ACE 1209: INTRODUCTION TO ADULT LITERACY

THE CONCEPTS OF LITERACY, DEVELOPMENT AND THEIR

RELATIONSHIP

THE CONCEPT OF LITERACY

Literacy is difficult to define. Many questions arise regarding the defining of literacy
such as the following (Bhola, 1994, p.26);
 Literacy in what language? There are many languages in the world and so a
definition of literacy in each language, thus many definitions.
 Literacy at what level? There are varying reading and writing abilities and
therefore different definitions of literacy according to the level, defined among
others, by age, educational level and occupation.
 Literacy for what expected use? The objectives pursued by the learners and the
literacy program influences the way literacy will be defined; to read stories, to
read scriptures, to read a leaflet so as to grow more food, or to read instructions to
run a machine? To write letters, to keep accounts, or to read and sign a contract?
To run a business? To vote? Each objective will lead to a slightly different focus
for example in terms of content, timing, among others.

There are many different definitions of literacy depending on the particular contexts with
their different objectives but in all the diversity, reading and writing is an important part
of all literacy efforts. Literacy is concerned with reading and writing. Written language
therefore involves the use of visual symbols; the visual marks are made on a surface on a
surface but writing is not gestural (It does not involve the use of gestures); gestures is the
use of arms and hands for example to illustrate something.

Literacy is commonly understood as the extension of spoken language. Every human

society has a spoken language and other forms of communication among its members.

Adult Literacy refers to a learning activity or learning activities in which adults acquire
skills of reading, writing and the representation of numeracy in writing, (MGLSD, 2005,
p.2)

Adult Basic Education: This refers to a minimum package that provides knowledge,
attitudes and skills to enable one function in a given community, (MGLSD, 2005, p. 3).
SOME UNDERSTANDINGS OR DEFINITIONS OR FORMS OF LITERACY OR
THE MANY ‘FACES’ OF LITERACY

Critical literacy or Literacy as conscientisation: Critical literacy is a type of literacy

that empowers people to become masters of their destiny. It is also called ‘emancipatory
or transformational literacy. Critical literacy enables people to become critical of (to
question) what they see, what they hear, what they get and what they are asked to give.
The people are enabled to become aware of the social, political and economic
relationships in which they are caught. It seeks to organise people for political action for
transforming the world around them as they acquire the literacy skills as well, (Bhola,
1994, p.33). Paulo Freire is a strong promoter of critical literacy.

He was a Brazilian educator with a strong belief in conscientisation and viewed literacy
as a means of human liberation; that is, to Freire, literacy means understanding the word,
and actively working to change one’s circumstance. Freire’s definition of literacy goes as
follows;
‘Learning to read and write ought to be an opportunity for men to know what
speaking the word really means: a human act implying reflection and action. As
such, it is a human right and not the privilege of a few. Speaking the word is not a
true act if it is not at the same time associated with the right of expression, of
creating and recreating, of deciding and choosing and ultimately participating in
society’s historical process’ (Okedara, 1981, p.8).

To Freire, reading and writing cannot merely be viewed as technical skills but the reading
and writing imply a prior act of conceptualization of the ultimate power relations in
society in addition to the application of the reading and writing skills.

Traditional Literacy: Traditional literacy training has the main objective of teaching
reading and writing, accompanied in most cases by basic mathematics as part of the
schooling system. It is seen as isolated, even backward and without purpose: literacy for
literacy’s sake, (Bhola, 1994, p.32). Instruction in traditional literacy is done as part of
the curriculum along with such other subjects such as history, science, Geography and
other subjects in school.

Civic literacy: Civic literacy is literacy for good citizenship. It is a type of literacy that
enables someone to be an effective member of society. Citizenship involves both duties
and rights. A balanced emphasis on both rights and duties is necessary, (Bhola, 1994,
p.32).
Functional literacy: This is the ability to engage in all those activities in which literacy
is required for effective functioning of one’s group and community (MGLSD, 2005, p.
2).

Task – specific literacy: This is functionality carried to its extreme. It is a type of

literacy learning that ties reading and writing to specific duties to be performed by an
adult for example adults who need to get a driving license are taught to read to pass a
driving test by focusing on what they need to learn regarding the driving test to be done,
(Bhola, 1994, p.34).

Family literacy/ Intergenerational literacy: This is the type of literacy that is

undertaken in homes. It is meant to teach literacy skills to both parents and their children,
with the hope that the two can inspire, encourage and strengthen each other, (Bhola,
1994, p.34).

Workplace literacy: This is the type of literacy that is given to people who are working,
and the literacy is related to their work and work environment, (MGLSD, 2005, p.2).

Why literacy is difficult to define; why the many definitions? (Bhola, 1994, p.28)
 The languages in which different people in different contexts acquire literacy are
different
 Different levels and standards of literacy skills are possible; some people can read
better and faster than others even when they are in the same grade or level of
learning. Also, countries vary on what is taken as the point at which some one is
regarded as having emerged from a state of illiteracy.
 People prepare themselves to read different kinds of subject matter and the less
the reader knows of the subject, the harder it will be to read and vice versa. People
differ in their objectives for pursuing literacy

From the above, it should be clear that to develop a standard definition of literacy is
difficult, if not impossible. Languages differ, levels of reading skills differ, subject matter
differs and contexts of use differ.

What must be noted is that in all definitions and understandings of literacy, the core
element of being literate is the ability to read and write. Being non literate or illiterate
involves the inability to read or write. Other contextual differences must be kept in mind
because there is no standard universal definition of literacy.
THE CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT
Development as a concept is not easy to define either. It is equally multi-faced and
therefore lacks a universally accepted definition. Different people have defined it
differently at different times in different contexts. Different definitions of development
may be made operational relating to the problem one is trying to solve. Several writers
have therefore looked at development in different ways such as the following;
 Development as economic growth; focus is on increasing production for profit
and making more money, regardless of the inequalities and who gets the
money. It can widen gaps between the rich and poor. This type of
development thought leads to focus on industrialization and urbanization
leading to urban poverty due to inequalities.
 Development as structural and institutional transformation; focus is on
structural changes such as privatization to reduce government expenditure on
public enterprises, break government monopoly over service provision, create
competition among service providers leading to better service delivery and
increased production.
 Development as empowering the poor/Alternative development. This is pro-
poor; focus is on the most vulnerable and to ensure they attain basic needs of
life and are empowered to sustain their lives mainly through education.
 Sustainable development: focus here is on ensuring that the needs of the
present generation are met without compromising the future generations in
meeting their own needs. Sustainable development has three pillars; economic
development (economic growth; income and profits), people (wellbeing,
survival and livelihood) and the environment (natural and built; conservation
and survival); all depend on each other and there is need to find a balance
among the three pillars.

Development therefore is a multi-dimensional process, which involves changes in several

structures of the society that relate to political, social, economic and environmental
aspects. It considers quantitative and qualitative aspects of growth. Development is not
easily subjected to measurement because different measures of development give
different conclusions regarding what development is about for example each view of
development above leads to different meanings of development.

In general, development has benefited a small part of the developing countries (also
called the Third world) mainly the upper classes of the society such as the educated and
the rich and the Developed world (also called the rich countries) and their corporations.
The gap between the rich and the poor countries is widening and very little has trickled
down to the poor majority. The poorest, one third of the world’s people are actually
getting poorer as the cost of living rises and yet incomes are not rising or not there for
some very poor people of the world. Many of these poorest people are equally viewed as
not literate.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LITERACY AND DEVELOPMENT

Literacy is generally conceived as a means to an end, that is, it is conceived as a
powerful tool for religious, political, modernising and economic purposes mainly through
improving access to information on better or improved practices in many aspects of life
such as income generating activities, promoting peaceful coexistence, better health
practices, education such as parents’ supporting their children’s education, among others.

Literacy is much more than just teaching individuals the skills of reading, writing and
representing counting in writing. In the process of acquiring the literacy skills, women
and men also gain information about their world, improve their understanding of
previously private issues such as family relations, and public issues such as governance
and decentralization, and learning how to change their behavior while valuing their
traditional knowledge and wisdom.

Literacy is not limited to the cognitive dimension: it also includes emotional aspects,
especially when women and men gain self – esteem and become the proud agents of their
own lives.

The 21st Century skills

Until the 21st century, education systems across the world focused on preparing their
students to accumulate content and knowledge. As a result, schools focused on providing
literacy and numeracy skills to their students, as these skills were perceived as necessary
to gain content and knowledge. Recent developments in technology and
telecommunication have made information and knowledge easily accessible in the 21st
century. Therefore, while skills such as literacy and numeracy are still relevant and
necessary, they are no longer sufficient. In order to respond to technological,
demographic and socio-economic changes, education systems began to make the shift
toward providing their students with a range of skills that relied not only on cognition but
also on the interdependencies of cognitive, social, and emotional characteristics.

