LITERACY AS SKILLS

Literacy as Skills means the ability to read and write. In this paper we examine two approaches
in literacy as skills. They are Primer Based Approaches that for sometimes have deminated
literacy programmes in global south and The Competency Based Approaches that have become
the key driver of national programmes in many industrialised countries.
1. Primer Based Approaches
A primer is a book especially designed to teach reading and writing, it will include reading
exercises and sometimes ruled write on lines with short words or sentences for students to
copy. It is used where distribution network are scarce , material few, and teachers have
limited education, preparation or support for their task. So, primers are a key resource for
teachers and learners, because they organise language into the elements that can be taught.
2.

In Primer Based Approaches , there are two approaches in applying. They are :
1. Alphabetic Approach
The teachers tend to teach the alphabet starting with individual letters and then syllabic
pairs or phonemes. The primers still contain images, short texts and use key sentences but
the focus of the lesson is on learning to write and to read syllables made from a
consonant and a vowel. In practice, teachers always ask their students to repeat what they
have read orally.
2. Whole Word Approach
In whole approach, the teachers tend to teach word by using the pictures of noun.
Although each new lessons in primer begin with a short text ( teachers read first and
students repeat then ). So in this approach, students build up vocabulary on the names of
things, and there is less opportunity for learning grammar terms or abstract noun.

Advantages of Primer Based Approaches

In rural areas where there are no photocopiers, limited means for reproducing text, no large
classes, low light, and teachers who had limited education , primers are very usefull resources. A
teacher with limited training can take a step by step approach to working through it. Primers can
supplement real books or real language with images, short texts and examples of phoneme
or phonics.
Disadvantages 0f Primer-Based Approaches.
The learners just study about letters,words and some simple sentences. Some are full of
meaningless texts, designed only to introduce letters or words and having little relevance to
learners beyond that. Learners cant reflect what they have studied outside the classroom. They
are created only for learning literacy than using it.
3. Competency Based Approaches

Competency Based Approaches to literacy start from the idea of literacy as a set of skills
related to the interpretation or use of written language and symbols. In these approaches
identify the types of skills and their organize these into different literacy levels based the
learners competency.
The English Competency Approach
This approach apply in UK. The English adult literacy core curriculum for literacy and
numeracy. Both primer based approaches and competency based approach have similarity
that seek to copy primary school textbooks. However in applying, primers produce set texts for
learners to read, the competency approach describes the kinds of skills need for texts of different
levels.
The Australian Approach
Australia also uses a competency based approach and defines skills relating to language
as well as literacy. Its because Australia is a country of immigrants. Many people there have
needed to focused on the skills of the workforce and follow nationally defined standard.
UK approach classifies the six aspects of communication according to what a learner need to
do.
( e. g use phonic or graphic knowledge to decode words ) while the Australian approach
describes it in terms of the functions of different forms of language ( e.g communication for
interaction in groups ).
Advantages of Competency Based Approaches
A teacher will see a list of competency as a reference and work from this to design a
flexible and responsive programme.
Disadvantages of Competency Based Approaches
In area where there is poor infrastructures or where programmes are dependent on tutors
who have limited literacy themselves, attempting to respond to complex description of language,
an to find and utilize texts that fit these description is probably not realistic to apply these
approaches.
Implication
Approaches that focus primarily on the skills of literacy have tended to dominate traditional or
large scale literacy programmes. In global north where infrastructure is good and tutors also had
good education, approaches have taken the form of describing competencies. In global south
where materials are scarce, a skills approach has generally been implanted through the
production of a primer which specifies what someone needs to learn when and takes a teacher
and a learner step by step through the learning process.

