Introduction to Orality, Pt. 1 ION 2012

1. Introduction to Orality, Pt. 1ION 2012 Grant Lovejoy

2. The Nature and Extent of Orality

3. “Orality” Defined • "a reliance on spoken, rather than written, language for communication.“ • “The collection of characteristics (cognitive, communicational, and relational) that are typical of cultures that function orally."

4. “Orality” Described • A positive term focusing on what people can do to communicate in beautiful, sophisticated, and powerful ways. • An alternative to negative, even pejorative terms (“illiterate,” “non-literate”) that focus on what people cannot do

5. The Scope of Orality

6. Scope of Orality • Primary oral communicators • No written language • Little or no familiarity with reading and writing

7. Scope of Orality • Traditional oral communicators • Know that reading and writing exist • Often have low literacy skills • May be oral by preference even if they are fully literate • Live by oral means

8. Scope of Orality • Secondary Orality • Depends on literate creators and electronic media • Television, movies, videos • Radio • Recorded music • May include people with widely varying literacy skills

9. Oral Communicator Illiterate Oral Communicator Functional Illiterate Oral Communicator Semi- Illiterate Literate Communicator Highly Literate Oral/Literate Communicator Post- Literate Oral/Literate Communicator Literate STORY With explanation or explanation NO STORY or STORIES with as much explanation as needed STORY with explanation or explanation SOME explanation STORY NO explanation NO explanation Explanation as much explanation as desired or interest calls for Limited explanation IN DIALOG NO explanation explanation IN DIALOG LITTLE explanation DIALOG MODERATE explanation How People Learn and the Use of Explanation A Learning Grid

10. Estimating the Extent of Orality

11. Estimating the Extent of Orality • Literacy statistics are a starting point for estimating the extent of orality; virtually all non-readers are oral. • But orality is much larger than illiteracy

12. Estimating the Extent of Orality • National literacy figures are not to be accepted at face value • Because of the way “literacy” is defined • Because of the way the data is gathered • Because of the way the data is presented

13. Challenges in Defining Literacy

14. Challenges in Defining Literacy 1. Literacy is not a skill you simply have or don’t have. Measuring literacy is not just a matter of saying who can read and who cannot. Literacy skills are needed at many different levels, from writing one’s name on a form, to understanding instructions on a medicine bottle, to the ability to learn from reading books. “ ” - UNESCO

15. Challenges in Defining Literacy • Every country decides for itself how to define and measure literacy. • Iran considers all students, including those in the first year of primary school or in literacy classes, to be literate. • Macedonia considers as literate each person who has completed more than three grades of primary school.

16. “Literate” Is Not Enough • UNESCO’s Standard-Setting Instruments describes as functionally literate any person “who can engage in all those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning of his group and community and also for enabling him to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his own and the community’s development.”

17. Challenges in Measuring Literacy 1. Getting beyond yes/no approaches to literacy is hard. • It takes professionals with expertise in literacy • It takes time and money • It takes a political willingness to face reality

18. Challenges in Measuring Literacy • Most countries estimate literacy based on years of education. This does not account for • Low-quality schools • Learning disabilities • Spotty attendance • Social promotions • Reversion to functional illiteracy

19. Challenges in Measuring Literacy 3. Literacy figures are a matter of national pride, so governments may use methods of measuring that boost reported literacy rates.

20. Challenges in Measuring Literacy 4. UNESCO accepts the data that individual countries report and totals them to reach its global literacy estimates.

21. Challenges in Measuring Literacy Result: UNESCO reported in September 2012 an adult global literacy rate of 84.1%. But this claim is highly questionable!

22. What if governments actually tested their citizens’ literacy skills?

23. Direct Testing of Literacy Skills • United States • National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) 2003 • 43% at Below Basic or Basic prose literacy

24. Direct Testing of Literacy Skills • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) • International Adult Literacy Surveys (IALS) 1994-1998—22 countries • Canada--46-48% at Level 1 or 2 (of 5) • Selected countries in Europe—44-55% at Level 1 or 2 (of 5)

25. Literacy in the West • Most developed countries in the West have claimed literacy rates of more than 97%. • But about half of all adults in the West have limited literacy skills.

26. If this is true of these nations, with their educational systems, what about elsewhere in the world?

27. Actually, it is likely that over 80% of the total world population is oral by virtue of no or low literacy skills.

28. How can that be?

29. Literacy in the West Direct testing (IALS) showed that over 60% of adults in Hungaryover 70% in Sloveniaalmost 80% in Poland and Portugalover 80% in Chile • scored at the two lowest levels of document literacy.

30. Literacy in the West • Most countries of the world are more like Poland, Portugal, and Chile when it comes to economic development and educational achievement.

31. Literacy in the West The “less-developed” and “least-developed” countries contain 5/6th of the world’s population. --Population Reference Bureau, 2011

32. Literacy in the West Because 5/6 of the world’s population lives in countries with weaker economies and educational systems, it seems likely that their literacy skills are worse than the 5 weakest countries of the OECD.

33. Global Literacy • See Grant Lovejoy, “The Extent of Orality: 2012 Update” in the September 2012 Orality Journal for a detailed rationale for this estimate.

34. Implications • What difference can it make if church planters use effective oral strategies?

35. Fruitful Practices Research Three Communication Keys Identified Source: From Seed to Fruit, Edited by J. Dudley Woodberry

36. Three Communication Keys • Use of local rather than regional language • At least one team member fluent in the local language • Appropriate communications strategy (oral or literate) that matches the communications preference of the people group.