The skills and competencies that are generally considered "21st Century skills" are varied
but share some common themes. They are based on the premise that effective learning, or
deeper learning, is a set of student educational outcomes including acquisition of core
academic content, higher-order thinking skills, and learning dispositions. This pedagogy
involves creating, working with others, analyzing, and presenting and sharing both the
learning experience and the learned knowledge or wisdom, including to peers and
mentors as well as teachers.

This contrasts with more traditional learning methodology that involves learning by rote
and regurgitating info/knowledge back to the teacher for a grade. The skills are geared
towards students and workers to foster engagement; seeking, forging, and facilitating
connections to knowledge, ideas, peers, instructors, and wider audiences;
creating/producing; and presenting/publishing. The classification or grouping has been
undertaken to encourage and promote pedagogies that facilitate deeper learning through
both traditional instruction as well as active learning, project-based learning, problem
based learning, and others.

Three top skills commonly cited as necessary for employment in the 21st Century are:
critical thinking, communication and collaboration.

Generally, fundamental Skills include the following:

 Basic Skills: reading, writing, performing mathematical operations, listening and
speaking.
 Thinking Skills: thinking creatively, making decisions, solving problems,
knowing how to learn, and reasoning
 Personal Qualities: displaying responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self-
management, integrity and honesty

The Four Cs of 21st Century learning: one of the several lists of 21st century skills
The P21 organization also conducted research that identified deeper learning
competencies and skills they called the Four Cs of 21st century learning. P21, The
Partnership for 21st Century Learning (formerly the Partnership for 21st Century Skills)
was founded in 2002 as a coalition bringing together the business community, education
leaders, and policymakers to position 21st century readiness at the center of education
and to kick-start a conversation on the importance of 21st century skills for all students.
This started in the United States of America but the ideas are being adopted in education
systems globally.

Below are the Four Cs of 21st Century learning, also known as Learning and
Innovation skills

 Critical thinking and problem solving: this relates to the ability to effectively
analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs; solve different
kinds of non-familiar problems in both conventional (usual) and innovative ways.
 Creativity and innovation: this is about the use of a wide range of idea creation
techniques to create new and worthwhile ideas.
  Communication: this relates to the ability to articulate / express thoughts and
ideas effectively using oral and written communication skills in a variety of forms
and contexts.
 Collaboration: this relates to the ability to work effectively and respectfully with
diverse teams.

In addition, P21 offers a model that can be used for 21st Century learning in terms of
what should be included in learning for it to be relevant in the 21st Century. It emphasizes
that all learning should include the 4Cs, digital literacy and issues on career and life, as
presented in the diagram below:

Learning and innovation: Digital literacy Career and Life

The 4 Cs
Critical thinking and Information literacy Flexibility and adaptability
problem solving
Creativity and innovation Media literacy Initiative and self - direction
Communication ICT literacy Social & cross-cultural
interaction
Collaboration Productivity & accountability
Leadership & responsibility

JUSTIFICATION / THE NEED FOR THE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

Fundamental changes in the economy, jobs, and businesses have reshaped

workplaces and the nature of work. Over the last several decades, the industrial
economy based on manufacturing has shifted to a service economy driven by
information, knowledge, innovation and creativity. Today, more than 80 percent of jobs
are in the service sector, which includes high-growth, high-wage and high-skilled
occupations in new and emerging industries. In this new, globally interconnected
economy, companies have changed how they are organized and the way they do business.
Technology has supported these changes, which include flatter management structures,
decentralized decision making, information sharing and the use of task teams, cross-
organizational networking, just-in-time inventory and flexible work arrangements.

The fundamental changes in the economy, jobs, and businesses are driving new,
different skill demands. Today more than ever, individuals must be able to perform non-
routine, creative tasks if they are to succeed. While skills like self-direction, creativity,
critical thinking, and innovation may not be new to the 21st century, they are newly
relevant in an age where the ability to excel at non-routine work is not only rewarded, but
expected as a basic requirement. Whether a high school graduate plans to enter the
workforce directly, or attend a vocational school, community college, or university, it is a
requirement to be able to think critically, solve problems, communicate, collaborate, find
good information quickly, and use technology effectively. These are today’s survival
skills— not only for career success, but for personal and civic quality of life as well
(Partnership for 21st Century Skills 2010).

References
Bhola, H.S (1994): A source book for literacy work: Perspectives from the grassroots,
UNESCO, USA
MGLSD (2005): Training of Trainers manual on Adult Literacy, 1st Edition, Ministry of
Gender and Social Development, Kampala
Okedara, J.T. (1981): Concepts and Measurements of Literacy, Semi literacy & Illiteracy.
Ibadan University Press, Nigeria
P21 Partnership for 21st Century Learning: ‘Our History’, accessed on
‘http://www.p21.org/about-us/our-history, retrieved 14th June 2018
American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education and the Partnership for 21st

Century Skills (2010). ‘21st century skills’, accessed on

http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/aacte_p21_whitepaper2010.pdf,
downloaded 25th July 2014
LITERACY THEORIES / MODELS: THE AUTONOMOUS MODEL OF
LITERACY AND THE IDEOLOGICAL MODEL OF LITERACY

Professor Brian Vincent Street, born in 1943, is credited for writing a lot and
popularizing the ideas on the literacy theories. He has mainly worked on literacy in both
theoretical and applied perspectives.

Street is one of the leading theoreticians within what has come to be known as New
Literacy Studies (NLS), in which literacy is viewed as not just a set of technical skills,
but as a social practice that is embedded in power relations. Street argues that the
relationship between written and oral language differs according to context- there is no
one universal account of ‘the oral’ and ‘the written’.

Street developed his theory in opposition to leading literacy scholars at the time like Jack
Goody and Walter J. Ong. These and other scholars represented what Street called an
‘autonomous view / theory of literacy’ in which literacy is viewed as a set of
autonomous skills that can be learnt independently without considering the social context.

Street argues that the autonomous model has been a dominant feature of educational and
development theory. He argues that he refers to it as an ‘autonomous’ model of literacy
because it represents itself as though it is not a position located ideologically at all, as
though it is just natural.

The focus under this model is on literacy itself. It is explained in relation to the
mind/cognition in ways that account for cognitive and historical development of humans’
experience over years

The model present literacy is an individual skill and emphasizes that the changes that
individuals experience when they learn how to read and write or acquire the technology
of the intellect.

According to this model, to be literate mean being able to read and write without
considerations of the contexts in which the skill of reading and reading is to be used. In
this case, literacy is responsible for cognitive differences between literate and non-literate
people. For instance, literates and non-literates think in different ways and thinking in
non-literate cultures is seen as inferior to the thinking in literate cultures. Literate people
are intellectually superior than non-literates

Also focuses on the consequences of literacy on society i.e. literacy is responsible for the
large scale historical, economic and social changes in society i.e. growth and
development of human civilization; enables accumulation and evaluation of knowledge in
a way that lead to development of new problem solving methods
Literacy is a perquisite for modernity or civilization i.e. oral societies are said to be
backward as they do not have the ability to accumulate and exchange knowledge. This
reduces their ability to make progress in knowledge for analysis and inspection

Written words have meanings that are independent of contexts and they resist individual
and social interpretations. Yet oral words / discourses are context dependent i.e. they
gather meanings from the contexts in which they are produced and reproduced which
doesn’t guarantee consistency

Literacy research in this model investigates the effects of literacy on society and the
individual. Research takes the form of historical studies of the development of literacy
and its effects on societies that used them. Literacy is seen as enabling individuals to use
printed and written information to achieve their goals

Emphasis is on teaching/learning of skills of reading and writing as the most important

aspects of literacy education. Literacy is seen as a set of skills that enables an individual
to function better in the social-economic areas of their everyday life and community.
Literacy education is an investment in human capital with clear social and economic
benefits. Training adds value to the workforce in the economy

Critique of the model

 Literacy is narrowed to its traditional inception as the ability to read and write i.e.
focus on texts and skills of reading and writing
 It is seen as a conservative model because of wrong assumptions i.e. literacy is
ideologically and culturally neutral when it is not; non-literates are intellectually
inferior to literate people; texts are able to fix meanings across places and time
and this meaning is the same in all situations etc.
 Criticized for looking at literacy as a technical skill or a set of competencies i.e. it
is not a single set of competences and is more than a skill of reading and writing
to include their use in social situations

The Ideological Model of Literacy

Street called the alternative view or theory ‘ideological’ since it acknowledges that
literacy is context dependent and it involves issues of power. He argues that this counter
position is ideological so as to show that literacy is not about the technical features of the
written process or the oral process.

