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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 413 792 FL 800 999 TITLE Notes on Literacy, 1988-1994. INSTITUTION Summer Inst. of Linguistics, Dallas, TX. REPORT NO ISSN-0737-6707 PUB DATE 1994-00-00 NOTE 1524p.; A run of 24 consecutive issues of this serial. However, for numbers 57-60 (1989) see ED 338 114. Changed numbering system after number 65 (1991), which is also considered to be volume 17, number 1. Published quarterly. AVAILABLE FROM Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc., 7500 West Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236. PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Notes on Literacy; n53-56,61-65 v17-20 1988-1994 EDRS PRICE MF12/PC61 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Foreign Countries; *Literacy; *Literacy Education; *Reading Instruction; *Writing Instruction IDENTIFIERS *Vernacular Literacy ABSTRACT "Notes on Literacy" serves field literacy programs by sharing information of a practical and theoretical nature with literacy field workers. Articles address a wide range of concerns in literacy and literacy education, particularly in developing nations or uncommonly taught languages. Typical topics include: orthography; language planning; language and politics; morphology; phonology; vernacular literature; writing style; learning processes; text organization; adult literacy education; linguistic theory; teaching methods and classroom economic and soLLftl development; learning motivation; literacy and biliteracy; music and literacy instruction; schema theory; the whole language approach; indigenous editing; writing skills; language and literacy testing; dialectal orthography; teaching ethnic minorities; adult native language literacy; reading instruction; and literacy teacher training.(MSE)(Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as HAS BEEN GRANTED BY received from the person or organization originating it. oiive- shell Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES official OERI position or policy. INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Notes on Literacy n53-56, 61-65, v17-20 1988-1994 (i.e., 24 Consecutive Issues) A Serial Publication of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc. 7500 West Camp Wisdom Rd. O Dallas, TX 75236 O 1 w BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 Notes on Literacy No.53 Special Issue No-4 PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE FIRSTINTERNATIONAL LITERACY CONSULTANT SEMINAR NOVEMBER 11-20, 1985, The Role of Literacy in Development Julia Van Dyken 1 Vernacular Literacy: Problems in the Work with Australian Aborigines Bill Langlands 22 New Literates Reading Aloud for Audience Comprehension: the Bahinemo Case Sally A. Dye 41 A Comparison of Eclectic andLanguage Experience Approaches to Reading in Vernacular Preschools Bev Evans 45 Primer Methodology Survey Reported by Kathy Bosscher 59 SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LiNCUISTICS DALLAS, TEXAS BEST COPY AVAILABLE NOTES ON LITERACY SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 4, l980 SIL INTERNATIONAL LITERACY CONSULTANTS International Africa Area Margaret BendorSamuel (Dallas) Margrit Boll/ (Ivory Coast) Kathy Bosscher (Asia Area) Julie Van Dyken (Africa Area) Ann Cates (Horsley& Green) Artemisa Echegoyen (Mexico) Asia Area Ray Gordon (NAB) Georgia Hunter (Mexico) Jean Dawson (Indonesia) Gloria Kindell (Brazil) Eugene Fuller (Malaysia) Mary Morgan (Mexico) Jessie Glover (Pakistan) Peggy Wendell (Dallas) Dot Thomas (Thailand) Pacific Area Georgetta MacDonald (PNG) NOTES ON LITERACY is published as an occasional paper by the, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc., and serves their literacy program by sharing information of a practical and theoretical nature with the literacy workers of each Branch. Opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily express official policyof the Summer Institute ofLinguistics, Inc. Address inquiries, comments or manuscripts for publication to theeditor at: 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Road, Dallas, Texas 75236. Permission to use articles, either in full or in part, mustbe obtained from the editor. ISSN 0737-6707 STANDING ORDERS for this publication should beplaced with: Dallas Center Bookstore SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd. Dallas, Texas 75236 EDITOR: Olive A. Shell BEST COPY AVAILABLE 4 NOTES ON LITERACY SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 4, 1988 TEE ROLE OF LITERACY IN DEVELOPMENT Julia Van Dyken, Africa Area I. Introduction II. Development and Literacy A. Perspectives of Development B. Perspectives of Literacy III. The Role of SIL in Literacy and Development A. The Model B. Profiles Based on the Model IV. SIL's Role in Relating Literacy and Development V. Conclusion I. Introduction In 1979, in an international seminar on literacy held in Africa, a distinguished West African delegate stressed the need to make literacy increasingly functional. I totallyagreed. Then he set this idea in opposition to traditional literacy approaches, saying that such approaches were historically used for accomplishing only one goal: to teach people to read the Bible. In 1984 an article was published in Sudan carrying a similar statement. Personal contacts with other Africans suggest that this view is common and tied to a negative colonial past. My question is, how do people who hold such views perceive the Summer Institute of Linguistics? One of the contacts had serious reservations, even initial hostility. To what extent might the views of these Africans be based not only on historical biasbut on observation of present reality? What are the implications for SIL literacy programs? The African delegate and I shared a common concern. How can we make literacy relevant and useful in the daily lives of those learning to read and write? In current technical terms: What relationship exists between literacy and development? Thepurpose of this paper is to provide a framework for discussion concerning the role of SIL's literacy work as it relates to national and international development. First, perspectives of development and literacy and of their interrelationships will be explored, including alternative ideological underpinnings. Second, the role of SIL in relating literacy and development will be discussed in the light of a particularmodel of planning educational change (Bhola, 1982). Finally, a profile of the future role of SIL's literacy work in relation to development will be presented as well as its resulting implications. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 NOTES ON LITERACY SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 4, 1988 II. Development and Literacy A. Perspectives of development Concepts of development have varied across time and according to individual, or group, perspectives and have delimited the focus and scope of development programs. 1. community or national? Historically, community development programs focused on local communities. Thus they were concerned that development is "for and by people" and "achieved through...local leadership" (Stoesz, 1975). This is the perspective that SIL members have generally taken, focusing on the community as the specificethnic group for whom linguistic, literacy and translation work is directed (Yost and Yost, 1983). Others, particularly governments and UNESCO, have looked at the scope of development at national and international levels. UNESCO'sExperimental World Literacy Project was aimed at enhancing the economic national developmentof nations (cf. UNESCO, 1976). Currently, however, both community development workers and national officials recognize the interactive relationships between the broader (national) and narrower (community) scopesof development. In this light, for example, the Federal Republicof the Cameroondeveloped in 1981 a national plan for community developmentwhich outlines a strategy for implementing a United Nations concept of development: (It is) the process by which the efforts of the people themselves are linked with those of government authorities in view of improving economic, social and cultural conditions of the communities, of integrating these communities into the life of the nation (Fluckiger, 1985, translation of her quote from the Plan Nationalpour le Developpment Communautaire, 1981.16). (Also cf. Robinson, 1985). From the communitydevelopment perspective, intercultural communityworkmust include the principle, to "cooperate with local, regional and national governments" (Gallman and Yost, 1982.6). One concludes that todayneither the nation nor the community or ethnic group can function as a unit totally independent of the other. Development of one must gohand in hand with development of the other. The scope of development is not an either-or choice, but one of cooperation and integration of efforts. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 6 THE ROLE OF LITERACY IN DEVELOPMENT 3 2. Focus: economic, social, cultural, political Definitions of nationaldevelopment during the 1960's focused on economic aspects of developing nations. During the 1970's the focus "shifted from the physicalfactors of growth to the human factors" (Masse, 1981. 5). It was extended to include "the social evolution of a whole people"(ibid.). Understood in this way, development involves the organization of thesociety, its human relations, its beliefs, attitudes, standards,