Developing Functional Literacy

THEO NAVARROMETHODOLOGIST

STUDY INNASTANA

What is “Functional Literacy?”

Functional Literacy is the ability to manage daily living and employment

tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level

How is “Functional literacy” different from “literacy?”“Literacy” refers to the ability to read or write at ANY level. An illiterate person will not be able to understand or to produce ANY text at all. “Functional literacy” refers to practical skills needed to live a normal life.For example: an illiterate person may not understand the written words “cat” or “dog”, may not recognize the letters of the alphabet and may be unable to write their own name.A functionally illiterate person will probably be able to understand these things without any problems, however they cannot understand job advertisements, newspaper articles, forms or posters.Foreigners who cannot do these things in the language of the country they are living in are considered functionally illiterate. In Kazakhstan I, myself, am functionally illiterate.

Why is this something that we should be worrying about in our classes? We

don’t live in an English-speaking country!

Your government is trying to position Kazakhstan to be an international country. This

means that the citizens of this country will need to be able to communicate with people from all over the world. Also, more and more people from Kazakhstan are going abroad to English speaking countries to study and to

work.

Okay, it’s important. So how can we improve “Functional

literacy?”

We need to select activities that practice real-world skills. The ideal method is the “Participatory Approach” as defined by Peyton & Crandall (1995) and Huerta-

Marcia (1993)

The Participatory ApproachThe main goal of this approach is to have

EVERY student, as well as the teacher, actively participating in the activities

This approach changes the role of the teacher. Instead of us giving instructions and then

stepping back to allow students to work, the teacher works together with the students.

This approach forces us to practice our micro-teaching skills, as we help learners to

accomplish the goals that we set

We must use realistic materials, because we are training students for

realistic situations.

For large classes it is IMPOSSIBLE to give each student individual

attention. So, we have students work in pairs or small groups, and give

attention to the groups as a whole.

Our activities must also include extra-textual components such as pictures, logos or objects, to reflect the realistic nature of the activities.

How does this approach help my students?

01

. Because 100% participation is the goal, this means that every student gets an opportunity to practice literacy skills

02 Students

feel more supported, as they are getting time to talk to the teacher directly in a more “private” way.

03 Students must

practice communicating their problems, as well as communicating possible solutions to problems, which is a priceless “real-life skill”

04 Students

develop the tools to help

themselves, which is a huge

step towards

functional literacy

05 Students

practice understanding the connections

between text and things &

images. This is important

because almost EVERY type of realistic text is accompanied by an image

(e.g. poster or newspaper) or by a thing (e.g.

product packaging)

06 Finally,

students practice

understanding things as

a whole instead of

focusing on the

meanings of individual words or images.

07 In real life

they will encounter words or symbols

they do not understand,

but the ability to

understand the whole message is

what is really

important.

Let’s summarize this so it’s easier to remember:

• Every student, and the teacher, must participate

• We must help the students and micro-teach

• We need to use realistic materials

• We need extra-textual components

Now, let’s get some practice!

Developing Functional Literacy

THEO NAVARROMETHODOLOGIST

STUDY INNASTANA