The discussion on literacy is about competing models and assumptions about reading and
writing processes, which are always embedded in power relations. Relating this to
literacy, the decision to organise a literacy programme of whatever nature involves power
relations because by organising it, you are implying that you have the power to do so and
you make the decisions. Such a decision also raises the question of the authority one has
in deciding to handle the content in that programme.

Street therefore argues that the issue of power cannot be ignored as being part of
educational projects and decisions thus the ideological nature of literacy which the
autonomous view ignores in its understanding of literacy.

Sometimes referred to as the New Literacy Studies. according to this model, literacy is a
social practice that differs from one context to the other. Literacy is primarily something
people do, it is an activity, located in the space between and through text.

Literacy doesn’t just reside in people’s heads as a set of skills to be learned, not even on
paper, captured as texts to be analyzed. Literacy is essentially social, and is located in the
interactions between people. In this case, literacy derives its values, attitudes and
meanings from the social institutions in which they are embedded.

Different social institutions support different literacy practices, which they shape and are
in turn shaped by the literacy within them. For example, institutions like the church,
hospitals, schools etc. have their own distinct ways of using reading and writing that are
developed and suited for their kind of activities

It is concerned with what people do with literacy and not what literacy can do for people
and how literacy is used in different contexts of social and economic life and not how
literacy leads to socio-economic transformation of poor preliterate communities

Key concepts used by the model

Literacy events and Literacy practices
These two concepts of literacy events and literacy practices are central to Street’s
understanding of literacy.

Literacy events refer to particular situations in which people engage with reading or
writing. A literacy event is any occasion in which a piece of writing is integral to the
nature of the participants’ interactions and interpretative processes. The concept of
literacy events stresses the importance of a mix of oral and literate features in everyday
communication, (Street, 1995, p.2)

On the other hand, literacy practices refer to the larger systems which the literacy events
create within a community. Literacy practices refer to both the behavior of reading and
writing, and the social and cultural conceptualizations that give meaning to the uses of
reading and / or writing (Street, 1995, p.2).
Street defines literacy practices as the ‘broader cultural conceptions of particular ways
of thinking about and doing reading and writing in cultural contexts.’

Literacy practices refer not only to the reading and writing event but the conceptions of
the reading and writing process that people hold when they are engaged in the event.
The ideological nature of literacy is also reflected in what Street calls the notion of
‘dominant’ literacies, in opposition to ‘marginalized’ literacies. This notion relates to
the fact that some educational provisions are privileged and viewed as better than others,
which makes them dominant while the others get marginalized and unpopular due to
being regarded as inferior and not good enough. Formal Education has over the years
been perceived as the better form of education provision while the non-formal and
informal education provisions as the not so good ones. This categorization has however
been criticised by theorists like Brian Street.

In Uganda, this idea can be illustrated by the situation where some educational provisions
such as the formal education schools (for example following the hierarchy of primary,
secondary and university education), tend to become ‘dominant’ in society, in the sense
of being viewed by people as the best form of education in terms of prestige socially
bestowed upon those who have gone through such formal education.

This makes the people disregard any other form of education provision that they view as
not being as prestigious as formal education. Therefore, those other forms of education
provision will be the ‘marginalized’ ones and people will have biases against them.

In Uganda, vocational training seems to be one of the ‘marginalised’ literacies yet in

reality today, in Uganda, graduates of vocational training are more skilled and therefore
might not suffer unemployment like those who graduate from the other formal education
structure.

The ideological model also suggests therefore that an educational program that follows a
pre-prepared curriculum assumes that the content is the standard and will always be
relevant to the learners which might not be the case all the time with all the learners. Such
an approach, sometimes called, a ‘one size fits all’ approach is an imposition of a
curriculum over learners who might not find it relevant.

All uses and meanings of literacy entail struggles over particular identities often imposed
ones, thus the idea of unequal power relations in literacy, (Street, 1995, p.135).

Applied to educational settings, the ideological model suggests that an approach that sees
literacy as critical social practice would make clear from the start both the assumptions
and the power relations on which these two models of literacy are based. To Street,
teachers / educators have a social obligation to do so, (Street, 1995, p.141).

Differences between autonomous and ideological models

Category Autonomous Ideological
Research in literacy Looks at consequences of Looks at what people do
literacy with literacy and how
literacy is used
Meaning of literacy Through written texts Through social interactions
which carry the same and institutions mediated by
meaning written texts
Skills orientation Technical skills Social skills
Contextualization General / no segregation Context specific
Development orientation Development of the mind Social empowerment
Similarities between autonomous and ideological models
a) Literacy for development/ should lead to change
b) Literacy is a set of skills – technical and social
c) Literacy is more less an individual endeavor
d) Requires mastery of reading and writing

Tenets or characteristics of the social practice theory of literacy

a) Literacy is best understood as a set of social practices; these can be inferred from
events mediated by written texts
b) There are different literacies which are associated with different domains of life
c) Literacy practices are patterned by social institutions and power relationships and
some literacies are more dominant, visible and influential than others
d) Literacy is purposeful embedded in broader social goals and cultural practices
e) Literacy is holistically situated
f) Literacy practices change and new ones are frequently acquired through processes
of informal learning and sense making
g) Literacy is part of our thinking, it is part of the technology of thought
Critiques of the Ideological theory
a) It is difficult in defining literacy – it is silent about it. Only talks about use of
literacy but ignores the literate reader and reading as solitary activity
b) Holds a pesmisitic view that literacy is not an enabling factor that leads to
development, social and economic mobility, cognitive development and
civilization i.e. seems to downplay the fact that illiteracy handicaps the ability to
change and control people’s lives
c) Not true that literate members of the community always support the illiterate i.e.
some people don’t want others to depend on them and not all non-literates want to
depend on others
 d) Literacy is ideological and implicated in power relations is not correct i.e. literacy
has nothing to do with politics because the fact that politicians use literacy should
not mean that the study and teaching of literacy is political
e) Literacy is not relative i.e. it is only the text that is same everywhere but its ways
of understanding texts is influenced by the readers’ background knowledge
f) Literacy is a least social activity due to emphasis on reading i.e. reading is itself
one of the least social human activities. It is almost private, thus limiting
socialisation

THE LITERACY / ILLITERACY SITUATION IN THE WORLD, AFRICA &

UGANDA

The literacy / illiteracy situation in the world; the global situation

The data and statistics used in this part of the handout regarding the trends and spread of
literacy/ illiteracy in the world are from a Fact sheet produced by UNESCO Institute for
Statistics (UIS), September 2017. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the
official source of data that has been used over the years to monitor education and literacy
targets associated with the current 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) whose
pursuit began in 2015.

The UIS collects data on youth and adult literacy through its annual survey on literacy
and educational attainment.
Adult literacy rates concern the population aged 15 years and older, while
Youth literacy rates cover the population between the ages of 15 to 24 years.
The indicators of literacy refer to the concept of literacy defined as ‘the ability to read
and write, with understanding, a short simple sentence about one’s daily life’

The international community has pledged to improve adult literacy levels as stated in
Sustainable Development Goal 4 that seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality
education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

In particular, target 4.6 states that by 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial
proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy.

While the number of illiterate persons has fallen over the past years, there are still 750
million non-literate adults, two thirds (that is 63%) of whom are women, and the 750
million non-literates includes 102 million young people (15-24 years old), who lack basic
literacy skills. Six out of ten children and adolescents (617 million) are not achieving
minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics in school, over 265 million
children are out of school and 22% of them are of primary school age. (UIS, 2017).

UNESCO notes that many young people entering apprenticeships lack the literacy skills
needed to succeed. The lack of literacy skills is cited as a hindrance for fully benefiting
from technical and vocational educational training and work-based learning programmes.

The global adult literacy rate (15+ years) is put at 86% in 2016, with 90% as the male
adult literacy rate and 83% as the female adult literacy rate. Global youth literacy rate
(15-24years) is put at 91%, with 93% for males and 90% for females, showing the
reduced gender gap globally, (UIS, 2017).

Individual regions and countries however present different scenarios on the state of
literacy and non-literacy. In Africa, non-literacy is highest in Sub - Saharan Africa
whereby 22% of the world’s non-literates live in Sub-Saharan Africa. The other parts of
the world with the lowest literacy rates are South and West Asia that is home to 52% of
the global non-literates, which is more than half of the global non-literate population.

