Points out that literacy is often a volatile issue in developing countries, where it is often seen as a key to liberation. Introduces a model for identifying and categorizing the goals and philosophies of literacy projects, programs, and campaigns of the world. (ARH)

As many as 70 million Americans are functionally or marginally illiterate. Among the consequences: disproportionate numbers of illiterates are unemployed, 50 percent of inmates are illiterate, and illiterate parents are more likely to raise illiterate children. (SK)

Adults who cannot read are receiving help through a special program operated in New York State. This program is conducted on a volunteer basis; that is, only those who want to improve the level of their literacy are accepted as participants. (CK)

Strategies (chiefly compulsory schooling and literacy campaigns) for combatting illiteracy are compared, and differences between functional and traditional literacy are discussed. (LY)

When children are taught to read, they are forced to erase all the concepts that they have developed up to that stage because the schools of today are unfortunately only interested in teaching their pupils to recognize printed words. (CK)

This paper discusses particular uses of language in a specific social location in the Philippines drawn from the 15-volume ethnographic study of functional literacy in 14 marginal communities in the Philippines by Doronila (e.g. 1996). These are uses of language by people whose internal capacity to generate change is strong yet many of whom are…

Published in London between 1839 and 1852 and aligned with the commercial objectives of the New Zealand Company, the "New Zealand Journal" included letters from emigrants. This paper studies letters written by a small cohort of rural labourers who emigrated from Ham House in Surrey to Wellington in 1841. Following Dorothy Smith, I read…

Functional literacy is defined as that educational level comparable to the eight years of schooling required of children in the Yugoslavian elementary system.'' Census results show that 19.7 percent of the population of age ten or over is illiterate. This paper considers research findings on the conceptualization and organization of elementary…

Argues that there is no convincing proof from empirical evidence that standards of literacy in Western Australia are worse than they were 25 to 65 years ago. Denounces empirical measures of standards of literacy as profoundly unreliable. (AEA)

This paper focuses on successes and failures in the history of technology. It attempts to assess the wisdom of possible future courses of action with regard to technology in e-learning and education.

This ethnographic study employs a gender perspective to understand the motivations of eight women literacy learners participating in a village-based functional literacy programme in rural North-eastern Thailand. Field research took place over six months of periodic residence in a North-eastern Thai village, and involved participant observation,…

The meeting reported upon was held to review existing cooperation between the United Nations Specialized Agencies in the field of literacy, as well as to discuss future collaboration in the light of the 1971-1972 Program and Budget of UNESCO and the orientation and expansion of the World Literacy Programme proposed therein. The report covers the…

Basic education for adults offers men and women of all ages an opportunity to obtain those minimal skills that are needed if an individual is to function independently. It provides sequential educational training geared to the needs of adults who lack the skills required to read, write, figure, as well as the general knowledge necessary to secure…