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Staititeit****************************************** ***** St********** **** DOCUMENT RESUME ED 338 397 PS 019 984 AUTHOR Riley, Mary Tom TITLE Literacy: America's Working Partnership. INSTITUTION Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock. Inst. for Child andFamily Studies. SPONS AGENCY Department of Health and Hunan Services,Washington, D.C. PUB DATE Jan 89 CONTRACT 390CD0559/02 NOTE 37p.; Developed by the Resource Support Group. PUB TYPE Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays,etc.) (120) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adult Basic Education; Adult Literacy; Adults;At Risk Persons; Children; EducationallyDisadvantaged; Elementary Secondary Education; *FunctionalLiteracy; Functional Reading; High Risk Students; *Illiteracy; *Literacy Education; Phonics; Preschool Education; *Reading Readiness; Reading Skills; *Social Problems ABSTRACT This document examines the problem of illiteracy.The first chapter provides background and generalInformation about illiteracy, while the second chapter distinguishesbetween "illiterate" and "functionally illiterate," andprovides a new look at the concept of functionality. The thirdchapter begins with a section about illiteracy in the UnitedStates which considers population statistics regarding ethnic groups, age,and other factors. The second section of the third chapteridentifies areas of cost which can be directly attributed toinefficiency caused by illiteracy. The fourth chapter traces theinfluences and effects of illiteracy in families and looks at the servicesof literacy programs for adults and children. A comprehensive andsequential model of the developmental aspects of literacy is offered in trefifth chapter. In the sixth, the causes of illiteracy areexamined. A methodological approach to literacy training through readingreadiness that is applicable to adults and children is proposed in theseventh chapter. The eighth chapter emphasizes the importance ofthe phonics system for children and adults, and the ninthoffers suggestions for literacy training. (SH). staititeit****************************************** ***** st********** ***** elt Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that canbe made from the original document. *************************************************** ***** ************aws IN* C u S DEPARTMENT OF EDuLATKAS ". t Nolow,?, anel r (% ATIONA 7( sk1144CE Fi Alf IRMA TI( irsifiR,tRfc, t !,, 40%,,,r1 ,4 rvit..ng , ,N.P f We." "'Atte f-v,., 1',,Aut o1,111,.T. - _ ''' ps A,"%Stft(PO.,^ 0 ift r esp.( .4, F ,, America'sWorkingPartnership , "4. fht. .'51 ; 'PERMISSION TO REPRODUCETHIS MATERIAL HAS BEENGRANTED BY ANSIEWN JO," tZT1, _64,,c3 A \ t141. TO THE EDUCATIONALRESOURCES INFORMATION CENTERIt.RIC1 By: Mary Tam Riley Edv 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE .. This is a publication developed by the Resource Support Center and the Institute tor Child and Family Studies, Texas Tech University. The mission of the Institute is to assist those who work for and with young children and their families through research, development, and training activities so that they may be more effective teachers, administrators, aides, parents, and supportive personnel. This publication was prepared pursuant to Grant No. 90CD0559/02: from Resource Support Center.Contractors undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their judgment in professional and technical matters.Pdints of view or opinions, therefore, do not necessarily represent official DHHS policy or positions. January, 1989, Institute for Child and Family Studies * Texas Tech University * Lubbock, Texas Table of Contents Language, Education and Literacy 1 A Question of Definition. 5 Scope of the Problem A. Illiteracy in America .8 B. Economic and Human Repercussion of Illiteracy 9 The Cycle of Illiteracy 14 A Developmental Model of Literacy 18 Causes of Illiteracy 20 Towards a Solution , 24 The question of reading readiness 24 A simple reading-readiness primer 2.5 Reading: A Methodological Obstacle 30 Literacy Training and Its Trainers 32 4 Aslice oflife He is meticulous and reakleileaded, He gets upin niorningeahowem shavasand dreams as clisr gay basins* suit, thengoadcrwnstaireandbOyaaNewYorkThissafrocathassnallsseireeiandontheconw of hie street. Folding it neatly,irripai into the Subwey and anivetetwork et 9 "4.14. He places the foideiNearYork Tins mitt* thebtisiesseanhisderkand setttown& on graphic illuatratkzelor theadvertising copy that is handed to bins hy the editor who is his boss. "Run over this within& hot mak* sun Lyn thesis;otwhat "Cassineity wane. The editor, unanspecting, take this asassasable ssest the Evocese of %." . expanding on his copy, her red* the Ian/papal the Sateleogiseicithilit two* inlprintect an thallium:awes mind. -- M lunchbegrabathe folded copyoftheNsevyorliriorielitisieshfosioacohfee