The general global literacy / illiteracy situation shows a clear connection between non-
literacy and countries with severe poverty whereby the poorest countries of the world
also rank highest in being home to majority of the world’s non-literates, for example
Niger is a developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa that is consistently ranked as one of
the poorest and it is also one of those countries with the lowest literacy rates below 50%.

The gender gap: In general, there are more female than male non-literates globally and
for most countries, the gender gap remains the same at the country level even if it appears
to be reducing globally. UIS (2017) reports that there are relatively large gender gaps to
the detriment of women in Northern Africa and Western Asia, Southern Asia, and Sub-
Saharan Africa. Among youth, gender disparities in literacy skills are generally smaller
and improving more quickly over time; mainly due to increased access to schooling
among the young generally with increased messages encouraging parents to take both
girls and boys to school, compared to the less emphasis 50+ years before. The world has
generally achieved equality in primary education enrolment figures for boys and girls but
few countries have achieved that equality in enrolment at all levels of education.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development opened a new chapter in the long
struggle towards achieving gender equality. Its commitment to ‘leave no one behind’
expresses the conviction that boys and girls, men and women should benefit equally from
development. The achievement of full human potential and of sustainable development is
not possible if one half of humanity continues to be denied its full human rights and
opportunities, (Global Monitoring Report – Gender Review, 2018).
The fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is focused on gender, while other SDGs
also support the empowerment of women. The inter-relatedness of the different goals
sends a strong message about the realization of gender equality in different sectors. At the
same time, progress toward gender equality in education can have important effects on
equality in employment, health and nutrition.

Below is a brief on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Only the targets under goal
4 will be highlighted. Each one of the other SDGs has targets as well. Read them on
your own

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote
sustainable agriculture.
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.
Targets for goal 4:
 4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality
primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning
outcomes
 4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood
development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary
education
 4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality
technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
 4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have
relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent
jobs and entrepreneurship
 4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to
all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including
persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations
 4.6 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men
and women, achieve literacy and numeracy
 4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to
promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for
sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality,
promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and
appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable
development
 4.A Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender
sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning
environments for all
 4.B By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available
to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island
developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education,
including vocational training and information and communications technology,
 technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and
other developing countries
 4.C By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including
through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries,
especially least developed countries and small island developing States

Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all.
Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
Goal 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent
work for all.
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialisation and foster
innovation.
Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries.
Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.
Goal 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land
degradation, halt biodiversity loss.
Goal 16: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies.
Goal 17: Revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development

The international literacy day (ILD)

As part of the global literacy situation, September 8th of every year was proclaimed
International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 1965. It was first celebrated in
1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and
societies. On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international
community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally. Celebrations take place
around the world in all countries.

The year 2018’s ILD theme was ‘Literacy and skills development’, focusing on youth
and adults within the lifelong learning framework. For ILD 2018, ‘skills’ means
knowledge, skills and competencies required for employment, careers, and livelihoods,
particularly technical and vocational skills, along with transferable skills and digital
skills.

Integrated approaches that connect literacy learning and skills development were
advanced years ago and are still relevant today to promote literacy and skills
development. For these approaches, functional literacy has been an influential concept
since the late 1950s, viewed as a set of context-dependent skills that can engage a person
within those activities in which literacy is required for an effective functioning of his or
her group and community.
Beyond projects managed by the education sector, numerous integrated programmes have
been managed by other sectors over the years in fields such as agriculture, labour and
health. These programmes have played an important role in combining literacy, technical
and vocational skills, and employability and entrepreneurial skills, as exemplified by
extension services and ‘farmers institute’ models. Parts of such programmes usually
target specific populations, such as out-of-school youth, women, rural people, low-skilled
workers, and indigenous peoples.

The renewed focus on integrated approaches is grounded, on the one hand, in persistent
literacy and skills challenges, and, on the other, in the new skills demands and impetus
generated by the current context of globalization, digitization and the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development.

The 12 International Benchmarks on Adult Literacy

These benchmarks on adult literacy are internationally agreed upon around the year 2008
aspects that every adult literacy programme should uphold.
1. Literacy is about the acquisition and use of reading, writing and numeracy
skills, and thereby the development of active citizenship, improved health and
livelihoods, and gender equality. The goals of literacy programmes should reflect
this understanding.
2. Literacy should be seen as a continuous process that requires sustained learning
and application. There are no magic lines to cross from illiteracy into literacy. All
policies and programmes should be defined to encourage sustained participation
and celebrate progressive achievement rather than focusing on one-off provision
with a single end point.
3. Governments have the lead responsibility in meeting the right to adult
literacy and in providing leadership, policy frameworks, an enabling
environment and resources. They should:
o ensure cooperation across all relevant ministries and links to all relevant
development programmes;
o work in systematic collaboration with experienced civil society
organisations;
o ensure links between all these agencies, especially at the local level; and
o ensure relevance to the issues in learners' lives by promoting the
decentralization of budgets and of decision-making over curriculum,
methods and materials.
4. It is important to invest in ongoing feedback and evaluation mechanisms,
data systematization and strategic research. The focus of evaluations should be
 on the practical application of what has been learnt and the impact on active
citizenship, improved health and livelihoods, and gender equality.
5. To retain facilitators, it is important that they should be paid at least the
equivalent of the minimum wage of a primary school teacher for all hours
worked (including time for training, preparation and follow-up).
6. Facilitators should be local people who receive substantial initial training
and regular refresher training, as well as having ongoing opportunities for
exchanges with other facilitators. Governments should put in place a framework
for the professional development of the adult literacy sector, including for trainers
/supervisors – with full opportunities for facilitators across the country to access
this (e.g. through distance education).
7. There should be a ratio of at least 1 facilitator to 30 learners and at least 1
trainer/supervisor to 15 learner groups (1 to 10 in remote areas), ensuring a
minimum of one support visit per month. Programmes should have timetables that
flexibly respond to the daily lives of learners but which provide for regular and
sustained contact (e.g. twice a week for at least two years).
8. In multilingual contexts, it is important at all stages that learners should be
given an active choice about the language in which they learn. Active efforts
should be made to encourage and sustain bilingual learning.
9. A wide range of participatory methods should be used in the learning process
to ensure active engagement of learners and relevance to their lives. These
same participatory methods and processes should be used at all levels of training
of trainers and facilitators.
10. Governments should take responsibility for stimulating the market for
production and distribution of a wide variety of materials suitable for new
readers, for example by working with publishers / newspaper producers. They
should balance this with funding for the local production of materials; especially
by learners, facilitators and trainers.
11. Governments should commit between US$50 and US$100 per learner per
year for at least three years. A good quality literacy programme that respects all
these Benchmarks is likely to cost between US $ 50 and US $ 100 per learner per
year for at least three years (two years initial learning + ensuring further learning
opportunities are available for all)
12. Governments should dedicate at least 3 % of their national education sector
budgets to adult literacy programmes as conceived in these Benchmarks.
Where governments deliver on this, international donors should be willing to fill
any remaining resource gaps.
The World Conference on Education For All (EFA), Jomtien, Thailand, 1990
In 1990, several country delegates as well as representatives from some several
governmental and non-governmental organizations, agreed at the World Conference on
Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand to make primary education accessible to all
children and to massively reduce illiteracy before the end of the decade. The delegates
adopted a World Declaration on Education for All, which reaffirmed the notion of
education as a fundamental human right and urged countries to intensify efforts to
address the basic learning needs of all. The Framework for Action to Meet the Basic
Learning Needs defined targets and strategies to meet the basic learning needs of all by
the year 2000. These included the following:
 Universal access to learning
 A focus on equity
 Emphasis on learning outcomes
 Broadening the means and the scope of basic education
 Enhancing the environment for learning
 And strengthening partnerships by 2000

However, the Jomtien EFA targets were not totally achieved by the year 2000, which led
to another set of international commitments being agreed upon in the year 2000.

The World Education Forum on Education For All (Dakar, Senegal, 2000)

In 2000, ten years after the Jomtien conference, the international community met again at
the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, an event which drew several national
governments, civil society organisations and development agencies. The forum took
stock of the fact that many countries were far from having reached the Education For All
goals established at the World Conference on Education for All in 1990 at Jomtien.
Education For All, an international initiative was first launched in Jomtien in 1990 with
the aim of bringing benefits of education to every citizen in every society.

