Oral Culture and Oral Preference

[Joelle Lyons Everett]

In a message dated 9/19/02 10:35:58 AM, chris at CHRISCORRIGAN.COM writes:

<< Of course this is a somewhat tangential discussion to the one about
literacy.  Very often, illiterate learners will compensate for their
inability to read by being strong in other areas, but it is often true
that illiterate learners are very visual people too, and able to employ
their right brains phenomenally.  A friend I work with, Brent Cameron,
(http://www.wondertree.org) has had a lot of success facilitating these
kinds of folks to learn read by helping them to see words as pictures
and encouraging them to become elaborate with the language.  Other
learners who are more kinesthetic can learn to read by making letters
and words out of tactile substances like wood or metal and actually
manipulating them into words.
 >>

In teaching adults to read, I have also observed that their right-brain
functions are often very high.  One young man learned to read much more
quickly when I gave him positive feedback for reading aloud with feeling.
One man in his forties, reading at only a third-grade level before entering
the program, had gotten his pilot's license by memorizing all 800 test
questions, with the help of a friend.  Another student had an infallible ear
for tone of voice and every nuance of interpersonal interaction--he could
describe things he had observed on the job, and always knew how someone's
interpersonal behavior was less than effective.  I think that when we
approach the world via the printed word, some of these abilities languish.

Joelle

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html