Literacy Agents Online E-Discussion Forums for Advancing Adults' Literacy Practices

This study explored how adults used a self-selected online forum to advance their own and others' literacy practices. The study was a discourse-centered online ethnography using triangulated methods, including analysis of list archives, semi-structured and informal interviews, and document collection. These data were analyzed by discourse analysis and thematic analysis. Findings illustrate how participants in a global electronic forum used electronic texts, forums, and textual practices to share digital and print resources and promote digital literacies. This study advances a theory of adult literacy practice as socially and culturally embedded and provides implications for adult literacy education.