ABSTRACT
A significant aspect of learning contexts is the way in which semiotic artefacts mediate learning within them. The Literacies for Learning in Further Education (LfLFE) project has researched the role of texts and associated communicative practices in constructing and mediating teaching and learning, in shaping communities, in constructing and sustaining relationships, and in helping students to achieve their goals. A particular aim of the project was to identify ways inwhich people can bring literacy practices from one context into another to act as resources for learning in the new context. Here we are specifically referring to literacy practices from Further Education college students’ everyday lives in the UK being brought to bear in a formal educational context. In this chapter, we explain what we mean by ‘literacy practices’, demonstrate the textuality of learning contexts through examples from contrasting curriculum areas, and show how learning can be enhanced by mobilizing literacy practices from one context to another.
