Freire and Macedo 1987

Freire, Paulo, and Donald Macedo. 1987.Literacy: Reading the word and the world. South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey. 184 pages. 0897891260 (paperback). (Reviews by Hoover, J. 1993, McLaren 1988, and McLaren 1991. Review reprinted in Minami and Kennedy 1991.) Location: Dallas SIL Library 374 F866. Interest level: academic and lay specialist.

Is written in the form of a dialogue, with questions, answers, and discussion between joint authors. Freire believes teachers must learn from their students: the student is the subject of the process of learning. Is a practical and emancipatory model of literacy that gives meaning to common people and enables them to voice their own needs. Lists four other approaches to reading:

• Academic: to acquire skill (masses)and preformed knowledge (elite)
• Utilitarian (UNESCO, development)
• Cognitive development (Greeks)
• Romantic approach (dominant classes)

Gives personal view of the political nature of education. Discusses politics as a set of practices that function to empower or to disempower people. Sees literacy as part of the process of transforming a society by awakening critical awareness in the learner. Supports local, culture-specific materials, and discusses political and pedagogical imperatives for literacy in the mother tongue. Includes comments on literacy programs in

• Sao Tomé
• Cape Verde, and
• Guinea-Bissau.

Also comments on preliteracy as it relates to educational practice among United States minorities.

• Bibliography module: Freire and Macedo 1987
• In overview module: Bibliography (Literacy): F
• 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: 28 June 1999

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