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2. How to Prepare EffectiveLiteracy Materials for Girlsand Women - Field Survey,Preparation and Field Testing

Mr. Kazi Rafiqul AlamExecutive DirectorDhaka Ahsania MissionBANGLADESH

1. How to Conduct Field Survey for MaterialPreparation

1.1 Analysis of Needs and Problems:

The functional content of literacy training programshould encourage people to change themselves or theirenvironment or both. Hence, the content of the curricu-lum should:

1. Focus on the real and immediate problems of adultlearners and their community;

2. Pose problems or describe potential problems con-ditions, provide related technical information andgive guidance as to the location of additional materi-als.

1.2 How to assess needs and problems:

The curriculum development process suggest the fol-lowing steps:

First and most important, make a context study of thearea where the literacy program is to be implemented,including the area’s geographic, demographic, eco-nomic, socio-cultural, linguistic and educationalconditions. This might be done through community sur-veys, observation, interviews, field visits anddocumentary analysis. Answers to questions such as thefollowing would be sources of data to identify needs andproblems of the community:

What type of community? (rural, urban)What is its size? Population?What are the common means of livelihood?

(farming, fishing, business, etc.)What is the economic situation?What language is being used?What are the available resources?What is the literacy level?What are the pressing problems?What are the priority needs?-------------------------------------------------------------*Presented at LRC Training Workshop (Lahore, Pakistan,29 Sept. - 8 Oct. 1994)

What is the present status of women in thecommunity?What are the specific problems of girls and women?

1.3 A suggested method for analyzing andidentifying needs/ problems:

After gathering information about the target groupthrough a village survey of field visit, there are severalmethods for analyzing the data gathered. One method issuggested there.

The New Participants or NP method has been found tobe effective and practical. It is participatory in that itallows everybody in the group to contribute to theanalysis of needs and problems.

The procedure is as follows:1. Participants/observers are divided into groups of

eight to ten;2. Participants visit the village to observe and talk to

the villagers; members of each group discuss for 20to 25 minutes what they observed in the village.From the discussion they will be able to identifyproblems/ needs/ issues in the order of their impor-tance;

3. Each member should think of at least ten problemsand needs that he/ she considers most serious orcritical. Then he/ she writes down one problem /need on a small strip (e.g., 1 inch x 4 inches). He/she should have ten separate strips of paper for theten problems/ needs identified. Each statement ofthe problem should be short and written in simplelanguage with the content clear and easily under-stood. This activity should last about 20 minutes;

4. The strip of paper are collected, sorted, and groupedaccording to similarities. This is done by pastingtogether the strips containing similar ideas on a bigsheet of paper. Several clusters/ categories/ group-ing will result. Encircle each cluster/ category/group to distinguish it from the other clusters/ cat-egories/ groups;

5. Write down a heading for each cluster/ category/group of problems and needs. The heading of all theclusters/ categories/ groups summarize all the needsand problems of the surveyed village. Therefore,the heading are the identified needs and problems ofthe village.

After identified village’s problems and needs, the par-ticipants can do a similar exercise to suggest solutionsto the problems/ needs identified. Or, instead of askingthe participants to write both problems and solutions(about ten items for each participant).

B. ON MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT

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1.4 How to select functional content inrelation to needs:

To ensure that the knowledge taught in a curriculum istruly functional in terms of individual and social needs,the following criteria should be considered.

1. Awareness : The learners, individually and as agroup, should be made aware of the conditions inwhich they live and work. They should be moti-vated to undertake an analysis o f t h e f a c t o r scontributing to their existing problems and be en-couraged to think to possible ways in which they canhelp themselves change their situations for the bet-ter;

2. Functionality : The literacy training program shouldbe related in a practical manner to the environment,work and family situation of the learner;

3. Flexibility : The literacy curriculum should allowfor modifications, alternations and additions tomake it responsive to learner’s needs and environ-mental requirements;

4. Diversity : The curriculum should be sufficientlyvaried to cater to the interests and needs of particulargroups, such as farmers, laborers, women, urbandwellers and cultural communities;

5. Appropriateness of learning relationship : The po-tential abilities and experiences of the adult learnersand their needs should determine the instructor-learner relationship, building on what the learnersalready know and can do;

