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There are about one billion adult illiterates in the world, but teaching them basic literacy often turns out to be harder than expected. Adult literacy programs in developing countries often have low efficiency and rather limited outcomes. To improve outcomes, much emphasis has been given on empowering non-governmental organizations, increasing learner motivation, and reinforcing social benefits. However, the mechanisms that make it possible for the brain to perceive and interpret written patterns in a few milliseconds have received little attention. There is considerable research in this area, often carried out in developed countries to understand dyslexia or to map brain functions. That has not yet been put into use by the adult literacy community. This book summarizes the pertinent research using layman terms and attempts to apply it to the acquisition of adult literacy.; What do people learning a new script need in order to understand a text? Perhaps the most important requirement is time. The working memory, which serves as a storage of material being read lasts only about 12 seconds and holds about seven items. If people read slowly and laboriously, by the end of the sentence, they may forget the beginning. To overcome the limitations of human memory, reading must become automatic, fast and effortless. The challenge is how to achieve this performance level in literacy classes that last a few months. This book presents issues and ideas on designing adult literacy programs that support human memory functions as understood in 2003.

Social stratification --- Social problems --- Adult education. Lifelong learning --- Developing countries --- Functional literacy --- Cognitive learning. --- Education --- Social Sciences --- Education, Special Topics --- Learning --- Adult literacy --- Functional illiteracy --- Life skills --- Literacy

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Zonder onderwerpscode: wereldeconomie, ontwikkelingsproblematiek

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Students in low-income countries often have trouble learning to read; 80-90 percent of second and third graders in some countries cannot even read a single word and may know few if any letters (RTI 2009, 2010, 2011a, 2011b). The reasons are linked to limited instructional time, textbooks or parental help, potentially poor nutrition, or complex teaching methods that originated in high-income countries. Despite relative affluence, the academic performance in the Arab world has been a problem, with countries scoring on international tests much lower than expected based on per capita income level. Similarly Early Grade Reading Assessments (EGRA) in various countries has shown lower reading speeds than one would expect. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, which use the Arabic script, the issues are similar. The interaction of the perceptual and linguistic complexities turns Arabic reading into a complex multistage exercise. A reader of the Arabic script must: (a) decipher the text, (b) predict the vowels and keep multiple alternative words in working memory to test and decide on meaning, and (c) make linguistic sense in the case of Arabic. This process means that readers need to identify words faster than in other scripts in order to make sense of the text, but in fact they identify them more slowly. Not surprisingly, some studies suggest that the Arabic script may be read more slowly than visually simpler scripts or linear scripts. Education for All implies that nearly all students must somehow learn fluent reading very quickly when they start school in order to then progress to higher level topics. This must be achievable in all the languages and scripts used in low-income countries. By focusing on these lower-level variables this is doable.

Adolescents --- Bilingual Education --- Curriculum --- Curriculum & Instruction --- Education --- Education For All --- Education Reform --- Educational Sciences --- Human Resources --- Languages --- Literacy --- Nutrition --- Primary Education --- Reading --- Schools --- Teacher Training --- Teaching and Learning --- Tertiary Education --- Universities

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Since 2005, over 70 oral reading fluency tests have been given in many languages and scripts, either as part of the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) or as individual one-minute tests. Particularly in multilingual countries, reading speed and comprehension measures have been taken in multiple languages and also in multiple scripts. The development of language has a significant genetic component, which tends to create common grammatical structures. Then languages must conform to information processing limitations, notably to working memory capacity. On the basis of such features, it may be possible to develop common standards for performance improvement compare findings cross linguistically. Languages are most comparable when large chunks are used rather than single words. To arrive at some comparisons, several methods may be tried. These include: a) counting actual words in connected texts or in lists, using some conventions if needed; b) using computational solutions to arrive at coefficients of certain languages vis a vis others, such as 1 Swahili word being equivalent roughly to 1.3 English words; c) using in multiple languages lists of words of a defined length, e.g. 4 letters; d) measuring phonemes or syllables per minute, possibly dividing by average word length; and e) rapid serial visual presentation, potentially also measuring perception at the letter feature level. Overall, reading rate as words per minute seems to be a valid and reliable indicator of achievement, with 45-60 words being a range that is usable as a benchmark.

Adaptation --- Child Development --- Curriculum --- Curriculum & Instruction --- Education --- Educational Sciences --- Languages --- Literacy --- Nutrition --- Primary Education --- Reading --- Research Methods --- Schools --- Speech --- Standardized Tests --- Teaching and Learning --- Technical Assistance --- Tertiary Education