The participants agreed on the Dakar Framework for Action which re-affirmed their
commitment to achieving Education for All by the year 2015, and identified six key
measurable education goals which aimed at meeting the learning needs of all children,
youth and adults by 2015. In addition, the forum reaffirmed UNESCO’s role as the lead
organization with the overall responsibility of coordinating other agencies and
organizations in the attempts to achieve these goals.
The six goals established in The Dakar Framework for Action were:

 Goal 1: Expand early childhood care and education

 Goal 2: Provide free and compulsory primary education for all
 Goal 3: Promote learning and life skills for young people and adults
 Goal 4: Increase adult literacy by 50 percent
 Goal 5: Achieve gender parity by 2005, gender equality by 2015
 Goal 6: Improve the quality of education

Education For All (EFA) was a global movement led by UNESCO (United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), aiming to meet the learning needs of
all children, youth and adults by 2015.

UNESCO had been mandated to lead the movement and coordinate the international
efforts to reach Education for All.

The EFA goals were part of the efforts meant to contribute to the global pursuit of the
eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially MDG 2 on universal
primary education and MDG 3 on gender equality in education, by 2015. The MDGs
were set and adopted by the world’s governments in the same year 2000. EFA and MDGs
were famous frameworks in the fields of education and development. They offered a
long- term vision of reduced poverty and hunger, better health and education, sustainable
lifestyles, strong partnerships and shared commitments. The EFA goals and MDGs were
complementary because funding education contributes to increasing progress towards
achieving development goals.

Below is a summary of the eight Millennium Development Goals.

 Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
 Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
 Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
 Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
 Goal 5: Improve maternal health
 Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
 Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
 Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

According to UIS (2017), the majority of countries missed the Education for All (EFA)
goal of reducing adult illiteracy rates by 50% between 2000 and 2015. At the global
level, the adult and youth literacy rates are estimated to have grown by only 4% each
over this period. By 2015 therefore, many countries of the world, including Uganda had
neither achieved all the Education for All goals nor the Millennium Development Goals.
The United Nations thereafter developed the post-2015 development agenda as a way
forward.

The 2015 World Education Forum held in Incheon, Republic of Korea

This agenda was launched at a Summit in 2015, which was the target date for realizing
the Millennium Development Goals and Education for All goals. The Sustainable
Development Goals (17 in number as seen earlier), were set and agreed upon to be
pursued from 2015 to 2030.

With respect to Education and its related targets, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development recognizes that education is key to the success of all Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). Education is also included in goals on health, growth and
employment, sustainable consumption and production, and climate change.

UNESCO facilitated consultations of member states and key stakeholders on the future
education agenda. The consultations spearheaded by UNESCO culminated in the World
Education Forum held in Incheon, Republic of Korea in 2015.

The Incheon declaration was agreed upon in which the international community
committed to Education 2030 as stipulated in SDG Goal 4 stating that ‘ensure inclusive
and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’.

In particular, target 4.6 states that ‘by 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial
proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy’.

The Incheon declaration entrusted UNESCO as the agency to lead and coordinate
Education 2030.The Incheon declaration was a commitment to transform lives through
Education, building on the worldwide commitment to EFA initiated at Jomtien in 1990
and reemphasized at Dakar in the year 2000.

UGANDA COUNTRY SITUATION ON LITERACY AND ILLITERACY

Uganda is one of the several countries that signed a pledge at the World Education Forum
in the year 2000 to achieve the Education for All (EFA) target by 2015 and also
committed to the Sustainable Development Goals pursued between 2015 and 2030.
According to Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) (2016),
 The total literacy rate among persons aged 10 years and above is 72.2%
 The report shows that men are more literate compared to the women with the total
literacy rate for adult males at 77.4% while that of females is at 67.6%, reflecting
a gender gap.
The total literacy rates for the different age groups are listed below (UBOS, 2016):

 10-24 years of age: male 78.9%, female 78.9% and a total therefore of 78.9%
 13-18years: males:82.9%, females:83.8%, and the total literacy rate at 83.4%
 18-30years: males: 84.8%, females: 78.2% and a total literacy rate of 81.5%

The above three age group categories can be used to make sense of the literacy rates
using the formal schooling structure and the youth category especially the 10-24 category
and the 13-18 category but the categories can also easily be judged as misleading since
they do not seem clear on which age categories can be defined as referring to youth
literacy and which ones relate to the adult literacy rate. There seems to be some
vagueness in that 2016 Uganda census reporting.
 60years and above: males: 56.9%, females: 24.2% and a total literacy rate of
40.6%.
 Urban literacy rate is put at 85.9% while rural literacy rate is put at 68.3%,
reflecting that more non-literate people live in the rural areas.

UBOS (2010, p.15) defines literacy as one’s ability to read with understanding and to
write meaningfully a statement in any language. The report further shows that the ability
to read and write is an important personal asset, allowing individuals increased
opportunities in life. The report notes that knowing the distribution of the literate
population can help those involved in communication in particular fields such as health,
agriculture, education and environment plan how to reach the population with their
messages. A literate person can read and understand basic instructions that may be
written on some of the items that households use on a daily basis.

The UBOS (2016) and earlier UBOS reports have scanty information on adult literacy in
the country. This contrasts greatly with the greater amount of information in the report
regarding primary, secondary and tertiary education that highlights among other issues
figures on enrollment and education facilities such as sitting space. The scanty
information on adult literacy thus reflects the less attention given to adult literacy in this
country in comparison with the attention given to primary, secondary and tertiary
education.

The Uganda Government established the Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) programme in
1992 and initiated a programme to expand adult literacy to more areas and improve the
quality of teaching but experts blame the long absence of a national policy on adult
literacy (a national policy on adult education got approved by the Government in 2014)
for the low profile of the government adult literacy programme. Some of the indicators
of this low profile are the voluntary status of the instructors who are not given attention
or recognition like is given to teachers in primary and secondary education, and the
inadequate training facilities marked by a general lack of learning centers; most classes
run under trees or in churches, with no place to keep learning materials.

The FAL programme is also faced with limited funding, an inadequate number of
instructors and inadequate literacy materials. The adult literacy training in Uganda is not
aligned to the formal qualifications recognized by education institutions yet some adult
learners would prefer to acquire a certificate recognizing a level of literacy attainment
equivalent to a particular level of formal schooling.

Adult literacy service providers in Uganda

The adult literacy providers in Uganda include; the Government of Uganda, the Non –
Governmental organizations (NGOs)/ Civil Society organizations (CSOs) and other
private companies. Some of these NGOs in adult literacy work in Uganda are based at the
local (district) and national level while some are international, operating in several other
countries of the world.

Below is a list of some of the agencies involved in adult literacy work in Uganda
 Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social
Development
 Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)
 Action Aid International
 Literacy and Adult Basic Education (LABE)
 Literacy Network for Uganda (LitNet)
 Uganda Adult Education Network (UGAADEN)
 Uganda Adult Literacy Learners Association (UALLA)
 Finnish Refugee Council (FRC)
 National Adult Education Association (NAEA)
 There are several private enterprises, registered and unregistered with the registrar
of companies, providing adult education classes in Uganda

Funding of Adult education in Uganda

There are several sources of funding for adult education activities in this country.
Common international donors associated with funding adult education activities are:
 Regarding health education, the common donors have been; the Global Fund
on HIV/ AIDS, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO)
 Agricultural extension work has benefitted from support from such donors
like; the International Development Agency (IDA), the African Development
Bank (ADB), the European Union (EU), and Irish Aid, among others.
  Adult literacy funders have included the Government of Uganda, UNICEF,
the German Adult Education Association (DVV), World Bank, and the
Icelandic Development Agency (ICEIDA)

Whereas there is a level of funding for adult education activities in Uganda, it is

still inadequate. This might be worsened by the scattered and uncoordinated
funding and implementation of adult education activities, leading to duplication
and wastage of the limited resources. It is therefore hoped that the national policy
on adult education will promote coordination of adult education activities,
including adult literacy, by the different providers in Uganda.

References
1. Global Monitoring Report team (2018). Global monitoring report- Gender
review. Meeting our commitments to gender equality in Education, Paris, France
2. Street V. B., (1995): ‘Social Literacies: Critical Approaches to Literacy in
Development, Ethnography and Education’, Longman, London and New York.
3. The United Nations. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, Retrieved from
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld and
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/
4. Uganda Bureau of statistics (2016). The National Population and Housing Census
2014- Main Report, Kampala, Uganda
5. Uganda Bureau of Statistics (2010). Statistical Abstract
6. UNESCO (2018). International Literacy Day 2018. Literacy and Skills
Development concept note, Electronic version
7. UNESCO Institute of Statistics Education Data Release. (September 2018).
Information paper number 54. Electronic version
8. UNESCO Institute of Statistics Factsheet, number 45, (September 2017). Literacy
rates continue to rise from one generation to the next. Electronic version
SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

Spoken language (speech) is the use of human vocal sounds. Writing involves making of
visual (but non-gestural) marks on a piece of paper or typing with a machine. It can also
be defined as the making of visual prints or marks on a surface. The visual marks are also
called graphemes.

