For the first time an ethnographic study regarding literacy as social practice has been carried out in Germany based on a Hamburg district. With the collation of written language of public locations with the help of photo documentations, spontaneous interviews and intensive interviews regarding the use and the importance of written language it became possible to evaluate the literacy practice in some kind of microcosm. The results not only extend the theoretical reflections of literacy and basic education work with adults, but can also provide stimuli for the didactic and methodical design of basic education provisions.weiterlesen