Adult literacy education and development in Thailand: an historical analysis of policies and programmes from the 1930s to the present

This study of adult literacy education in Thailand analyses the ways in which the Thai state has historically shaped adult literacy education policies for development. For the authoritarian Thai state of the 1940s and 1950s, literacy education was a means of promoting nationalism through an imagined community of Thai citizens. For the developmentalist state of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, literacy education was the means to create a new Thai working class for industrial capitalism and export-oriented growth. For the liberal democratic state of the 1990s, literacy education was re-oriented toward a post-Fordist economy. Most recently, in the wake of the 1997 economic crisis and subsequent IMF and ADB ‘structural adjustment’ policies, state educational policies have shifted to an emphasis on fiscal economics over education. While state ideologies of educational policy are dominant in this historical narrative, they also possess internal contradictions contested by popular movements and social groups outside dominant classes. Literacy education in Thailand is, as such, not only the site of production and reproduction of state ideologies, but also of struggles over their meaning. Thus we find within the authoritarian nationalism of the 1940s and 1950s, a movement for popular democracy through literacy education born of the 1932 Revolution; within the work-oriented literacy programs of the 1970s, a trend towards broader community development inspired by the student revolution of October 1973; and within the neoliberal Thai state's embrace of globalization, a call for further democratization of educational opportunities first promoted by the May 1992 uprising and then embodied in the new Constitution of 1997 and the Education Act of 1999.     

科学素养与人文素养的比较研究

科学素养与人文素养,是当前教育界比较热门的两个词汇.二者在内容与培养方式上,既有相似和联系,也有天然存在的区别.本文就此做一比较,以抛砖引玉.     

Adult literacy,learning identities and pedagogic practice

This article discusses the relationship between persistence in adult literacy and numeracy programs, changes in the participants’ attitudes to engaging in learning and pedagogic practices using data from eight Scottish literacy education organizations. It argues that literacy learning can act as a resource that enables vulnerable adults to change their dispositions to learning, achieve their goals and make a transition towards their imagined futures. Pedagogic practices that operate from an approach that emphasized learners’ strengths, rather than their deficits, and critically interrogated learners’ experiences used as a resource for learning were the most successful in enabling this transition. Holistic provision that creates a supportive community of practice was found to be the most effective in bringing about the positive changes that learners identified they wished to make in their lives.     

Learning teacher-research-mentoring: stories from Turkey

The continuing developmental process of learning mentoring, specifically regarding supporting teacher research, has received relatively little attention in fields such as English language teaching, and this qualitative case study addresses the gap. It explores how three teacher-research-mentors, who were experienced classroom practitioners but novices in research-mentoring, grew into their new role while supporting teacher research projects in different English language higher education contexts in Turkey over a one-year period. Vignettes reveal that they became conscious of needing to provide psychological support to sustain teacher-researchers’ motivation from starting their research projects to completing them successfully, presenting findings and writing them up, and that they also developed in other roles, but as subject-specialists sharing knowledge about research to a lesser extent. Outcomes, in terms of the quality of research produced by the teacher-researchers in their contexts, appeared influenced by the different characteristics of their institutions and the degree of external support in the form of mentor-mentoring the teacher-research-mentors could access. Given the increasing interest around the world in teacher research as an empowering form of professional development, there is a growing need for teacher-research-mentors, and these findings, through shedding light on research-mentors’ developmental needs, might be of interest to teacher educators.     

Fathers' involvement in young children's literacy development: Implications for family literacy programmes

Relatively few studies of family literacy programmes have investigated parents' experiences and whilst a number of such programmes have been specifically aimed at fathers, little is known about the involvement of fathers in programmes which target both mothers and fathers. This article reports fathers' involvement in a family literacy programme and their home literacy practices with their young children. The article provides a definition of family literacy and describes the context of the study, which was carried out in socio‐economically disadvantaged communities in a northern English city. Fathers' participation in their children's literacy was investigated through interviews at the beginning and end of the programme (n = 85) and home visit records made by teachers throughout the programme. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of these data indicate that, while fathers' participation in the family literacy programme was not easily visible, almost all fathers were involved to some extent in home literacy events with their children. During the programme, teachers shared information about literacy activities and the importance of children having opportunities to share literacy activities with their parents. Data indicate that fathers who were not mentioned by mothers as having been involved in their children's literacy were significantly more likely to be on a low income than those who were reported as being engaged with their children in home literacy activities. Fathers in the study were involved in providing literacy opportunities, showing recognition of their children's achievements, interacting with their children around literacy and being a model of a literacy user. Although involved in all four of these key roles, fathers tended to be less involved in providing literacy opportunities than mothers. While fathers and sons engaged in what might be described as traditionally ‘masculine’ literacy activities, fathers were more often reported to be involved with their children in less obviously gendered home literacy activities. The article concludes with discussion of implications for involving fathers in future family literacy programmes.     