6. Action-oriented : The curriculum should aim atmobilizing the learners to take actions to improvetheir lives.

1.5 Sequencing of skills and functionalcontent :

Within each level the integrated skills of reading, writ-ing, and numeracy need to be arranged in a learningsequence appropriate for adults. Because most adultshave difficulties achieving basic skills, the early stageshould deal more with literacy skills than with func-tional content. Development may be slow at first (LevelI), then will proceed more rapidly at Level II and evenmore rapidly in reaching Level III (self-learning level).Functional content would likewise increase in propor-tion to literacy skills as one reaches the higher levels ofliteracy.

1.6 Preparing Literacy Materials for Girlsand Women:

Literacy for women is as important as it is men, but theprocess of achieving this goal contains certain featureswhich need the special attention of those involved in thepreparation of literacy materials for women.

In most conventional societies men are considered themain pillars of the house, but women’s responsibilitiesare far greater in domestic processes and caring ser-vices. Health and happiness of the family depend uponthe awareness of the woman towards her responsibili-ties.

Women need social liberation. But liberation withinthemselves is more important than liberation achievedas a natural consequence of the former. Their positiveparticipation in bringing about change, in developingnew awareness, can lead to their liberation.

The most feasible and effective method for generatingawareness is dialogue. Dialogue is not a mere exchangeof information. It is a discussion on the platform ofquality, concern and compassion, leading to the identifi-cation of the root cause of the problem, its analysis fromvarious angles, and finally the action required to eradi-cate the source of the problem.

Women do not have the opportunity to exercise theirchoices within available options. In education and nutri-tion a boy child gets priority. When the boy starts goingto school, odd chores done by the boy are also done bythe girl, besides many others which have become herresponsibility. Apart from these generalized problemsof discrimination in various spheres of life, resulting indrudgery, exploitation, oppression, etc., there are somespecific problems of place, community, profession andso on. Identification of these problems is possible onlythrough a dialogue. The dialogue also helps in findingsolutions to the problems.

Besides the technical aspects, which are certainly im-portant for developing literacy materials for women, ifthe procedures of such programmes can establish thefact that women are to be treated as a precious humanresource, it would create an all-time radical change insociety. What we need is a broad-minded vision andperspective of women because subordination of half ofa society is a big obstacle to the process of any countryor civilization.

Under these circumstances the design of the learningmaterials should give emphasis simultaneously to lit-eracy and skills development of women with a view toreduce exploitation, enhance recognition, raise statusand ensure access to the needs. If the empowerment of

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women need to be sustained there is no alternate to edu-cation. But mere education without gender sensitizationand skill development does not help them to make theirrole visible in development. The education should bedirectly relevant to their specific needs and conditions.The ultimate objective should be to develop a nationalliteracy material suited to the needs and situation of thewomen with the end in view of improving the status ofwomen to play active role as economic producer and toensure equal participation in all socio-economic situa-tion.

2. Production of Literacy Materials

2.1 The Systems Approach in Education :

Teaching involves modification of the behavior of anindividual learner. Good teaching achieves this behav-ioral modification in a planned and systematic way : thenew behaviors to be acquired are known and prescribed,and the content strategies and resources to effectivelyachieve these changes are carefully thought through.Procedures to assess the degree of achievement of thebehavioral targets or objectives are included in the over-all plan. Within these procedures are methods to checkor evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching as a wholeand in its individual elements. Taken in turn, the stepsin the systems approach to the organization of a teach-ing program are as follows:

Step 1: Determination of Entry Behavior : Before anappropriate teaching sequence can be developed, it isnecessary to know as much as possible about the learn-ers for whom the sequence is designed. Are they fromthe country or the city ? Are they mainly the rural poor?And so on.

Step 2: Selection of Objectives : This is a vital step inthe organization of any teaching programme. Clearstatement of objectives indicate to both teacher andlearner the scope of the programme and the preciseknowledge, skills and attitudes to be acquired and as-sessed.

Step 3 : Selection and Sequencing of Content : Once theobjectives are determined, subject matter can be se-lected and sequenced in a way that will maximize the

opportunity for every one in the programme to achievethese objectives.

