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Workplace Literacies and Audit Society

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Linguistic Ethnography

Part of the book series: Palgrave Advances in Language and Linguistics ((PADLL))

Abstract

A range of ethnographic research in literacy studies has focused on workplace literacy practices, particularly increased textualisation and changing writing demands (Gee, Hull, & Lankshear, 1996; Farrell, 2006; Brandt, 2009). The volume and complexity of workplace paperwork have increased in many workplaces. Work intensity has also increased as paperwork is co-ordinated with other tasks. This has an impact on time and space available for other activities at work, such as caring and emotional work (Davies, 1994), ‘hands-on’ tasks (Lamvik, Naesje, Skarholt, & Torvatn, 2009) or workplace learning (Arthur & Tait, 2004). Increased centralisation of paperwork demands means that the sources and purposes of paperwork can become unclear (Ball, 2003). Professional identities and relationships are transformed when goals of accountability and performance management seem to change the nature and purpose of the work (Farrell, 2001; Iedema & Scheeres, 2003; Karlsson, 2005).

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Authors
  1. Karin Tusting
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leeds, UK

    Julia Snell

  2. Queen Mary University of London, UK

    Sara Shaw

  3. University of Stirling, UK

    Fiona Copland

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© 2015 Karin Tusting

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Tusting, K. (2015). Workplace Literacies and Audit Society. In: Snell, J., Shaw, S., Copland, F. (eds) Linguistic Ethnography. Palgrave Advances in Language and Linguistics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137035035_3

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