First published in 1986, this book looks at the impact of mass literacy on everyday life, discussing the fundamental differences between traditional oral cultures and contemporary industrialised societies where most people rely on complex combinations of oral and literate communication but with a sizable sub-literate minority. There is a detailed examination of the problems of the sub-literate with recommendations for future programmes of assistance. This book also provides a historical survey of the spread of literacy in British society from the Roman occupation onwards. In conclusion, the author discusses the impact of information technologies on people with limited basic skills.
Editors preface; Acknowledgments; 1 Approaching literacy; Introduction
Dimensions of literacy and illiteracy; 2 Defining and measuring literacy and
illiteracy; Defining literacy Functional literacy: a brief history
Operationalising functional literacy A sociological conception of literacy; 3
The historical perspective Introduction Literacy in classical Greece and Rome
Medieval manuscript literacy in Britain The advent of print Literacy in early
modern Britain The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; 4 Tutors and
students; Introduction Illiteracy myths The Nottingham Adult Literacy Scheme
Recruitment and matching procedures Tutor training The Nottingham literacy
catchment area Illiteracy careers Initial contacts Tuition and orientations
to illiteracy Progress and dropping out Summary; 5 Illiteracy and work;
Introduction The British Adult Literacy Campaign The political economy of
illiteracy The scale of illiteracy: misreading the problem Responding to
social disadvantage Remedying illiteracy; 7 The future of literacy and
literacies of the future; Introduction The oral-literate transition Literacy
and the information explosion; Appendix 1 Details of sampling and
interviewing procedures; Appendix 2 English historical literacy rates; Notes;
Bibliography; Index
Levine, Kenneth
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