You have been involved with the Adult Literacy Programme as a teacher
Write an article to the editor ofa popular magazine, relating your experiences
and suggesting what more could be done to improve the condition of illiterates,
taking ideas from the Unit on People' besides your own ideas.
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
In 1984, the issue of adult literacy was highlighted in Illiterate America, a best-selling book by Jonathan Kozol. The book pointed out that most estimates placed at 20 to 25 the percentage of Americans reading and writing below the level needed to function in the society. Illiterate America caused a sensation, and moved government to pay more attention to the issue. The National Adult Literacy Study (NALS) was ultimately established by the Bush administration, and in 1993 published a report that confirmed the fact that there was a problem with the literacy rate in a country that had always considered itself nearly 100% literate.
For individuals, lack of basic skills can lead to unemployment or low-paying, dead-end jobs; to status as permanent political outsiders, with no opportunity to have their voices heard; and to the possibility of watching their children repeat the cycle. For your local area, low literacy levels can affect economic development, diminish the effectiveness of local government and citizen participation, and place a heavy financial and educational burden on the school system. For all these reasons, many communities support adult literacy programs. This section provides some information about adult literacy and some guidance about how to plan an adult literacy program. The next section will help you to actually get your program started in the community.
What is adult literacy?
This may seem like a simple question to answer -- adults being able to read and write, right? - but in fact educators have been puzzling and arguing over it for at least a hundred years. It encompasses reading and writing, of course, but at what level? A hundred years ago, people were considered literate if they could write their names, a qualification that would certainly be woefully inadequate today. And what about math? To be literate, do you have to be able to at least add, subtract, multiply, and divide, so you can balance your checkbook and figure your gas mileage? Do you need a certain amount of general knowledge in order to be literate? A lot of educators who use the term "cultural literacy" think so. How about people who can't speak or read or write English: are they literate, if they can read and write in their own language? And do you have an obligation to help learners understand how to use their literacy?
Components of adult literacy
As you can see, adult literacy can be looked at in a number of different ways. In planning an adult literacy program, you have to consider all of them, and decide what your community needs and what you have the resources to do. The areas that are generally referred to when adult literacy is discussed are:
Reading: "Functional literacy" is often defined as the ability to read at a particular grade level.
Writing: Written literacy might best be considered to be an individual's capacity to write what she needs to in clear and reasonably accurate language.
Math: "Numeracy" or "mathematical literacy" usually refers to the ability to perform the basic mathematical operations - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and whatever else - normally needed in everyday life.
English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL): The teaching of English speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills to those for whom it is not the native language.
Cultural literacy: Familiarity with the background knowledge that is everywhere in American culture. This can include everything from the great classics of western literature to knowing the names of Elvis Presley hits from the '50's.
The uses of literacy
The uses of literacy also have to be considered in any discussion about the subject. Mark Twain said that someone who can read and won't is considerably worse off than someone who can't read, because the latter can be taught to read, while the former is stuck in ignorance. It is the use of a skill that matters: there may be many athletes with the potential of a Michael Jordan, but only one of them developed his basketball skill to the point where he was considered the best in the world.
So what do adults want to use literacy skills for? Sondra Stein, of the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL), conducted a nationwide survey and reported the results in "Equipped for the Future." Adult learners in literacy programs, asked why they were pursuing literacy skills, gave three equally important reasons:
They wanted to improve their employment situations. Whether that meant gaining more responsibility on their jobs, becoming more competent at what they did, being promoted, finding a better job or career, or just being able to work at all, most learners felt that improving their skills could lead to improving their work life and finances.