Doreen Chappell is currently Curriculum Manager for Skills for Life for Leicester Adult Skills and Learning Service. She has been a teacher for nearly 38 years, over 30 of those in the Skills for Life field, in all its embodiments. Dyslexia is her specialism and passion. Contact details until July 2013 doreen.chappell@leicester.gov.uk and thereafter doreen.chappell@btinternet.com


Adult Literacy and Development: Stories from the Field


Alan Rogers and Brian Street Leicester: NIACE, 2012


ISBN 978-1-86201-574-6 (print);


575-3 (PDF); 576-0 (ePub); 578-4 (Kindle) 235 pages £24.95


Reviewed by Yvonne Spare


This book is a collaboration by two very experienced practitioners in the field of Adult Literacy. In it they describe examples of their extensive work in different countries in the developing world and suggest lessons to be learned for our own practice. Alan Rogers has specialised in adult learning methodologies whereas Brian Street's main interest has been in ethnographic field research. It is therefore as much for policy makers and researchers as for practitioners, examining the theories, policies and practices of literacy provision in the wider context of International Development.


The book is divided into three parts: the first,


“Exploring Literacy in the Field” looks at some ethnographic studies and proposes a framework for analysis; the second, “Adult Literacy Learning Programmes” looks in more detail at the content


of a range of programmes, and the third, “Some Implications for Policy and Practice” attempts to reconsider policy and practice as it might relate both to further programmes in the Developing world and also in the West.


Part One considers the view of literacy as social practice and how our thinking about literacy,


learning and motivation has changed over time. The authors analyse the differences between formal and informal learning, recognising that we may use different languages or literacies (literacy practices) for different purposes. They understand that adults are sometimes more motivated by other types of learning than literacy learning, such as religious practice or work skills and ask, “Who has the power to determine that one form of writing is literacy but other forms are not literacy?” (p72).


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Part Two investigates the long-term failure of many, indeed, the authors claim, most large- scale adult literacy programmes in the developing world and claim that many of the attributed benefits of learning literacy could actually be the benefits of participating in any learning group. These programmes are rarely


adequately funded; they are often text-book based and make the assumption that the


learners are all starting at the same level with no prior knowledge. The main failings, they say, are learner motivation, teaching methodology and the gap between classroom and everyday literacies. They offer as evidence the greater success demonstrated in the functional element of combined literacy and functional skills programmes.


In contrast, some of the success stories they describe include small-scale, non-text-book programmes, which may be linked to vocational training or health instruction, recognising that many learners will come with a specific task in mind, such as filling in a new form or reading a particular document. Sometimes these may be in workshop format, using learner-generated materials or items taken from the 'literacy environment' of a particular community. They cite the example of a drop-in literacy shop in a market in Nigeria (effectively a stall with a sign above) which attracted 3900 people in nine months, who could either be helped with some


pressing literacy task or passed on to the nearest literacy class, succeeding in reaching a large number of people at very little cost (p143).


The authors conclude this section by suggesting four main reasons for failure, which apply equally to our own work closer to home:


• the assumption that provision leads to demand,


• that texts need to be easy reading,


• that new literacy users need reading but not writing,


• that literacy is an activity to do alone, independently, not collaboratively.


Part Three concludes with the implications of their findings for policy and practice. Firstly, that ethnographic research into existing literacy practices should always be carried out before developing a learning programme. Secondly, that there must be recognition that everyday literacy practices are usually different from forms of literacy being taught in many Adult Literacy Learning Programmes, and thirdly, that teaching


adults is different from teaching children. Policies should start from the positive, explore existing


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