Step 4 : Strategies, Grouping, Time, Pacing and Re-sources : A strategy is the general type of teachingapproach to be adopted for each topic, e.g., lecturing,small group work or practical workshop. Methodmeans the precise activity involved. For example,within a small group strategy, method might include dis-cussion, role play or answering a quiz. Only after eachcontent item has been matched against strategy andmethod, can groupings and time and space allocation beconsidered. At this stage too, the required resourcesshould be specified including human resources, andphysical requirements, including learning materials,should be enumerated.

Step 5 : Assessment of Achievement : The assessmentaspects of a teaching programme should be carefullypre-planned. They should be entirely determined by thestated objectives and be consistent with content, meth-ods and resources.

Step 6 : Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness : System-atic methods to obtain information on the effectivenessof all aspects of teaching are essentials elements of agood programme.

Interaction between Steps 1 to 6 : Allsteps in a system model of teaching areinteractive. Decisions made at any stageof the process influence decisions madeat any other stage. This and that alle l e m e n t s s h o u l d b e p l a n n e dsimultaneously. It shows, moreover, thatteaching is a broad area of concerninvolving both presentat ion andmanagement.

2.2 Systems Theory and Manual Design :

While the system approach to teaching can be and isfrequently applied to conventional programmes, the de-gree of application varies according to the views ofindividual course designers. In the case of modularmanuals, which involve a very systematic form of teach-ing and learning, the application is total. The manualsare planned and designed with a systems approach al-ways in mind. In a modular design, each step of thesystems model must be followed as summarized below:Entry (starting) behavior of learning of learner ana-lyzed;

1 Entry (starting) behavior of learner analyzed;2 Objectives specified;3 Content selected and sequenced;4 Learning activities designed;

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5 Continuous assessment built-in;6 Effectiveness of the manuals evaluated.

These are, in effect, the classical steps of the approachto course design.

Systems theory in manual design, however, is applied inan even more precise way. It is possible not only toview a total program as a system, but each manual canbe organized as a series of subsystems.

The learners sequences in a manual can be thought of asa liner chains of INPUT - PROCESS - OUTPUT (IPO)cycles, linked together as shown below:

For example, in any given manual designed for sixhours of active involvement, there may be as many astwelve or more IPO cycles.

Input is the information presented to a learner for con-sideration or action; it is the objectives and/ or contentof a segment of work. A process is some form of inter-action between a learner and the content. Output meansa demonstration of achievement by the production ofsomething tangible: the demonstration of a new skill,construction of an object, written preparation of a re-port.

A simple example of an TPO cycle would be the follow-ing :

1 Input : Listening to a five-minute audio recording ofa lecture on how to prepare a script;

2 Process : Identifying and/ or rating certain charac-teristics of the programme with the aid of achecklist;

3 Output : Outlining the headings for a script for anoriginal five-minute audio programme.

2.3 Structure of Each Training Manual:

Each exemplar training manual has been produced intwo editions, one for the learner and one for the teacher.The structure of each manual is probably best explainedby referring to the teacher’s edition.

The content is organized into eight sections, the first sixof which are described below:1 Title of the manual;2 Place of the manual in the teaching sequence: Its

coordinates and sequential location on the curricu-lum grid;

3 Rationale; Justification in terms of literacy and func-tional needs of the learners;

4 Statement of Purpose: The role of the manual inconsolidating the learning that has gone before; itsplace in the curriculum, and its function in the over-all literacy training programme;

5 Statement of Aim: The developmental aims to beachieved by the learners as a result of studying themanual;

6 List of Objectives : The general objectives to beachieved by the learners as a result of studying themanual. These are expressed in behavioral languageso that outcomes can be readily observed and dis-cussed.

These six elements are shown for a draft of one manual,termed "Manual IA.2 : Extra Money for the Family" intable below:

Table I.1 An example of the Six IntroductoryElements of an Exemplar TrainingManual.

Manual IA.2Curriculum Topic: Supplementing family Income

5th of 24

1. Title of Manual : No. IA.2 EXTRA MONEY FORTHE FAMILY

2. Place of the Training Manual in the Teaching Se-quence.

3. Rational :In adult literacy programs, Family Life Education is oneof the more important content areas. Participants inthese programs require certain literacy skills to developawareness and positive attitudes towards raising thequality of family life.

