Strategies for the Teaching of Reading to Adult Basic Literacy Learners
Abstract
This paper examined strategies for the teaching of reading to adult basic literacy learners. The paper highlighted the benefit of reading skill to adult basic learners, problems that militates against adults learning to read, as well as pre-reading activities. Moreso, strategies for the teaching of reading to adult basic learners was also discussed which took into cognizance andragogy and andragogical principles, the various teaching techniques which include; the alphabetic technique, the word technique, the phrase technique and sentence technique were equally discussed. Finally, conclusion was reached and recommendations were also made. Some of which were that government should recruit only qualified adult educators to teach the adult learners, it was also recommended that facilitators should endeavour to use words which are commonly used by the adult learners in their day-to-day activities in teaching the adults how to read.
INTRODUCTION
Reading is the complex cognitive process of decoding symbols to derive meaning. It is a form of language processing. IRA (2019), defined reading as a means of language acquisition, communication, and sharing information or ideas. The symbols are typically visual (Written or printed). Like all languages, it is a complex interaction between the text and reader, shaped by prior knowledge, experiences, attitude and language community which is culturally and socially situated. The reading process requires continuous practice, development and refinement. Reading requires continuous creativity and critical analysis.
Adult basic literacy according to Nwachukwu (2011), is designed to enable beginners and non-literates to acquire the skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. This will give the learners the foundation which would need to be expanded on for better understanding of the environment.
Strategies for the Teaching of Reading to Adult Basic Literacy Learners
Furthermore, NMEC and UNICEF (2010), stated that adult basic literacy is an educational programme that is organized for people regarded as adults in their societies to equip them with the skills of reading, writing and numeracy or those who have never been to school at any point in time for the purpose of acquiring the skills of reading, writing, numeracy and global knowledge. Basic literacy is the equivalent of the first three years of Basic Education in the formal school system which provides opportunity to the adult learners to acquire literacy skills.
An adult learner according to Onyenemezu and Amazu (2011), is one who is politically, socially and economically experienced and willingly identifies a need to learn or acquire a skill and promptly offers himself or herself to learning situations without being compelled to do so. This assertion is corroborated by Ani (2003), who defined an adult as a person who is socially, economically and politically responsible. Jegede (2003) also stated that an adult is a person that has attained a specific chronological age of adulthood in a particular society and who can be regarded as mature and experienced. Since reading constitute a fundamental part of literacy, it is therefore important that adult basic literacy learners are taught the skill of reading using appropriate strategies that will not only facilitate their reading skill, but will also ensure that they have a mastery of the skill. To achieve this, the facilitator must ensure that he or she employs and ragogical principles in the teaching and learning process. This paper would therefore highlight the various strategies of teaching reading which has andragogical principles implication.
BENEFIT OF READING SKILLS TO ADULT BASIC LEARNERS
Reading is an integral part of literacy and also a fundamental subject in basic literacy classes, but the manner which these adults are taught the skill of reading is very important. It is also pertinent to know that reading helps an individual especially an adult to derive vital information of life from printed and written materials. Through reading, an individual can improve upon his or her occupational pursuit.
PROBLEMS THAT MILITATE AGAINST ADULTS LEARNING TO READ
Learning to read is a complex and difficult task, especially for illiterate adults learning to read for the first time. Sadly, untrained adult educators fail to recognize the physiological and developmental problems of adulthood which interfere with learning to read. This is sad, for instance, an adult who does not see well will have problems with reading. But a more serious problem is that some illiterate adults often do not appreciate how their state of illiteracy limits them in their activities. Consequently, they do not see acquiring literacy skills as helpful in solving these problems.
Strategies for the Teaching of Reading to Adult Basic Literacy Learners
Secondly, some illiterate adults in our communities are generally less motivated to learn to read because they enjoy a network of interdependent relationships with the literate members of the community. Thus, they do not appear to be marginalized by their state of illiteracy. This is so because there are functions which such adults perform for the literates and the total community which are highly valued. There are also functions which the literates perform for the illiterate adults which are highly valued too. This interdependent relationship cushions such illiterate adults against marginalization especially within their communities.
Reading demands a number of different but inter-related skills which must be developed in order to read well. One of these skills is visual acuity. Some illiterate adults who have eye deficiency find it difficult to make use of this organ without the use of lenses.
