The concept of functional literacy might be considered to have its ceremonial initiation at the World Conference of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy in Tehran, Iran, in 1965. At that conference important implications emerged for program development, methodology of teaching, and program content. An effort is made in this…

Human survival means more than purely physical survival. Human beings, because of language, also have a cultural nature that must survive. In today's world, all speak, but more than one-fourth of the world's people--and more than half in developing nations--do not have the uniquely human capacity of reading and writing. The diffusion of literacy…

The paper discusses the ideological cultural, economic, linguistic, and motivational background of the functional literacy concept. Brief indications of the professional issues and problems in putting theory into practice included: requirements in planning a functional literacy project, administrative and organizational problems, resources…

In Malawi, adult literacy deserves immediate attention in order to promote health, family planning, and productivity. While policy commitment for adult literacy promotion has not been lacking, intensified action has been. In 1979 the government accepted the Unesco Mission Report to undertake a functional literacy program on the successful…

The document was prepared as part of a UNESCO contract to train 16 counterpart officials of UNESCO-sponsored literacy projects. Functional literacy was studied in three parts, all dealing with the total planning process. First was project planning. Literacy projects must consider national educational plans and be related to relevant economic…

This book, which is intended as a practical guide to functional literacy at the grassroots level, addresses a range of issues encountered by literacy workers when mobilizing, planning, teaching, supervising, and evaluating adult literacy programs. The following topics are discussed: adult literacy, literacy teachers, and literacy work; the many…