adult literacy: a handbook for development workers

8/7/2019 Adult Literacy: A handbook for development workers

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AdultLiteracyA Ha ndb ook forDevelopment Workers

Paul FordhamDeryn HollandJuliet Millican

Oxfam(UK and Ireland)Voluntary Service O verseas(VSO)


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V oluntary Service Overseas 1995

First published by Oxfam (UK and Ireland) 1995

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 85598 314 0 hardback0 85598 315 9 paperback

Published by Oxfam (UK and Ireland )274 Banbury R oad, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK(registered as a charity, no. 202918)in association with Voluntary Service Overseas317 Putney Bridge Road, London SW15 2PN, UK(registered as a charity, no . 313757)

All photo grap hs taken from the Oxam Photo LibraryDesigned a nd typeset by Oxfam Design D epartm ent OX115/PK/95Printed by Oxfam Print Uniton environment-friendly paper

This book converted to digital file in 2010


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ContentsA note from the publishers ivAbout the auth ors ivAcknowledgements vForeword viPreface: Th e purpo se of this book ixPart One: Literacy and Development1 Th e case for literacy 3Part Two: Planning for Literacy2 R ecognising and assessing needs 173 Looking at literacies and establishing aims 334 Getting organised : some practical issues 40Part Three: Exploring T eaching and Learning5 Some me thods for teaching literacy 536 Learning numbers and reading images 737 P lann ing a session 858 Selecting and trainin g literacy workers 979 Assessing prog ress and evaluating impact 106Part Four: Materials for Literacy10 'Special'm aterials 12711 'Ordinary 'materials 138Part Five: Continuing w ith Literacy12 Developing a literate society 149Postscript 157Glossary 160Notes 162Furth er reading 164Index 166

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A note from the publishersThe need for an adult literacy handbook was identified by VSO(Voluntary Service Overseas), whose volunteers have been working incountries thro ug ho ut the developing world since the late 1950s. The ideahas been d eveloped in collaboration with Oxfam (UK and Ireland ), andthe resulting text draws on the expe rience of both organ isations, and thework they sup po rt in Bang ladesh, China, Ghana, H on du ras, I ndia, Mali,Nepal, Nicaragua, South Africa, and Tanzania, and the experience ofothers working in the field, thro ug ho ut the developing world.

About the authorsPaul Fordham was Director of Adult Education at the University ofSouthampton for 18 years, and is now Honorary Professor in theIntern ationa l C entre for Education in Development at the University ofWarwick. His publications include Learning Networks: Non-Fo rmalEducation on a Housing Estate (with Poulton and Randle), (Routledge andKegan Paul); Participation, Learning, and Change (CommonwealthSecretariat); and Co-operating for Literacy (ICAE/DSE).Deryn Holland is Assistant Education Officer (Staff Develo pm ent),Buck ingham shire County Council. She works locally and internationallyas a trainer, researcher, and writer in adult education and literacy. Herpublications include The Progress Profile (Adult L iteracy Basic Skills Unit)a n d Developing Literacy and Numeracy: An Intermediate Pack for Trainers(The Op en University).Juliet M illican has worked in Adult Education for most of her own a dultlife, and in literacy for the past ten years, both overseas and in the UK.She is curre ntly co-o rdina tor of Access Courses at Has tings College. H erpublications include Reading, Writing, and Cultivating: A Handb ookfor Post-Literacy Workers (CESO), a guidebook for the management of a creditfund, and a variety of teaching materials.

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AcknowledgementsMany colleagues, too numerous to mention, have helped to shape theideas on which this book is based. They will recognise their owncontributions; if we have not acknowledged them individually, it isbecause their insights have passed into common currency amongworkers in the field of adult literacy. We must, however, acknowledgeour particular debt to Alan Rogers and Brian Street for theircontributions to literacy work, and our debt to all those involved in arecent research project commissioned by the Overseas DevelopmentAdministration ('Using Literacy: A New Approach to Post-LiteracyMaterials').Especial thanks are due also to Sandy Fury of the University ofWarwick, for creating order out of the chaos of our barely compatiblecomputer discs; to Rachel Yates, for allowing us to draw on herbibliography; and to the Adult Literacy Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU) forpermission to rep rod uce material from The Progress Profile.We are also grateful to the VSO volunteers and Oxfam workers, an doverseas staff of both organisations, who shared with us their first-handexperiences of plann ing and implem enting literacy prog ram m es. Aboveall, we thank the learn ers in many countries w ho have taugh t us most ofwhat we know about what it means to be literate, and how to go aboutacquiring the skills which (like most people who have been formallyeducated) we tend to take for g rante d.

Paul Fordham, Deryn Holland , and Juliet Millican


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ForewordI feel honoured to be invited to write a Foreword to this book, which Ihave read with great interest. I particularly welcome three of its keymessages. The first is that we should not exaggerate either thedisadvantages experienced by those who cannot read or write, or theadvantages which learning to read or write brings. Th er e are , of course,significant benefits to be gained from learn ing literacy skills. But, as theauthors of this book point out, many non-literate persons can leadfulfilled lives; and many who learn to read a nd write may still find th atthey are cheated and in particular that they are still poor! As literacyworkers, we will achieve much more if ou r exp ectations a re realistic.