anathema LANGUAGE, EDUCATION AND LITERACY Language plays an important role in educationit is thecentral engine for the meander- ings of social interaction. Most everyone reads and writesfluently and manages with ease to tzanscribe, decode and transfer the printed messages that make upthe sensible context of our "communication society." Or so it goes ... However, in bleak contrast to the pervasive rhetoric of theso-called American Dream, there is the silent voice of a pretty child with pale cheeksand secretive eyes. Growing up in a world populated with Cyrillic signs that harbor the promise of knowledge andthe best of all futures. many children (and their parents) wadethrough a a/gnitive morass of co:if:is:on, incompre- hension and, finally, despair. They are illiterate which, in ourcomplexified and linguistified world, translates into utter helplessness and dependency.Consequently, literacy constitutes more than a primarily mechanical skillof deciphering and (de)cocling primed signifiers into material signifieds (a semiotic operation), but entails anessential submersion (and de facto participation) in the requirements and responsibilities ofsocial life (an existential operation) Tiigc 5 EEST C1P AVAI! ABU riTiteracy A slice oftifigiandisuirk: Therefore, 1Laracy reflectsa swirling amalgam of psychologi- shopplacesitboidehisplate,, cal, social as wellas linguistic processes whose solutioncannot eatsatanchvich.drinksabeer,. solely reside ina unilateral "teaching process" of mechanical and soon heads back to work.. operations (i.e., the acquisition At 5 PM,. he Ow of an "alphanumeric"skill or briefose and hie NewIrOdr the mnemotechnicrules underwriting thesensory-manual Times, wa1 ts. foe the motorics of plain writing).While this constitutesan important andwallistwoblothatocaW (and, admittedly,difficult and essential)starting point, literacy an uptown bus: elope:ata training cannot endthere. corner store, to .birp- woe, Indeed, the intergenerational transfer (and perpetuation) groceries, then goes upstahw. of illiteracy precludesany form of He carefully unfolds hisNeirv one-dimensional "quick fix"and suggestsa multidimensional Yorkrmus. Eleplacesitwithr approach whichweaves educational, sociologicaland political inechanicalpredsiononapile. considerations intoa multifabric creed of literacy ofeeveral°dm recent copier excellence. It is evident that the oftheNewYorkrotars.- pedagogical timebornbfueled by anun- they will remain undl, whew checked and unremediedperpetuation of illiteracyin subse- twoorthreeIf `b. ,, quent generations ofpoor ar e! disadvantagedavicious cycle been added, he wiU at in itself!requires but the one moat recentanct not only a fast (for the bombis ticking consigntherntotbeirash louder every day)but also a comprehensivesolution. goes into a pies*, bag th* Indeed, the politicalcomplacency and placidity ofthe 80's will beleftiorpicktip!* has ignoreuan almcst entirely incognitivekind of population truvk that coinetroim and has, as such, debased during the night the culturalcurrency of the American groaning roa4 collect, Dream by allowing thefestering growth ofa defective socioc- crushes and corepTst.. ultural jigsaw withan alarming and deep, premonitoryglow. the garbage of the, Furthermore, thenature of the problem is suchthat it eludes the of this and Iut s' reigning avenues of buildings of cultural visibility, i.e.,printed outcries of VA-k\ despair that Then he -vaage can be read, assimilated anddisseminated. He ePens thek t Nowhere dowe find the subterranean howlsof protest graffi- snaps the topiro'in toed onto the dilapidatedhouses of the ghettoor the barrio of Millets beer,and toitis nowhere do we read the the TV. despairing cries for helpnext to the Next day, tat* eloquent protests of Blacks,Hispanics, gays and feministfac- and ciesnirshavm tions. They remain silentwhichalso means "politically (Conlin= on page3). rnute(d)"! Indeed, theilliterate, fearing anotherinstance of Page 2 t; Iffiteracy "being found out," does not show up in the local voting memo! bootha fact that makes one frown on what is meant by "democracy." Indeed, as Kozol (1985, p.23) contends: "So long rimed to as 60 million people are denied significant participation, the rather solitaty inlisoftkeview government is neither of, nor for, nor by, the people.It is a ''',11thielpectas someone goverment, at best, of those two thirds whose wealth, skin ':',:.';11;o;isselitioontainedanddoes color, or parental privilege allows them opportunity to profit ..siii:cboiloeto join in casual from the provocation and instruction of the written word." In 'oniessation. somebody shield plentiful something other words, literacy means political power while, conversely, 7Initithenew3, hewillgive illiteracy constitutes a handicap in the realization of the true answer based democratic state. the infonnation
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