Current efforts to expand adult literacy services in the United States too often merely replicate past ineffective practices and fail to make use of alternative instructional and management approaches available to them. Learner participation practices are one such potentially useful tool. In them, learners are intentionally encouraged to take greater control of responsibility in the running of program activities. Not enough is known at present about the purposes, origins, forms, users, supportive or hindering factors, and outcomes of these practices as they have been developed to date. While there is evidence that the field has a growing interest in participatory approaches, only limited information and analysis have been developed to guide those hoping to improve and expand the use of these practices. To begin to fill in these gaps in knowledge, this study initially reviews the literature on participation and discusses three purposes for active learner participation: "efficiency," "personal development," and "social change." It then presents the results of a national survey of participatory practices in the instructional and management components of U.S. literacy programs. In instruction, learners are in some cases actively involved in planning, evaluation, peer-teaching, writing and reading practices, field trips, and artistic activities. In management, learners are taking leadership roles in public awareness and advocacy, governance, learner recruitment and intake, mutual support, conferences, community development, program staffing, income generation, and staff recruitment and training. Built on documents and interviews, the survey reveals that this interest is evident across the field, particularly within community based and volunteer programs. Next, intensive case studies describe participatory activities in two volunteer programs, two minority-language programs, and two programs for low-income women. These cases and the national survey provide the basis for an analysis of the origins, limitations, strengths, and critical conditions related to participatory efforts. Finally, the study recommends actions aimed at improving and expanding the use of these practices. These actions include building a deeper understanding of participatory literacy education, research and training, and expansion of the material and human resources needed to make these practices work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-7355 |
| Date | 01 January 1987 |
| Creators | Jurmo, Paul Joseph |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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