The second key message of this book is its insistence that literacy issomething we do , not just something we learn. The authors aim to helpmen and women to read and to write in their everyday lives. They aremostly and inevitably concern ed with what ha ppen s in the classroom; bu tthey nev er forget that w hat takes place the re is of no value, unless it leadsto real reading and real writing outside the classroom. This m eans that allteaching for literacy will need to start with real life (using real literacysituations, practices, and events in the community) an d end w ith real life.Unless ou r teaching is based on reality, we shall have pro duc ed learnerslike the woman from Nepal (quoted in Chapter 4), who said that shecould read the literacy prim er, but no thing else. And that is no use to herat all. All this means, as this book indicates, that train ing for literacy is notjus t a m atter of developing skills. It is more a qu estion of developing theright attitudes, especially building up learners' confidence. This is oftenoverlooked in literacy training pro gram me s today.Thirdly, I value this book's emphasis on the fact that literacies varyfrom grou p to gro up. It isnot jus t that they vary from coun try to cou ntryand culture to culture. Fishing communities have different literacypractices from trading communities, for example; indeed, one group offisherpeople can have quite different con cerns from ano ther gro up alongthe same coast. Urban and rural literacy contexts are quite different andcall for different app roa che s. Th is must mean tha t teaching literacy skillsis always a ma tter of innov ation: mak ing u p things as we go along .For this reason, readers are invited to use this handbook creatively,rather than let it constrain them. It is planned as a 'useful problem-solving resource ', leading read ers to decide for themselves what to do inany situation . It asks read ers not to follow it, but to use it.

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I feel sure that planners and trainers with or without professionalqualifications in the teaching of literacy will find this book helpful.Oxfam and VSO are to be congratulated on identifying a long-felt needand work ing so har d with the au tho rs to fulfil it.

Alan RogersEducation for DevelopmentReadingEngland

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PrefaceThe purpose of this bookThis is a book for d evelopm ent w orkers with no formal tra ining in adulteducation or literacy who encounter the need for literacy in thecommunities with which they work. It looks at the relationship betweenliteracy and development, the role of literacy in development, and theimp ortance of literacy to developm ent. By exploring some of the centralissues and debates, we aim to help development workers to listen withmo re und ersta ndin g to requests for literacy from the people with whomthey are working. For example:An agricultural ex tension worker may find farmers who are begin ningto expe rim ent with new m ethods . The y will need to record informationon their yields or on varying prices at the m ark et....... A health worker may be faced with requests from mothers at a clinicwho want to understand the child-growth charts or the words onimmunisation certificates....... A co-operative development worker may start by introducing book-keeping to someone who is already literate, bu t may find other mem bersof the co-operative wanting to read the information rec ord ed ....... A community development worker may want to help village-groupmembers who are promoting a local project, like sinking a new well, todevelop their leadership skills.To respond effectively to such situations, we need not only someknowledge of teaching and learning meth ods, but also an understandingof some of the consequences of introducing literacy to individuals,groups, or com munities.When people request 'literacy', they will have their own idea of whatthey want, and their own way of assimilating it into their lives. This bookaims to help both learners and development workers to understandwhat literacy means to them, why they have asked for it, what kind ofliteracy they want, and what purposes they expect it to serve. Helpinglearners to und erstan d these questions is the best way for develo pm entworkers to deepen their own understanding of different literacies andliteracy practices; and to move on from seeing reading and writingmerely as skills to be learne d in a mechanical way.

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Adult LiteracyIt is impo rtant to recognise that there is no on e literacy which peo pleeither have or do not have. For one person, reading or counting may bemore important than writing. For another, writing a simple letter to anabsent relative may be a sufficient achievement. Traders will want yetanother kind of literacy. The question of what language to choose forliteracy in multi-lingual situations is pe rhap s on e of the most difficult toanswer, and will mean considering the relationship between languageand power.Most of this book is essentially practical. It looks at the various stages inplanning, teaching, and evaluating a small-scale literacy programme,and the likely effects, both on individuals and on the progress ofdev elop me nt in an area. It offers suggestions for using available materialsand for developing new ones designed for specific situations or places. Itis not in tend ed to be a comp rehensive guide ; nor does it set ou t to be acomp lete course book for the training of trainers. It isdesigned to set the

reader thinking about what to do, and to give examples of how thingshave happ ene d in othe r places. We hope that the ideas and exam ples itcontains will be an essential foundation for readers who are trying todecide how to meet what for them may be an unfamiliar request. Itshould also help dev elopm ent workers to decide for themselves when itmight be appropriate to suggest a literacy component in a localdevelopment project.'Deciding for one self is a major the me of this book. Real problem s canonly be solved and real choices can only be made by the people who areexperiencing them. Ideas from elsewhere can be a useful stimulus; butthey cannot provide ready-m ade answers or recipes for instant success.

However, by considering some of the r ecu rring issues in the lea rning andteaching of literacy, and looking at some of the implications behin d policydecisions, we hope that readers will understand their own particularsituations better. Seeing how other people have intro duced literacy intodevelopment programmes might inspire confidence in anothercommunity's ability to do the same.We have written a resource book, not an academic textbook. It is to beused in practical situations, either bydevelopm ent w orkers who decide tobegin some literacy teaching themselves, or by those who plan largerprogrammes and employ local teachers. We hope it will be relevant todecision-makers, planners , trainers, and teachers.It would be w rong for a short and practical book like this to gloss overthe com plexities of literacy. At the same tim e, there is no mystery abo ut it.On each and every occasion, there are four crucial questions fordevelopment workers to consider. Who needs literacy? What do they need it for? Wh at kind of literacy do they need? How will the pro gram m e be planne d and implem ented?We hope that this book will help develop men t workers to under stan d theimplications behin d each of these choices.

adult literacy: a handbook for development workers

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