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4. Purpose :The purpose of this Manual is to consolidate literateskills developed in previous manuals. IA.1 to ID.1 ofthe literacy curriculum using a combination of learningactivities involving reading, writing and numerical cal-culation.

5. Aims :Studying this manual will enable learners to acquire lit-eracy skills that will increase their appreciation of theimportance of finding alternatives means of increasingfamily income.

6. Objectives :After completing this manual, learners should be ableto:1 Discuss the importance of increasing family income;2 List some ways to supplement family income;3 Determine which of these methods they can use;4 Read simple sentences relevant to supplementing

family income;5 Write these sentences with correct punctuation

marks;6 Write the numbers in 101 to 200 in sentences about

family income.7 Add and subtract two-digit numbers in simple prob-

lems relevant to the family income.

The seventh part of the manual is the program of learn-ing activities. These are arranged in a series of three tofive units, each containing several learning activities.Manuals may contain as few as five or as many as 15 to20 activities to be covered in about six hours of instruc-tion. Each unit of work has its own clearly specifiedobjectives and the activities are arranged as a liner se-quence of I-P-O cycles. Pacing and grouping areimportant; in the teacher’s guide the approximate timeneeded for each activity is indicated along with the waythe class is to be grouped. As an example of this ar-rangement, the structure of an activity from one unit of amanual is shown in Table I.2.

The Structure of an Activity from One Unit ofWork from Exemplar Training Manual IA.2.

Family Life: Extra Money for the Family.Unit I: Alternative Ways of Supplementing family

Income.Objectives:1 Discuss the importance of increasing family income;2 List some ways to increase family income;3 Read simple sentences relevant to supplementing

family income;4 Write these sentences with correct punctuation

marks.

Activity 1: Sharing Ideas/ Experiences and Literacy Skills

The eight section of the teacher’s guide contains a re-production of the learner’s edition arranged in the samesequence of units and activities. All teaching steps arenumbered and described. The learner’s edition, how-ever, contains only titles and instructions for thelearners. Teaching steps and response are numbed inparallel in the Teacher’s guide and the Learners Work-book.

2.4 The Importance and Role of theTeachers’ Guide :

The teacher’s edition of the exemplar training manualshave been developed in considerable detail to give step-by-step guidance on the presentation of the lessonmaterials. The teaching notes on each IPO stage giveinformation on topics, timing, teaching steps, grouping,resources to be used and methods to be followed.

This detail is considered necessary because, for manyliteracy teachers, it is virtually the only help and guid-ance they will have. In countries employing manyhundreds or thousands of literacy teachers, it is imprac-ticable to ensure that they will all be trained centrally oreven attend a short-duration training camp. Most willhave to rely almost entirely on the help of the notes pro-vided in the teacher’s guide section of each manual.

Of course, the learner’s edition of each manual is muchshorter and easier to produce because it lacks the extrateacher’s material. In most cases, the teacher’s editionis several times the length of the learner’s edition.

2.5 Field Trial of a Literacy Training Manual:

The manual that have been revised based on feedbackfrom the peer view should be tried out in actual fieldsituations for further validation and refinement. Onemay make his own plans for field trials. But, such plan-ning should be done with other members of the trainingstaff and level C personnel.

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Feedback is needed from the users of the manual (LevelC personnel) as well as from the recipients of instructionform the manual (learners). Hence, the questionsshould be structured to elicit the needed informationform both teachers and learners. Observation guides forobservers of the actual field trial should also be pre-pared. Questions should focus on the manual as ateaching/ learning materials with a view to improving itbased on the response given by the respondents.

The field trial venue and participants have to be selectedin consultation with teachers. There should be guide-lines for these selections. For example, will the venuebe in a rural or urban setting? Will it be in a fishing orfarming community? For the participants, what shouldbe their literacy level? Will they be adults, out-ofschool youth, both? Will they be male or female? Whatoccupation will they have?

The teacher who will use the manual in actual teachingsituations should be briefed on the expectations of thetrial, e.g. that it is the material (manual) under trial andnot him/ her as a teacher.

Flow Chart of the Development of aLiteracy Training Manual

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