Cultural and social uses of orality and functional literacy: A narrative approach
Lesotho’s educational system and development are largely influenced by missionaries and colonisers who taught the three ‘Rs’ (reading, writing and numeracy skills) to the Basotho. Most of those enlightened Basotho were to carry on the duties of either educating others or as missionary workers. Some...
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doaj-af73cb588a66427a92dd8a15e58caa8b2020-11-24T22:25:50ZengAOSISReading & Writing2079-82452308-14222016-10-0171e1e710.4102/rw.v7i1.11968Cultural and social uses of orality and functional literacy: A narrative approachLineo R. Johnson0Department of Adult Education and Youth Development, University of South Africa,Lesotho’s educational system and development are largely influenced by missionaries and colonisers who taught the three ‘Rs’ (reading, writing and numeracy skills) to the Basotho. Most of those enlightened Basotho were to carry on the duties of either educating others or as missionary workers. Some became clerks, interpreters, police officers, nurses and Sunday school teachers. This article is an account of a functionally literate Mosotho male adult learner who was herding livestock and taught himself reading and writing skills. In his narrative, Hlalefang (not his real name) compares literacy to money and a watch or a clock. He further expresses how people like him have managed to muster some basic and restructure the cognitive and oral history and archival memories, through intuitiveness. The story is based on the work of Paulo Freire where culture influences the discourse of literacy. A qualitative narrative story-telling approach was used to relate Hlalefang’s lived-experiences as he navigated his ways and challenges using orality acquired through various life encounters. This inspirational cultural narrative demonstrates that culture and social uses are imperatives in functional literacy. The article challenges those in adult education, literacy, development practitioners and policy-makers to consider some aspects of culture and to be innovative in their approaches to multi-literacies.https://rw.org.za/index.php/rw/article/view/119Culturalsocial usesfunctional literacylivestocknarrative approach |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Lineo R. Johnson |
spellingShingle |
Lineo R. Johnson Cultural and social uses of orality and functional literacy: A narrative approach Reading & Writing Cultural social uses functional literacy livestock narrative approach |
author_facet |
Lineo R. Johnson |
author_sort |
Lineo R. Johnson |
title |
Cultural and social uses of orality and functional literacy: A narrative approach |
title_short |
Cultural and social uses of orality and functional literacy: A narrative approach |
title_full |
Cultural and social uses of orality and functional literacy: A narrative approach |
title_fullStr |
Cultural and social uses of orality and functional literacy: A narrative approach |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cultural and social uses of orality and functional literacy: A narrative approach |
title_sort |
cultural and social uses of orality and functional literacy: a narrative approach |
publisher |
AOSIS |
series |
Reading & Writing |
issn |
2079-8245 2308-1422 |
publishDate |
2016-10-01 |
description |
Lesotho’s educational system and development are largely influenced by missionaries and colonisers who taught the three ‘Rs’ (reading, writing and numeracy skills) to the Basotho. Most of those enlightened Basotho were to carry on the duties of either educating others or as missionary workers. Some became clerks, interpreters, police officers, nurses and Sunday school teachers. This article is an account of a functionally literate Mosotho male adult learner who was herding livestock and taught himself reading and writing skills. In his narrative, Hlalefang (not his real name) compares literacy to money and a watch or a clock. He further expresses how people like him have managed to muster some basic and restructure the cognitive and oral history and archival memories, through intuitiveness. The story is based on the work of Paulo Freire where culture influences the discourse of literacy. A qualitative narrative story-telling approach was used to relate Hlalefang’s lived-experiences as he navigated his ways and challenges using orality acquired through various life encounters. This inspirational cultural narrative demonstrates that culture and social uses are imperatives in functional literacy. The article challenges those in adult education, literacy, development practitioners and policy-makers to consider some aspects of culture and to be innovative in their approaches to multi-literacies. |
topic |
Cultural social uses functional literacy livestock narrative approach |
url |
https://rw.org.za/index.php/rw/article/view/119 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT lineorjohnson culturalandsocialusesoforalityandfunctionalliteracyanarrativeapproach |
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