ABSTRACT
This part of the book explores how researchers are now approaching the area of women’s literacy. A movement can be traced historically, from a quantitative research paradigm focused on statistical measurement of literacy to an alternative paradigm influenced by feminist and ‘ideological’ approaches to literacy. Rather than taking the starting point of evaluating and measuring the effectiveness of a literacy intervention, the researcher focuses attention on the literacy practices (of men and women) – both inside and outside the classroom, the process of learning and the relationship of the researcher to the researched, and of researcher to the written text. Written by researchers who have developed their approaches from wide-ranging practical experience in the field, this part offers an overview of the research methods and methodologies they have developed, theoretical concepts evolved and an alternative reading of earlier research findings on women’s literacy.
