The Literacy and social awareness instructional program

The literacy and social awareness instructional program is a program for teaching reading and writing described by Marian A. Halvorson in her book Literacy and lifelong learning for women.

The program provides for group interaction and experience-sharing among its participants and the community. Through community committees the program seeks to meet the learners' real and current needs.

Marian A. Halvorson has been involved in adult basic and continuing education programs for forty years, mostly in Africa.

The Literacy and social awareness instructional program is based on a combination of the top-down and bottom-up reading models.

The top-down aspect of the program uses a global approach. It begins with group discussions of pictures, similar to Paulo Freire's approach. These discussions are community oriented and are not only for those learning to read.

The bottom-up aspect of the program uses a primer based on the phonic or eclectic approach.

Here are some assumptions of the Literacy and social awareness instructional program:

• Fact finding at the community level
• Motivation of community
• Planning and implementation teams
• Participatory planning and learning
• Curriculum materials
• Trained facilitator or group leaders
• Use of photos for discussion

Curriculum materials may differ among Literacy and social awareness instructional programs. Here are some typical materials:

• Materials for the learners

  • Motivational materials to invite people to get involved in nonformal education groups and literacy classes
  • Discussion materials to help learners become conscious of their local situation, needs, and aspirations, and of their potential to do something about them
  • Primer(s) or basic instructional materials, related to discussion topics, to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic skills
  • Follow-up materials to encourage continued reading as a source of information, inspiration, and entertainment.

• Materials for group leaders

  • Training guides and survey materials
  • Motivational materials
  • Leaders' guides
  • Transition materials
  • Curriculum materials
  • Materials on how to write for newly literate audiences

Here are the typical parts of a Literacy and social awareness instructional program:

• Group discussions when the facilitator uses discussion guide and posters to encourage discussion
• Primer lessons
• Numeracy lessons as needed

Here is an example of a typical Literacy and social awareness lesson:

• The Literacy and social awareness lesson

Here are some sample primer pages from the Literacy and social awareness instructional program:

• Literacy and social awareness primer page sample

• Current instructional programs

• Structure module: Literacy and social awareness instructional program, by Leah B. Walter and Marian A. Halvorson (editor)
• In overview module: Current instructional programs, by Leah B. Walter, Glenys Waters, and Trudy K. Stewart (editor)
• In overview module: Instructional programs, by Kenneth A. Boothe (contributor), Leah B. Walter (contributor), and Glenys Waters (contributor)
• In modular book: Implement a literacy program, by Carole P. Spaeth (compiler) and Leah B. Walter (compiler)
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 24 September 1999

© 1999 SIL International