However, the type of surface used determines the level of permanency of the writing
even if generally writing is considered more permanent / long lasting when compared to
speech. In many countries, many spoken languages lack a writing system and oral
literature still exists. Human memory is not long-lasting; it is therefore short lived
because when someone dies, he or she can no longer share what they know and the
brain’s storage capacity is limited. Modern technology like modern speech / voice
recorders enhances the storage of speech longer than when one must depend on the
brain’s storage alone.

There is similarity in the meaning system, which is the same for both written and
spoken language. Both aspects of language convey meaning. The difference however is
that a spoken language uses sounds to convey meaning while the written language uses
visual symbols to convey meaning.

There is similarity in the sentence system in that both spoken and written languages
have rules of grammar that govern the use of sentences in both spoken and written
language.

Both use symbols; spoken language uses sound while the written language uses
graphemes to convey meaning.

There is a difference with respect to the acquisition process. Every normal human being
has the capacity to acquire and use spoken language. Children learn to speak through
exposure to language, without formal training. However, written language is about being
literate; i.e. it’s about the ability to read and write and to be able to use written language,
one must make a conscious effort to learn and receive instruction to master the art of
written language.

CURRENT WRITING SYSTEMS OR APPROACHES TO WRITTEN

LANGUAGE: the alphabetic, syllabic writing, the morphemic and the semantic

A writing system is any method of visually representing verbal communication or

sounds of a language using written or printed symbols.
 a) The Alphabetic writing system
In the alphabetic system, the graphic symbol or grapheme represents the sound unit.
Each graphic symbol represents a single sound which then represents the sentence
(syntax) and the meaning systems. This system of writing is easy to learn and use because
it utilizes few sound symbols (the alphabet) which are then combined to form words and
sentences.

An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written symbols (graphemes), each of which

roughly represents a sound unit (phoneme) in a spoken language. In the alphabetic
system, each sound should have a symbol, but in some alphabets, a sound may be
identified with more than one symbol. An example of an alphabet is the Roman or Latin
alphabet which has the set of letters from A to Z.

There are several alphabets in the world today such as the Latin or Roman alphabet used
in Europe and parts of Africa and the Arabic alphabet common in Asia and parts of
Africa. After the Latin or Roman alphabet, the Arabic alphabet is the second most widely
used alphabet around the world. The Arabic alphabet is used in writing the holy book of
Islam and many other writings in Islamic communities. The Latin alphabet is said to be
the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. With colonialism, the
Roman/ Latin alphabet was spread to many countries of the world including American,
Austrian, East Asian and African languages. English and most Ugandan languages are
written using the alphabetic writing system.

b) The Syllabic writing system

In this system, a written symbol represents a syllable. A syllable is a combination of
sounds pronounced at a go. The written symbol (grapheme) in this approach is not a
single sound unit but a combination of sound units in a special pattern called the syllable.
The syllables can then be combined to form words. The syllables are also few and easy to
learn. Writing in this system is called syllabic writing. An example of a language written
this way is Japanese.

This syllabic approach is very similar to the alphabetic approach because in both
approaches, a single sound unit is represented by a single visual unit or the grapheme. For
the sake of syllabic writing, the syllable is the single sound unit; and for alphabetic
writing, a single sound unit is represented by a single written symbol.

The basic difference between syllabic writing and alphabetic writing is that the size of the
sound unit is different whereby a syllable is a combination of sounds therefore it is bigger
than an individual sound unit represented in a single written symbol for the alphabetic
writing.

c) The Morphemic writing / Word writing system

In this writing system, a visual symbol represents a morpheme or a word. The single
written symbol / grapheme represents a morpheme/ a word. Given that there are far more
morphemes in a language than there are individual sound units (phonemes), there must be
many more written symbols in a written language of this type. Such a writing system uses
hundreds or even thousands of morphemes in learning to write the language, thus making
it complex to learn. An example is the Chinese language.

d) The Semantic writing system

Semantics is a branch of the study of language concerned with meaning. In the semantic
approach, graphic symbols directly represent semantic units and therefore the meaning.
An example is when we write the number 25, we refer directly to the meaning. Thus, 25
can be read directly into numerous languages because the written symbols neither
represent sounds nor morphemes. 25 as a written unit represents a semantic unit. Using
the words ‘Twenty – five’ is alphabetic writing because each symbol represents a sound
and the various sounds must be put together to get the meaning contained in them when
they make a word / words.
Today, there are no pure semantic writing systems in existence; this system is no longer
used exclusively in any language but it is used within other writing systems of most
languages in the world.

Note.

The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific writing
system to write the language.

The great majority of new writing systems make use of alphabetic writing. It is generally
advisable for any one preparing a new written language to use some form of alphabetic
writing.
However, the question that arises is ‘Which alphabet do I use?’ Various alphabets have
been used in different parts of the world. In most cases, the best alphabet to use for a new
language is one that is similar to alphabets used for other languages in that geographic
area for example in the Arab world, Arabic alphabet is used. In areas with Indian
influence, the Indian alphabet is used. In areas of the world with British influence like
Sub-Saharan Africa where Uganda falls, the Roman/Latin alphabet is used.
FACTORS FOR SUCCESS IN ADULT LITERACY EFFORTS - Hamadache &
Martin (1986) & Fordham, Holland & Millican (1995)
Over the years, there have been several efforts to tackle the problem of illiteracy in the
world. The efforts have been at various levels- right from village level up to national
level in form of campaigns and nationwide literacy programs in different parts of the
world. The success of any literacy effort depends on three major categories of factors.
However, these factors are not a guarantee for success as contexts and situations differ
from one country to another and society to society. Each literacy program needs to
consider the factors in view of the particular community’s context.

1. POLITICAL FACTORS
a) National Commitment
Literacy programs must be in line with the country’s general development plan. Literacy
needs to be perceived as one of the essentials in the attainment of the development goals
of a given country.

It is therefore important that the government has an input in the decisions on the
objectives, the strategies and mobilization of the population as well as material and
financial resources for the success and attainment of not only the literacy program
objectives but also of the planned development in the country.

National commitment is reflected through the political will by not having just political
statements but action exhibited by the political, human and material resources devoted to
the implementation of literacy programs.

b) The political and Socio-economic Framework

For literacy programs to succeed there is need for the relevance of literacy in a particular
country to be reflected in the political and socio-economic structures and also
highlighted in the existing official documents of social and national importance. These
documents may be in the form of national policies, development frameworks/plans,
basic laws or guidelines. When a literacy program is designed, it therefore has to draw
on such reflections in order to invoke national efforts and commitment to it. The political
and socio-economic structures should be supportive of change and dynamism.
The supportive political and socio-economic structures are those which have the
following features:
 From the political point of view, they tend to bring about the effective
participation of every citizen in decision-making at all levels of social life: in
economics, politics and culture.
 From the economic point of view, they aim at holistic harmonious
development of society, focusing on all aspects of societal transformation
 including people’s livelihoods, and not aiming at promoting inequalities that
favour some sections of society while continuing to marginalise large
sections of the population.
 From the social point of view, supportive structures do not result in making
education a class privilege and a means of reproducing established
hierarchies and orders.
 From the professional point of view, supportive structures provide
communities with genuine control over the technologies they wish to use.
 From the institutional point of view, supportive structures favour a concerted
approach and permanent cooperation among the authorities responsible for
provision of basic services.

2. TECHNICAL FACTORS
A successful literacy program requires a multi-sectoral and multi-ministerial approach. It
is important to note that autonomy, authority and coordination are the three basic
essentials to guide the choice of institutions and structures for a good literacy campaign.
Below are essential technical factors for success.
a) Public awareness: Awareness throughout the whole nation and among all sectors is
important. All people who will have something to do with the implementation of the
literacy program will need to be aware of the objectives and process requirements of
the literacy program.
b) Mobilization: There is need to mobilise all available resources to support literacy
work/campaigns both in government circles and among the population. People need
to be motivated to take action against illiteracy by clearly spelling out the
background and context of the literacy campaign. When the population is mobilised
to get involved as learners and instructors, there is a higher chance that the literacy
campaign will be a success. Some countries emphasise the participation of young
people and/or students as a paramount driving force for literacy. There is need to
cultivate a solid volunteer force to drive the literacy campaign especially where
financial resources are limited and cannot sustain a paid workforce.
c) Planning: A literacy campaign needs to be planned in such a way that it is linked to
the education system as a whole and to the economic, social and cultural
development. It is important to plan literacy programmes of varying lengths, and, for
each period, to define specific objectives and the necessary means of attaining them.
Good planning requires good knowledge of the national characteristics in terms of
regions, ethnic composition and language groups, socio-occupational categories, the
gender composition as well as age groups. It also requires a good analysis of the
general education system in a given country to establish the place for literacy as well
as the anticipated challenges for literacy to be assimilated into the system.
Planning for the post-literacy activity is very important in planning so as to cater for the
sustained practice of acquired literacy skills. This is important to avoid a relapse of the
literacy skills attained by the new literacy graduates.

