The Making of Literate Societies

by Olson, David R.; Torrance, Nancy

• ISBN13: 9780631227434
• ISBN10: 0631227431
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-22
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This volume provides a systematic analysis of the role of literacy in social development, and advances a set of directions that governments and other agencies should take in designing their literacy programmes.

Author Biography

David R. Olson is University Professor and Professor of Applied Cognitive Science at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.

Nancy Torrance is Senior Research Officer at the International Centre for Educational Change at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.

David R. Olson and Nancy Torrance edited the Blackwell Handbook of Education and Human Development (Blackwell Publishers, 1995).

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
Preface	x
Part I: On Being a Literate Society: Conceptual and Historical Perspectives on Literacy	1	(120)
Conceptualizing Literacy as a Personal Skill and as a Social Practice	3	(16)
David R. Olson
Nancy Torrance
The Roles of Literacy Practices in the Activities and Institutions of Developed and Developing Countries	19	(35)
Armin Triebel
Societal Literacy: Writing Culture and Development	54	(14)
Georg Elwert
Literacy in Ancient Greece: Functional Literacy, Oral Education, and the Development of a Literate Environment	68	(14)
Rosalind Thomas
Literacy in Germany	82	(19)
Utz Maas
Literacy in Japan: Kanji, Kana, Romaji, and Bits	101	(20)
Florian Coulmas
Part II: On Becoming a Literate Society: Literacy in Developing Societies	121	(196)
African Case Studies	123	(1)
Language, Literacy, the Production and Reproduction of Knowledge, and the Challenge of African Development	123	(19)
Kwesi K. Prah
Literacy and Literature in Indigenous Languages in Benin and Burkina-Faso	142	(11)
Joseph Akoha
Constructive Interdependence: The Response of a Senegalese Community to the Question of Why Become Literate	153	(25)
Sonja Fagerberg-Diallo
Literacy for Gonja and Birifor Children in Northern Ghana	178	(23)
Esther Goody
JoAnne Bennett
Central and South American Case Studies	201	(1)
Literacy and Intercultural Bilingual Education in the Andes	201	(24)
Luis Enrique Lopez
The Uses of Orality and Literacy in Rural Mexico: Tales from Xaltipan	225	(23)
Elsie Rockwell
Asian Case Studies	248	(1)
Developing a Literate Tradition in Six Marginal Communities in the Philippines: Interrelations of Literacy, Education, and Social Development	248	(36)
Maria Luisa Canieso Doronila
Issues of Literacy Development in the Indian Context	284	(12)
Chander Daswani
Women and Empowerment through Literacy	296	(21)
Malini Ghose
Part III: Conclusion: From Research to Policy	317	(20)
Literacy and Social Development: Policy and Implementation	319	(18)
Ingrid Jung
Adama Ouane
Name Index	337	(6)
Subject Index	343