Bendor-Samuel, D. 1984

Bendor-Samuel, David. 1984. "On the study of literacy." In Kaplan 1984. Interest level: academic.

Believes the study of literacy attracts much scholarly attention because of its relationship to the study of the human mind and human society. Also attracts attention because of the involvement of literacy in urgent problems that individuals and societies face today.

In generally literate societies, research focuses on the problems of the minority who find reading and writing difficult. In partially literate or preliterate societies, the emphasis is on bringing about conditions in which a larger number may have an opportunity to learn. Too often the formal, analytical educational system has been transplanted to preliterate or partially literate societies. This results in the unfortunate displacement of local styles of learning that involve copying the examples of others in informal group situations.

Suggests two correctives:

• More research should be done in preliterate or partially literate situations.
• More attention should be given to the sociological factors in the study of reading and writing in a context of general literacy.

Includes the influence exerted by changes in the values and patterns of home life where electronic information and amusements have so largely replaced the printed page.

• Bibliography module: Bendor-Samuel, D. 1984
• In overview module: Bibliography (Literacy): B
• In modular book: Bibliography (Literacy), by Doris Gallemore, Trudi C. Hunt, Jeanne Swanson, and Stephen L. Walter
• In document collection: Reference materials
• 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: 18 May 1999

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