LITERACY AS TASK
The recognition that literacy is more than an abstract set of skills to manipulate text led to
a morecontextualised view of literacy as the ability to accomplish tasks in daily life. This
approach has generallybeen described as functional literacy. However, as with competency the
term has sometimes been usedloosely. The term functional literacy was first coined by the
United States Army during the SecondWorld War to indicate the capability to understand written
instructions necessary for conducting basicmilitary functions and tasks. In functional literacy
approaches, the abstract ability to decode text is lessimportant than the ability to carry out life
tasks most often those related to work.
The definition of functional literacy adopted at the UNESCO General Conference in 1978
is still in use,almost 30 years after it was created:A person is functionally literate who can engage
in all those activities in which literacy is required foreffective functioning of his [sic] group and
community and also for enabling him to continue to usereading, writing and calculation for his
own and the communitys development(UNESCO 2005a: 30). Thus the literacy as tasks
approach to literacy education as promoted by UNESCO andmany national governments from
the 1970s onward has a specific ideological connotation.Later programmes taking a functional
literacy approach incorporated a wider array of tasks in spheresbeyond work, including
citizenship, families, and community involvement. Nevertheless the functionalliteracy approach
usually defines the important tasks in advance and from the outside.
More recent functional literacy programmes have tried to take a holistic viewof the
different areas of someones life at work and at home, and their need todevelop their own
potential and that of their community. The nationalfunctional literacy programme in the
Philippines is one example of aprogramme that both defines functional literacy and provides
indicators of thethings all citizens should be able to do. Although these arebroader and described
in more general skills terms than the ability to carry outa range of tasks, they are also described
as a progressive series of levels.Literacy as tasks. These levels move outwards from
communication skills to critical thinkingabout these skills, to using skills for earning a living and
personal andcommunity development. It indicates engagement with broaderissues of conflict,
diversity, and the development of a more global perspective.In practice this approach to
functional literacy reinforces a view of literacyas a neutral set of skills with little relationship to
everyday life. It also indicatesthat people need a level of literacy before they can begin to apply
it, and thedevelopment of initial literacy tends to focus on primer-based activities.
A literacy as tasks approach are a strong link with economicsand an attempt to define
literacy needs in relation to peoples lives. Task-basedprogrammes are often planned on a
regional or national scale. But, while thespread and development of literacy has been closely
linked to the need totrade, the expectation that increasing literacy will increase income
orproduction is not straightforward. There is a real danger in the rhetoric thatteaching people to

read will benefit them financially; the relationship betweenliteracy and income generation is far
more complex.
Functional literacy approaches take an important step toward focusing on application, not
just possession,of skills. However, functional literacy programmes have often taken a narrow and
topdownview ofliteracy tasks. They have ignored important differences rooted in social and
cultural contexts. By startingfrom the outside in defining what is important to learn, they fail to
nurture autonomous and reflectivelearners. Learning to carry out literacy tasks is not enough:
literacy education needs to be more responsivetithe full range of literacy practices.
Critics say that taskbasedliteracy programmes have had limited success(Rissole
1999).They have failedto engage with the cultural and social complexities of literacy and by
defining literacy so narrowly havefailed to engage learners or achieve lasting changes in their
lives. Functional approaches to literacy tendto ignore differences and impose a uniform set of
literacyactivities on everyone the use of he in the definition is no accident. However, within
any societydifferent groups and individuals perform different kinds of literacy tasks womens
and mens literacysmay be different, rural and urban dwellers, market traders and
farmworkersmay all engage in differenttasks. One size cannot fit all.
LITERACY AS SOCIAL PRACTICES-SOCIAL-CONTEXTUAL APPROACHES
Barton and Hamilton state that literacy is essentially social, and it is located in the
interaction between people. If we see literacy as a form of situated social practice, we do not
need to search for one true definition of literacy. We can accept that different purposes for
literacy. Here we study how skills are shaped by the social contexts, purposes and relationships
within which reading and writing are used. It shows that literacy skills and practices grow and
are shaped within the social system and contexts of which they are part. As an example,
something as basic as writing down the bare facts of your life is never done in a vacuum. These
facts are written in a CV, a diary or an autobiography.
David Barton (2007: 2932) has borrowed the metaphor of an ecosystem to describe how
human activity interacts with the environment. So the social practice here encourages
consideration of how literacy works through the social ecosystem. Because of social ecosystem,
we focus on the cultural, political, economic practices, etc.
Hamilton states that the perspective of literacy as part of social practice means not just
talking to students about their personal histories but encouraging learners to explore collectively
the broader social context in which literacy is used. For example the topic is writing a letter to
school, would not only mean practicing writing the letter individually, but students finding out
together how the school uses the letter and why it is needed, and sharing ideas of what it should
contain. It would also mean discussing broader issues such as managing relationships with
schools, and ways of feeling powerful around your childrens education.