Reading also involves mastering, recognizing and differentiating between symbols. Without these skills, one will not read well. These skills function better when one is young. At old age, these skills become difficult to form. Also, effective reading implies one focusing and maintaining one’s attention on one stimulus at a time. Initially, this is difficult for illiterate adults.
Strategies for the Teaching of Reading to Adult Basic Literacy Learners
Reading demands effective listening skills. Most adults live by giving instructions rather than receiving instruction from others. This habit affects them in learning situations generally. Therefore, at the pre-reading stage, adults have to be drilled to master these skills, which are very essential.
Finally, written words are abstract symbols which sometimes, these symbols do not relate to their sounds. This makes it difficult for adults to learn to read. But reading is imperative in modern living and working. Learning to read therefore must start with a variety of pre-reading activities.
PRE-READING ACTIVITIES
Pre-reading activities according to Obi (2006), are those activities meant to put adults who are learning to read in a suitable psychological and physiological state of mind. These activities prepare such learners to desire to learn to read. They are activities which help the learners to develop right attitude and skills for reading. One of the most important pre-reading activities is establishing a close relationship between the spoken and the written words. This would be done using different cultural symbols in the communities which the learners know fully well. A good adult educator can use drama sketches to illustrate the close relationship between symbols and spoken words.
Innovative adult educators must be able to generate and use any activity they feel will help to make learning to read easy for adult learners. These could be activities that relate to the background, professional and economic activities of the learners.
Among the pre-reading activities which a facilitator can use as posited by Obi (2006) are:
- Discussing with the learners the importance of reading to an individual and to the society at large.
- Model reading by one of the learners of the who has just acquired the skills of reading.
- Practicing correct ways of holding books.
- Practicing eye reading rather than lip reading.
- Discriminating between capital and small letters.
- Discriminating between such letters as; b, d, m, n, p, q.
In teaching adult learners how to read, one s indirectly teaching them the following vital basic skills. These are; listening skills, visual skills, acuity skills and speaking skills.
STRATEGIES FOR THE TEACHING OF READING TO ADULT BASIC LEARNERS
The term method, technique and strategy are common terms usually applied in teaching and learning process. They are sometimes used interchangeable though may mean different things. Method has to do with general approach to teaching; technique deals with specific action to implement method, while strategy has to do with sequencing or ordering of the techniques a teacher has selected to teach the lesson (Akinbole et al, 2002). It is important to note here that while teaching adults reading, the facilitator must ensure to employ andragogical teaching strategy in order to succeed in this engagement. Nzeneri (2008) defined andragogy as the science and art of helping adults to learn and also pointed out the following as the principles of andragogy.
- Adult self-concept moves from dependent to self-directing individual
- The adult has accumulated reservoir of life experiences which serve as resources for learning
- Readiness to learn is oriented towards adults’ developmental task responsibilities
- Time perspective of the adult learner moves from postponed to immediate application of what is learned, and
- Adults’ orientation moves from subject centered to problem/learner centered.
It must be realized that while several technique should be adopted to teach reading; there is no “best technique” rather the techniques are adopted to reflect the needs of the adult learners at a particular time. This means that the learner must be actively involved in the lesson.
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The Alphabetic Technique
In alphabetic technique, the actual practical literacy session begins with introducing the English alphabets; vowels and consonants to illiterate and semi-literate adult thus:
Vowel Alphabets: Aa Ee Ii Oo Uu
The instructor drills learners in producing the actual pronunciation of the vowels and for learners to master them.
Consonant Alphabets: Bb Cc Dd Ff Gg Hh Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Pp Qq Rr Tt Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz.
The instructor drills adult learners in the pronunciation of these consonant alphabets – before engaging them in the full and active participation in building and identifying word roots and how to develop or form words thus:
Using these vowels a e i o u first and attaching them to these consonants
b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z we have this chart.
ab(u) ac ad(d) af ag-as at al(i) etc
eb ec ed ef eg etc
ib ic id if in is it etc
ob(ey) oc od(d) of (f) og – on or ok etc
ub uc ud uf ug – us etc
The instructor engages adult learners into full practical commitment of building or forming words using the above roots e.g. if we add le to ab, it gives us able, ad plus d gives add etc. this guides them build many words, phrases and sentences by themselves. They can do this by using short story books, primers, small dictionary, newspapers, diary etc. to find words and phrases using these roots (Nzeneri, 2010).
