Sociolinguistic Context of Literacy Programs: A Review of Non-Formal Adult Literacy Programs in AID (Agency for International Development)

摘要

While the world's literacy rate increased from 55.7% to 64% from 1950 to 1980, the estimated number of illiterate people rose during the same period from 700 million to 814 million. Despite A.I.D.'s mandate to promote literacy among the rural poor and disadvantaged minorities within developing countries, A.I.D. has done relatively little in this field. The study recommends that A.I.D. broaden its literacy programs to include elementary education projects and support for language planning and for publishing in previously unwritten languages. A.I.D.'s country planning should incorporate sociolinguistic information about language distribution, communicative functions of languages, and social patterns of language use. As part of project identification, A.I.D. should assess the need for literacy in the target area's economic development, the language use of various social groups in the target area, and the appropriateness of the project given the area's literacy climate. Finally, in project design, A.I.D. should carefully consider which language to use when teaching literacy, the developmental stage of a nation's writing system, and the match between teaching methods and the type of writing system.