The situated social practice view emphasizes that any teaching and learning activity
should take place with the following wider aspects of context in mind such as what people do
with texts rather than focusing simply on the texts themselves, how people help one another to
accomplish written tasks such as writing a letter, how reading and writing are embedded in
everyday activities such as in weddings, in doing karaoke, in finding your way round a strange
town, how literacy is changing such as computer-based assessment, sending emails rather than
postcards, shopping online, blogging, the diversity of different languages used in reading and
writing.
Different literacy activities may also require different physical and cognitive skills (such
as using pen and paper or typing with digital keyboard, reading Braille, etc.
The Advantage of literacy as social practices-social-contextual approaches such as learners can
explore and know deeper about social context in which literacy is used. Learners can be more
active since they analyze condition and situation of social community which uses the literacy.
The Disadvantage of literacy as social practices-social-contextual approaches such as there will
be some bad issues of social in which literacy is used and they may influence some learners
mind. Social practices approaches are too complex to be useful. These approaches may require
ethnographic research in advance in order to identify local literacy practices. They require
extensive training of literacy teachers to prepare them to work in a responsive way. Social
practices literacy can be difficult to assess and evaluate, with no simple tests.
About the implication of literacy as social practices-social-contextual approaches is perspective
of literacy as part of social practice can give positive and negative impact to learners.
LITERACY AS CRITICAL REFLECTION
1. Issues
Set out the practical as well as the conceptual issues involved in addressing Adult
literacy. They are careful to speak directly to the reader, avoiding the imposition of a template for
action and instead laying out the terrain and helping the reader to assess which of many answers
best suit their own situation. They start by locating adult literacy work in the broader
international context, citing the various programmers and policy perspectives in past years,
coming up to date with the Global Monitoring Report.
They note the previous assumption that literacy acquisition and the consequent raising
of the literacy rate in a given country would lead to the attainment of wider development goals,
such as economic take-off, health improvement, or gender equality. It is now recognized that
these grand ambitions are too one dimensional literacy may be a necessary but it is not a
sufficient cause for such developments. Moreover, it must be recognized that literacy varies from
one context to another, both across countries but also for individuals as they move between
different tasks, institutions, and relationships (Street 2001).

2. Advantages and Disadvantages

change can be frightening
change can upset the dynamics of a household and create difficult and sometime
irresolvable tensions
change can threaten established power structures at local as well as
National level
writing by participants can be seen as critical of the existing political and social order,
and tutors should be aware of possible ramifications if critical writing is widely
distributed
3. Implication
Literacy as critical reflection enables participants to move beyond thinking, to recording
and communicating their reflections to others. By consciously engaging in debate and discussion,
literacy as critical reflection opens up new avenues for thinking and reflection. As such it is a
powerful tool for change. Not only does it seek to give participants control over their
learning,what they learn, and how they learn, it also provides the space for women and men to
reflect critically on their society and their place within it.
4. Literacy and power
Without the skills to access and interpret information for them, people are dependent on
others; often on those who hold power. The issue of power and who holds it is conceptualized in
the ideological model of literacy. This recognizes that literacy not only varies with social and
cultural norms and concepts but its uses and meanings are always embedded in relations of
powerit always involves struggles for control of the literacy agenda ( Street 2006)
Learning to be critical readers and writers in order to detect and handle the inherently
ideological dimension of literacy and the role of literacy in the enactment and production of
power. (Lankshear et al. 19)
This ability to access information and to communicate can change the dynamics
Of power in the religious, political, and domestic spheres. When viewed in this light it is easy to
see why improving access to information has not always been popular with dominant groups in
society, whether these are ruling classes or ethnic groups, governments or religious bodies
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Barton, D. (2007) Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language, 2nd edn.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Barton, D., Hamilton, M. and Ivanic, R. (eds) (2000) Situated Literacies: Reading and Writing in
Context. London: Routledge.

Hamilton, M. and Hillier, Y. (2006) Changing Faces of Adult Literacy, Language and Numeracy.
A Critical History. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books.
Lankshear, C.with J. P. Gee, M. Knobble, and C. Searle (1997) Changing Literacies,
Buckingham: Open University Press.
McCaffery, J. J.Merrifield, and J.Milligan (2007) Developing Adult Literacy. United Kingdom :
Oxfam GB Publisher.
Street, B.V. (2001) Literacy and Development: Ethnographic Perspectives, London: Routledge.