Case stories of facilitating professional development

This article reports on an 18-month study of teacher study group facilitation in a 25 district consortium. The teacher study group was viewed as an alternative form of professional development within the context of a funded project. Case story, as a form of narrative inquiry, was used to work with participants to construct their own stories of personal experiences as members and facilitators of teacher study groups. The stories shared in this study indicate that facilitation of and participation in a study group as an alternative form of professional development affords an opportunity for transformation through personal growth and professional learning.     

Relations of emergent literacy skill development with conventional literacy skill development in Korean

The present study investigated relative contributions of initial status and growth rates of emergent literacy skills (i.e., phonological awareness, letter-name knowledge, vocabulary, and rapid serial naming) to initial status and growth rates of conventional literacy skills (i.e., word reading, pseudoword reading, and spelling) for young Korean children. A total of 215 four-year-old children were followed for approximately 15 months. Results showed (1) consistent effects of letter-name knowledge, phonological awareness, and rapid serial naming on conventional literacy skills, and (2) the importance of children’s initial level in the emergent literacy skills for achieving conventional literacy skills. These results are discussed in light of characteristics of the Korean language and writing system.     

Adult literacy policy and provision in an age of austerity

Against a background of growing concern for the large numbers of semiliterate or completely illiterate school leavers and adults in the industrialized countries, this article examines four key aspects necessary for gauging a nation's response to the problem of adult illiteracy. The four aspects — awareness raising, high-level national commitment, resource allocation, and range and extent of in-school and out-of-school basic education/literacy provision — are analyzed with particular reference to the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Canada.The article indicates that, in a period of economic austerity when education budgets are being cut, provision for adult literacy and for remedial classes in school is one of the first areas to be sacrificed. The article ends on a pessimistic note with respect to the implementation of a Right to Read charter in all industrialized countries.

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Zusammenfassung Vor dem Hintergrund wachsender Sorge über die große Anzahl von halb alphabetisierten oder gänzlich analphabetischen Schulabgängern und Erwachsenen in Industrieländern, untersucht dieser Artikel vier Hauptgesichtspunkte, die zur Einschätzung auf die Reaktion einer Nation in Bezug auf das Problem des Analphabetismus Erwachsener notwendig sind. Die vier Gesichtspunkte — die Steigerung des Problembewußtseins, nationale Verpflichtung auf höchster Ebene, die Verteilung der Ressourcen und schließlich Ausmaß und Umfang der schulischen und außerschulischen Grunderziehungs- Alphabetisierungsvorkehrungen — werden besonders im Hinblick auf Großbritannien, die Vereinigten Staaten, Frankreich und Kanada untersucht.Es wird darauf hingewiesen, daß in Zeiten wirtschaftlicher Einschränkungen, bei denen die Budgets im Bildungsbereich gekürzt werden, die Vorkehrung für Alphabetisierungs-und Förderklassen an Schulen zu den ersten gehört, die dem Rotstift zum Opfer fällt. Im Hinblick auf die Anwendung einer Charta über das Recht auf Lesen in Industrieländern schließt der Artikel mit einem pessimistischen Ausblick.

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Résumé Face à la préoccupation croissante quant à l'existence d'un nombre élévé de personnes semi-alphabètes ou totalement analphabètes parmi les jeunes ayant quitté l'école et les adultes dans les pays industrialisés, cet article examine quatre aspects fondamentaux, nécessaires pour mésurer la réponse nationale au problème d'illetrisme des adultes. Les quatre aspects — l'éveil de la prise de conscience, l'engagement national des autorités à l'échelon supérieur, l'allocation de ressources, et l'importance et l'étendue de l'offre scolaire et extra-scolaire d'alphabétisation/d'éducation de base — sont analysés avec référence spéciale aux cas du Royaume-Uni, des Etats Unis, de la France et du Canada.L'article indique qu'en période d'austerité économique au moment où les budgets alloués à l'éducation sont réduits, l'offre relative à l'éducation des adultes et les cours de rattrapage dans les écoles sont parmi les premiers secteurs à être sacrifiés. Cet article se termine sur une note pessimiste relative à la mise en oeuvre de la charte du droit de lire instituée dans tous les pays industrialisés.

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This is a revised version of a paper presented to the Adult Literacy Policy and Practice Panels of the 30th Aniversary Meeting of the CIES, Toronto, 13–16 March, 1986. The ideas expressed in this paper are solely the responsibility of the writer and in no way reflect those of the organization with which she is employed.