The joy of the learners is that they have known how to originate the words which they find in the process of reading. Each individual forms word, phrase and sentence charts on note books. These are brought for group or class discussion or dialogue to select appropriate words, phrases and sentences that are meaningful, relevant and concerned with their day-to-day life activities–socially, economically, politically, culturally and environmentally. These are used to develop their reading materials where reading materials are scarce or unavailable.
The next step in building words, phrases and sentences is to use the consonants first and then combine them with vowels thus forming this chart below:
ba(d) ca(t) da fat etc
be ce de fe(el) – he me etc
bi ci di fi(ll) – ki(ll) etc
bo(dy) co do(nt) fo(r) – go(t) no(r)(t) to etc
bu cu(p) du fu(ll) etc.
The instructor/facilitator guides and leads the participants to identify words, phrases and sentences by using these words roots, ie-go, go in, fat, fat cat, he goes in, he kills the fat cat etc (Nzeneri, 2010).
The compiled practical individual word, phrase and sentence charts on note books are brought for class dialogue to select relevant and meaningful ones that are relevant to participants day-to-day life activities. These along with the former are used to plan literacy reading materials for adults literates, semi-literate and neo-literates.
The generation of the words phrases and sentences using the word roots interests, motivates and raises learners enthusiasm to learn and discover more. It also gives them the sense of commitment in searching for more knowledge.
In alphabetic technique, it is not only the adult learners full participation that is involved, it makes use of their self-directed learning, use of their accumulated life experiences in searching for the words that are related to their needs. What is learned is utilized in their places of work; environment, socio-economic and political life. This technique makes them fully motivated to explore all available materials- novels, dictionaries etc in discovering words used in building their phrases and sentences.
Some alphabets can be added to some word roots either in front of or behind to form our required word ie “he” plus “s” before it gives us “she” “go” plus “a” before gives us “ago” and “as” plus “k” after it is “ask” etc. This can form another full assignment for practical problems-solving activities. These activities should be moderated, directed and guided by a qualified adult facilitator to ensure the quality of learners learning through self-directing and discovery. From these practices, the mysteries of words, phrases and sentence are demystified.
- The Word Technique
This technique stresses that adult learners should be taught reading, starting with a simple, complete word. This can be described as “look and say” technique the essence is that a word presented to the learners must be a word that is meaningful to them. As the learners repeat the word, they reach a point at which they can easily identify the same word on a chalkboard or in print materials.
From studying a whole word, the word can now be broken into syllables and then later into the letters that make it up. It is important to teach the learners starting with their names.
iii. The Phrase Technique
The phrase technique appears to be more appealing to adult learners than the word techniques this is so because, a phrase can be more meaningful and interesting than a word. In using this technique, the phrase to be learnt is identified and written on the chalkboard or on a cardboard sheet and displayed. The learners are led to repeat it several times. As the learners repeat it, they try to draw meaning from it. New words are now drawn from the phrase learnt as in the word technique.
- Sentence Techniques .
Those who extol this technique do so in that they believe that the sentence, not the word, nor the phrase expresses a whole thought. They also argue that when adults learn by a whole sentence, learning makes greater sense both in sequence and understanding.
In teaching reading by this technique using the learners’ primer, a sentence in the primer is identified. The sentence is read several times by the instructor. The learners are led to repeat it until they master it. The sentence is then broken into some component words, which the learners now learn to the extent that leaner’s will now recognize them when written.
RECOMEMDNATIONS
- The government, as well as administrators in adult and non-formal education subsector should as a matter of urgency recruit only qualified adult educators to teach the adult learners.
- There should be provision for in-service training for the facilitators so as to enable them update their knowledge and skills in the process of helping adults to learn.
- Adult education managers and administrators should ensure that facilitators make use of teaching strategies that have andragogical implication.
- Facilitators should endeavour to make use of words which is commonly used by the adult learners in their day-to-day activities in teaching them the skills of reading.
- Adult learners who exhibit signs of visual impairement should be given proper medical attention.
CONCLUSION
It is worthy to note that literacy skills are vital skills as long as human existence on earth is concerned. Therefore reading skill which is a crucial component of literacy should be carefully taught by the adult facilitator. The adult facilitator should ensure that he or she employs teaching methods which has andragogical implication so as to make the learning of reading by adult basic learners to be successful. The facilitator must also ensure to create opportunity for the learners to benefit from the various teaching techniques that has been discussed in this paper so as to make the teaching and learning of reading more interesting and effective.
Strategies for the Teaching of Reading to Adult Basic Literacy Learners
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