Planning of literacy should also be integrated into the country’s socio-economic and
cultural planning in order to remove the inequalities that exist between the urban and
rural areas and among districts.

3. BASIC PRINCIPLES IN ADULT LITERACY PRACTICE

The basic principles in adult literacy practice are in essence a special category of
considerations to ensure success of a literacy operation. These are concerns that all
stakeholders in the literacy campaign should address. These principles were cited by the
Director General of UNESCO on the occasion of the International Literacy Day on 8 th
September, 1976. They included functionality, participation, integration and
diversification.

a) Functionality
Functionality means different things depending on the context and the period involved.
International ideas about what is functional have been changing with changes in what is
seen as appropriate for development overtime.

In the 1960s, functionality was seen mainly in economic terms just like economic growth
was the dominant approach to development at the time and the trickle-down effect that
worked for a few lucky individuals while the majority never benefitted. It was therefore
first linked to vocational training programmes that lead to growth in the individuals’
productivity as well as consideration of human aspects. This view was criticized and later
modified to the effect that functionality emphasised the relationship which exists between
education and aspirations/ needs of society and the relationship between education and
motivations and aspirations of the individual.

In the 1970s, literacy in development became more political with the popularity of
writings by philosophers like Paulo Freire and so functionality was viewed as aiming at
total transformation (liberation) of whole societies. Freire’s writings were used to widen
the idea of what is functional to include political, social and cultural purposes as well as
economic ones. The understanding of functionality therefore evolved into appreciation
that successes in literacy programs were achieved when literacy was linked to meeting
the individual’s fundamental requirements, ranging from his immediate vital basic needs
to effective participation in social change. This was in a bid to make functionality carry a
comprehensive and holistic relevance for literacy.
In the 1990s and 2000s, the concern in functional literacy is more with local literacies and
not so much with centralised national literacy efforts. Concern today is much more about
sustainable development which means that functional literacy means that communities
must also be able to acquire the capacity to carry on and develop themselves when
outside agencies have left their communities. In addition, today, the concern is that
development efforts should not have a negative impact on the environment especially the
natural environment. The key current concerns for development and therefore literacy
efforts in the world today are employment/ unemployment, environment, social equality,
peace, and sustainability. It is these concerns that offer guidelines that help in
determining what functions/ skills are appropriate objectives for literacy in any particular
community today.

b) Participation
This is closely related to the principle of functionality. If literacy is to take into account
the needs and aspirations of the illiterate people, it is important that the process provides
room for listening to them and make them subjects and not objects of the literacy
campaign. This principle of participation takes literacy as a process of liberation as
opposed to just a development operation in which the manipulation of the least privileged
and illiterate members of society further increases inequalities in society.

Participation of non-literates especially the least privileged like the women, migrant
workers, People With Disabilities themselves is fundamental as it provides the most
genuine and authentic motivation on the part of the populations concerned. The non-
literates, like other people have a need to meet their basic requirements and to take part in
decision-making in their communities. The illiterate therefore must be motivated by
clearly linking the literacy programmes to their needs and making it relevant to their
socio-economic advancement.
c) Integration
This is concerned with both integration of literacy into the process of lifelong
learning/education and, integration into the whole body of economic and social reforms
in line with the planning requirements in a country or society. It is important that the
literacy skills acquired by learners are put to use in everyday life operations of the
learners. The literacy skills must be relevant to everyday life. Literacy should also be
integrated into the national and regional development plans and this should be ensured
through coordination from national level and throughout the different levels downwards.
There should also be integration of various forms of training especially the theoretical
and the practical activities to effectively contribute to the achievement of the set common
goals of the literacy program.
 d) Diversification
It is essential to diversify methodologies because there is no such a thing as a single
model for literacy programmes. Diversification relates to considering differences in
situations and the need to respond differently or in a diversified way. Programmes must
be adapted to the prevailing circumstances, to the individuals as well as the socio-
economic, cultural contexts and living conditions of the learners.
Each country has its own unique characteristics and with a given country, there will be
differences in conditions. It is thus important that countries should diversify methods
according to the circumstances. Issues to consider include; how close the languages and
cultures are, whether the divergences or differences are fundamental, the time and
resources available.

APPROACHES TO ADULT LITERACY WORK

1. The Traditional approach
This approach has only one main objective, that is; the teaching of reading and writing
skills accompanied in most cases by elementary arithmetic or basic mathematics. It is
sometimes viewed as being without purpose since it is literacy for literacy’s sake. The
Traditional literacy approach also takes on traditional methods of instruction/teaching
literacy skills and it is very insensitive to the importance of relevance of the literacy
subject matter because the learning content is usually not related to the learners’ needs
and interests or daily concerns. The traditional approach which arises from the schooling
model, assumes that literacy is a basic set of skills which once learned enable the learners
to apply the learning in any context and believers in the traditional approach believe that
those who lack such literacy skills are in a deficit. They believe that illiterates are unable
to participate in the society as they cannot read and write and therefore liable to be
cheated. The literate ones are those who possess the basic skills and the illiterate ones are
those who do not possess these skills.

The literacy learning programme for adults using this approach is very similar to that of
the schooling system. Learning takes place in a formal context either at school or in adult
literacy classes with the teacher using particular teaching and learning materials called
primers. It assumes that once learned, it is impossible for one to get back to illiteracy but
those who have learned can engage in development.

The main aim of the literacy programme is to motivate the illiterates and teach them
literacy skills through a more or less formal course and test their competence at the end of
the programme usually through written tests and examinations like it is done in formal
schools.
Criticisms of the traditional approach
 It is content based and not student based since a teacher is perceived as the expert
of subject matter content. It believes that learners are empty vessels that have to
be filled by the expert teacher’s knowledge. The approach is therefore more
pedagogical than andragogical and thus not very suitable for adult learners. It is a
banking approach.
 Literacy is not based on the learner’s experiences and yet adults are experience
oriented.
 The traditional approach is very theoretical and not practical yet practical learning
promotes relevance and applicability of the learning.

2. The Functional literacy approach

This approach was introduced by UNESCO in 1965 as a tool for economic development.
The program was called the Functional Adult Literacy program. The teaching is based on
the life experiences of the learner in addition to the teaching of the 3Rs (reading, writing
and numeracy). The emphasis is also on the practice.

Learning is organised within the context of the learners’ lives and involves linking adult
literacy to economic activities but also political, social and human development. It’s
functional as it aims at empowering learners to engage in all activities in which literacy is
required within their community. The Functional approach integrates learning of the 3Rs
with learning of the social, political, economic livelihood and civic skills. The Functional
approach has thematic topics i.e. generative themes on civic education, health,
environment, project planning and management, income generating activities, among
others, as the basis for learning literacy skills.

The Functional approach also integrates advantages and the best techniques from the
traditional approach and psychosocial approach that emphasises raising the critical
consciousness of the learners regarding their situation.

3. The Psychosocial approach. This approach has two aims:

a) Conscientisation / consciousness raising:
This approach aims at enabling learners to analyse critically their total situation including
its political dimension and to regain the power to change that situation by enabling them
to view themselves as capable of changing the situation. Literacy activities are used as an
avenue to raise awareness among learners regarding their reality. The approach suggests
that the situation of illiteracy is a situation of inequality and oppression where the
illiterates therefore are always in an oppressed situation thus the need to raise their
awareness on their situation and the need for them to liberate themselves.
 b) Facilitation to acquire skills in reading, writing and numeracy
This approach equally aims at enabling the learners to name their world using their own
words. For Paulo Freire, one of the prominent promoters of the psychosocial approach to
literacy, the process of learning how to read and write, and the process of conscientisation
should be completely integrated.

