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Situational Barriers to Disaster Resilience: Language and Literacy

Situational Barriers to Disaster Resilience: Language and Literacy. Session 15. Session Objectives. To analyze case studies where language or literacy factors hampered the delivery of messages or services

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Situational Barriers to Disaster Resilience: Language and Literacy

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  1. Situational Barriers to Disaster Resilience:Language and Literacy Session 15

  2. Session Objectives • To analyze case studies where language or literacy factors hampered the delivery of messages or services • Use current data on US immigration patterns and education levels to identify potential patterns of language and literacy isolation in various regions • To analyze reading levels of disaster-related materials • To locate and use resources appropriate to language patterns • To develop strategies for reaching language isolated residents and communities

  3. Relevance of language and literacy to emergency managers: • Communication at heart of response • If not understood, message is lost • Diverse society • Immigrants tend to be concentrated in hazard-prone urban and coastal regions • Many native-born Americans do not read well

  4. Some disasters where language or literacy issues interfered with response and recovery: • Saragosa tornado • Hurricane Andrew • Northridge earthquake • Others?

  5. Groups with Possible English Language Deficiencies: • Recent immigrants • Migrant workers • Guest workers • Tourists • Business visitors • Exchange students

  6. Literacy Barriers Exist in Every Community • From countries with high illiteracy rates • Low education levels • Rural or isolated regions • Poverty • Minority Status • Advanced age Some Possible Indicators:

  7. Some Data Sources • U.S. Census • National Center for Educational Statistics • International Marketing Data and Statistics • United Nations • State literacy organizations • CBO’s serving communities WWW.CENSUS.GOV WWW.UN.ORG

  8. Illiteracy Rates for Adults by Sex Source: United Nations 2000 (http://www.un.org/Depts/unsd/social/literacy.htm)

  9. Literacy Levels of Adult Americans Source: National Institute for Literacy www.nifl.gov

  10. Estimating Literacy from Educational Level • Grade 3: Cannot read most materials. • Grades 4 – 6: Can read low literacy materials • Grades 7 – 8: Will struggle with most materials • Grade 12: Will be able to read most materials

  11. Education and Language Data for Four States Source: 2000 Census State & County Quick Facts. (www.census.gov)

  12. Count the total number of words that have 3 or more syllables in the 30 sentences. Get out your calculator and calculate the square root of the number. Select 3 samples of 10 consecutive sentences from different sections of your text (at least 100 words total). Add 3 and that will be the approximate reading level. EXAMPLE Total words with 3 or more syllables = 64 2. Square root of 64 = 8 8+3 = 11th grade reading level SMOG Formula(Simplified Measure Of Gobbledygook)

  13. 1. Calculate L, the average sentence length (number of words/ number of sentences. 2. Calculate N, the average number of syllables per word (number of syllables/ number of words 3. Calculate grade level with formula: (L x 0.39) + (N x 11.8) – 15.59 EXAMPLE No. of words = 50 No. of sentences = 5 L = 50/5 = 10 No. of syllables = 75 No. of words = 50 N = 1.5 Grade Level = (10 x 0.39) + (1.5 x 11.8) - 15.59 = 6.0 Flesch-Kincaid Formula

  14. SMOG Conversion Table * +/- 1.5 grades Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 1992. Making Health Communication Programs Work, A Planner’s Guide.

  15. Find or develop materials in other languages Locate translators for every language in community Check the reading level of materials before using Choose materials with appropriate reading levels Develop low literacy materials with illustrations Use other-language radio and TV outlets Educate through children Distribute flyers in local neighborhoods Talk to community groups Others? Reaching Out …

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