching was teacher-centred and was influenced by the learning content, the purpose of the literacy programmes, facilitator’s identities, and more importantly the learners asked to be taught in a teacher-centred fashion, despite the available opportunities for participatory engagement.