The main elements of the Psychosocial approach

a) The use of codes
A code is a visual representation of the social, economic and political situation of the
target group of learners. Codes are used to trigger critical reflection, discussions and
action. The visual element which is brought about by the use of the codes is essential to
enable learners to analyse their situation. Examples of codes are pictures, videos, role
plays, among others. The code must be followed by reflection usually guided by
questions to the learners so as to lead to dialogue.

b) The use of dialogue

Dialogue involves inviting and allowing all learners to engage in discussion of the issues
depicted in the code. This discussion is both among the participants themselves and
between the participants and facilitators. The discussion helps to raise the learners’
consciousness about their reality as illustrated in the visual codes. It also builds self-
confidence to be able to challenge the culture of silence in which they find themselves. In
the discussions that follow the codes, they are able to speak out on their situation and are
no longer silent.

c) The role of the facilitators / coordinators of the Psychosocial approach

The role of the coordinator or facilitator is to facilitate the learning process through using
the visual illustration of the ideas using codes, promoting dialogue and breaking down the
discussion into sentences, words, syllables and the constituent individual sounds (the
letters). The facilitator ensures mutual respect among the learners, recognition of the
participants’ experience and recognition of the fact that these participants have the
capacity to make a change/difference in their own lives and situation.

The Psychosocial approach discourages banking education in which teachers play a

central role in disseminating information to the learners because banking education
promotes the culture of silence and therefore reinforces domestication of the learners by
keeping them in the situation of oppression.

d) Praxis
According to the psychosocial approach, learning how to read and write is not an end in
itself but a means to critical reflection, critical consciousness and should result into taking
action to change the situation of oppression through both socio-political and
psychological changes. Praxis implies a continuous engagement in critical reflection
about one’s reality.

An example of using the psychosocial approach

 The code is presented before the learners to visually illustrate the generative
theme e.g. “poor housing”.

A generative theme is the issue on which the people have strong feelings. It is an issue
that arouses a wide range of responses from the learners. It is significant and a key
concern in the lives of the learners. Generative themes can be discovered for example
through listening to informal conversations in the community. In terms of inequality and
oppression, poor housing can be a generative theme in Uganda e.g. the poor state of
housing in the slums in Kampala.
 The generative theme is broken down into the generative word or words e.g.
‘‘Poor’’, “house”
 The generative words then become the basis for learning how to read and write

A Generative word: is a word which sums up the discussions on the generative theme.
The generative word is doubly generative in the sense that;
i. It triggers off the responses during the discussion
ii. It generates new words which are identified creatively by the learners and
broken down into the constituent syllables and individual sounds in the
process of learning to read and write one’s reality.

4. The participatory rural appraisal (PRA)-based approach –REFLECT

REFLECT is an abbreviation that stands for Regenerated Freirean Literacy through
Empowering Community Techniques.

The REFLECT approach started in 1993 by Action Aid, an international non-

governmental organisation that operates in different parts of the world. The concept itself
was developed by two researchers: David Archer and Sarah Cottingham. It was
developed in the United Kingdom and piloted in three countries of Uganda, Bangladesh
and El Salvador.

REFLECT as the name suggests, builds on the theoretical framework of the psychosocial
approach and the principles of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques of
collecting information and understanding a community situation. PRA is also read as
Participatory Reflection and Action. PRA is a set of research techniques or tools for
collecting information using a range of tools that promote the involvement of the
community members in understanding their situation so as to take action to promote
social change and a better, fairer world. Examples of PRA tools include: development of
daily calendar, development of a social map, wealth ranking, developing a community
resources map, developing a problem tree, among others. These tools are developed by
the community using local resources with the help of a facilitator. The developed
diagrams are then focused on to understand the situation in the community, usually the
problems and devising action points in solving the problems.

The main intentions behind incorporating PRA techniques within the REFLECT
methodology are the following;
a) To provide a structure and focus on dialogue and provide mechanisms to ensure
that meaningful dialogue takes place and is rooted in the learners’ experiences
b) The dialogue which is generated from the PRA tools not only helps to motivate
learners and raises collective awareness of problems but also helps learners to
develop their language and communicative skills as they share their opinions.
c) To facilitate visual literacy. In this case, the graphic illustrations in the PRA
methodology are the link between the oral and the written lifestyle and the first
step on the way to written abstraction because the community represents the
issues analysed by using the selected local materials that act as the symbols
representing the issues. The pictures/symbols used in PRA are the visual
environment of the word /words to be learnt.

REFLECT in addition emphasizes the following in the learning process:

1. It emphasizes writing rather than passive reading of fixed texts. It emphasizes
learner generated materials and not pre-packaged texts. In this approach, the
learners develop their own curriculum materials out of their visual images by
constructing maps, matrices, graphs, calendars and diagrams about various
aspects of their local reality. In Uganda, this can be in the form of tools such as
the gender work load calendar constructed on the ground by the whole group
using locally available materials like stones, flowers, sticks, charcoal, leaves,
among other possible local materials.
2. It emphasizes the creative and active involvement of participants in literacy
circles. The meetings are called literacy circles not literacy classes. It emphasises
creativity in the sense that the learners are part of the knowledge generation. It is
more learner-centred in terms of involving learners in devising solutions to their
problems.
3. It emphasizes building on the existing knowledge of participants by respecting
oral traditions (the talk and conversation) and their other literacies or ways of
representing and understanding writing. Learners are involved in drawing visual
illustrations about their community concerns as part of the learning process.
 4. It emphasizes relevance to the local context. It is argued that literacy events
should be addressed in a wider environment and not regarded as just a classroom
activity. Supporters of the REFLECT methodology argue that literacy is no longer
seen as a simple skill or competence but as a process; and the individual learner
must be an active actor and not a passive recipient of knowledge and skills.

An example of how REFLECT is used

When the calendar or diagram has been drawn on the ground, the literacy instructor
replaces stones and sticks with visual cards with the words that stand for the issue
illustrated by the local materials. This is the first stage of literacy. The diagram is then
transferred to large pieces of paper using visual symbols already agreed on by the class.
At this stage, literacy and numeracy activities formally begin.

Learning starts with themes, then codes, drawing of pictures. The learners label and
number the diagrams using words then phrases from their discussion are used for practice
in writing and reading; and are soon able to write independently, experimenting with
various combinations of syllables and words.

The course is planned so that basic syllables (in a language chosen by the learners in
literacy) can be taught in a systematic order but everything comes from the vocabulary of
the learners themselves. Advocates of this method argue that vocabulary is easy to retain
because it occurs in a meaningful context.

Supplementary reading materials are introduced on the themes covered in the discussion
so that the learners can practice at home. In a literacy class, every individual has a
detailed record of the discussion in both visual and written forms.

Note. Paulo Freire became famous for popularising the need to integrate the process of
raising critical awareness and literacy training with a central process that links up
reflection and action. Everybody thinks the education they provide is relevant but who
decides what is relevant to a particular community? To Paulo Freire, communities must
choose issues which are central in their education and development programs. Freire
takes the concept deeper by linking up emotions and motivation to action by showing that
the process of creating awareness towards liberation requires qualities such as love,
patience, and mutual respect.

In Freire’s view, the best thing was to promote genuine dialogue so as to enable the
illiterates within the society participate actively as subjects rather than passively being
objects.
Language and reality are linked with reading the universe where reading the universe
must precede reading the word. The understanding of the text (the written work) that is
achieved through critical reading implies a perception between the text and the real world
context. In this sense, literacy creates conditions for acquisition of critical consciousness
of the contradictions in society in which the people live.

In general, it is possible for a country to adopt several approaches to adult literacy work
depending on the actors involved. The government might promote the use of an approach
different from that promoted by the non-governmental actors in adult literacy work
within the same country. Due to the political liberation aspects in the conscientisation
based approaches, they have not been promoted by many national governments.
Promoters of conscientisation such as Paulo Freire were persecuted by the authority in
power for fear of a political revolution as a result of his awareness raising activities.

References
Hamadache, A., & Martin., D. (1986). Theory and practice of literacy work. Policies,
strategies and examples. UNESCO/CODE, Paris, France and Ottawa, Canada

Fordham, P., Holland, D., & Millican, J. (1995). Adult Literacy. A handbook for
Development Workers. Oxfam, United Kingdom and Ireland / VSO

Differences between REFLECT and Traditional Approaches to literacy

Category REFLECT Approach Traditional Approach
Use of materials Internally generated by the Are foreign in the eyes of
learners themselves the Readers
Modes of delivery Learner centered Teacher-centered
Content For immediate application Not for immediate
application – for future
Purpose Learner empowerment Developing basic skills i.e.
reading, writing and
counting
Models of learning Ideological Autonomous
Assessment of learner No needs assessment done Needs assessment is done
needs
Similarities between REFLECT and Traditional Approaches to literacy
a) Aims at literacy teaching – skills learning
b) Literacy is for development
c) Both requires material development
d) Encourages use of text materials