Literacy for All in 100 Days? A Research-based Strategy for Fast Progress in Low-income Countries

In low-income countries many students are marginalized very early and remain illiterate. In grades 1-3 they attend rarely, though they may officially drop out in grade 4. Many others graduate from primary school without having learned letter values...

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Main Author: Abadzi, Helen
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/18042078/literacy-all-100-days-research-based-strategy-fast-progress-low-income-countries
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16248
id okr-10986-16248
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-162482021-04-23T14:03:28Z Literacy for All in 100 Days? A Research-based Strategy for Fast Progress in Low-income Countries Abadzi, Helen ABILITY LEVELS ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE ACHIEVEMENT ADDITION BASIC LITERACY BASIC READING BASIC SKILLS BETTER EDUCATED TEACHERS BLACKBOARDS BROADCASTING CALL CLASS TIME CLASSROOM CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES CLASSROOMS COLLEGES COMPLEXITY COMPREHENSION CURRICULA CURRICULUM DIALECTS DIRECT INSTRUCTION DRAWING DRILLS EARLY GRADES EDUCATED PEOPLE EDUCATION LEVELS EDUCATION MINISTRIES EDUCATORS EFFECTIVE TEACHING EMPLOYMENT EXPENDITURES FUTURE RESEARCH GRAMMAR HIGHER GRADES HOMEWORK HOURS OF INSTRUCTION ILLITERACY INSTRUCTION INSTRUCTIONAL TIME INTERVENTIONS KINDERGARTEN LANGUAGE ARTS LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION LANGUAGES LEARNERS LEARNING LEARNING CURVES LEARNING TIME LECTURES LISTENING LITERACY LITERACY INSTRUCTION LITERACY LEVELS LOW-INCOME STUDENTS MEANING MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OLDER CHILDREN PRIMARY SCHOOL PROFICIENCY READING READING ACTIVITIES READING COMPREHENSION READING INSTRUCTION READING MATERIALS READING METHODS REPETITION SCHOOL PRINCIPALS SCHOOLING SCHOOLS SECOND LANGUAGE SPEAKING SPORTS STUDENT PERFORMANCE STUDENT PROGRESS STUDENT TEACHERS SUBJECT AREAS SYLLABI TEACHER TEACHER TRAINING TEACHERS TEACHING TEXTBOOK DESIGN TEXTBOOK PROCUREMENT TEXTBOOKS TRAINEES TRAINING COLLEGES TRAINING NEEDS UNTRAINED TEACHERS VOCABULARY WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH In low-income countries many students are marginalized very early and remain illiterate. In grades 1-3 they attend rarely, though they may officially drop out in grade 4. Many others graduate from primary school without having learned letter values. The worrisome outcomes, despite much donor investment in low-income countries, have prompted scrutiny of the methods, and textbooks used to make students literate. This document offers insights from cognitive neuroscience and evidence suggesting that students can be taught basic literacy within the first semester of grade 1, if taught in consistently spelled languages. Teaching students at risk of dropout to read as early as possible enhances equity. However, the reading methods used in many countries are complex and hard for teachers to execute. They pertain to high-income countries and to certain western European languages. English but also French, Portuguese, and Dutch have complex spelling systems. English in particular requires three years of learning time. (French requires about two). Reading instruction for English is expensive and complex. Lists of whole words must be learned, vocabulary and early training in predictions are needed in order to make sense of words that cannot be sounded out. Learning must be started at kindergarten, parents must help at home, and many weaker students require remedial instruction. Since English is an official language in many countries, the travails of learning to read in this language have been considered the normal fate of reading. Overall, reading methods must be resilient to the vicissitudes of implementation. Many activities work well in higher-income countries or small pilots, but at scale-up they sink. Governments and donors should train up to existing capacity, rather than try to raise capacity to the requirements of complex methods. 2013-11-13T21:26:40Z 2013-11-13T21:26:40Z 2013-05-30 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/18042078/literacy-all-100-days-research-based-strategy-fast-progress-low-income-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16248 English en_US Global Partnership for Education (GPE) working paper on series;no. 7 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic ABILITY LEVELS
ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE
ACHIEVEMENT
ADDITION
BASIC LITERACY
BASIC READING
BASIC SKILLS
BETTER EDUCATED TEACHERS
BLACKBOARDS
BROADCASTING
CALL
CLASS TIME
CLASSROOM
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
CLASSROOMS
COLLEGES
COMPLEXITY
COMPREHENSION
CURRICULA
CURRICULUM
DIALECTS
DIRECT INSTRUCTION
DRAWING
DRILLS
EARLY GRADES
EDUCATED PEOPLE
EDUCATION LEVELS
EDUCATION MINISTRIES
EDUCATORS
EFFECTIVE TEACHING
EMPLOYMENT
EXPENDITURES
FUTURE RESEARCH
GRAMMAR
HIGHER GRADES
HOMEWORK
HOURS OF INSTRUCTION
ILLITERACY
INSTRUCTION
INSTRUCTIONAL TIME
INTERVENTIONS
KINDERGARTEN
LANGUAGE ARTS
LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION
LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION
LANGUAGES
LEARNERS
LEARNING
LEARNING CURVES
LEARNING TIME
LECTURES
LISTENING
LITERACY
LITERACY INSTRUCTION
LITERACY LEVELS
LOW-INCOME STUDENTS
MEANING
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
OLDER CHILDREN
PRIMARY SCHOOL
PROFICIENCY
READING
READING ACTIVITIES
READING COMPREHENSION
READING INSTRUCTION
READING MATERIALS
READING METHODS
REPETITION
SCHOOL PRINCIPALS
SCHOOLING
SCHOOLS
SECOND LANGUAGE
SPEAKING
SPORTS
STUDENT PERFORMANCE
STUDENT PROGRESS
STUDENT TEACHERS
SUBJECT AREAS
SYLLABI
TEACHER
TEACHER TRAINING
TEACHERS
TEACHING
TEXTBOOK DESIGN
TEXTBOOK PROCUREMENT
TEXTBOOKS
TRAINEES
TRAINING COLLEGES
TRAINING NEEDS
UNTRAINED TEACHERS
VOCABULARY
WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH
spellingShingle ABILITY LEVELS
ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE
ACHIEVEMENT
ADDITION
BASIC LITERACY
BASIC READING
BASIC SKILLS
BETTER EDUCATED TEACHERS
BLACKBOARDS
BROADCASTING
CALL
CLASS TIME
CLASSROOM
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
CLASSROOMS
COLLEGES
COMPLEXITY
COMPREHENSION
CURRICULA
CURRICULUM
DIALECTS
DIRECT INSTRUCTION
DRAWING
DRILLS
EARLY GRADES
EDUCATED PEOPLE
EDUCATION LEVELS
EDUCATION MINISTRIES
EDUCATORS
EFFECTIVE TEACHING
EMPLOYMENT
EXPENDITURES
FUTURE RESEARCH
GRAMMAR
HIGHER GRADES
HOMEWORK
HOURS OF INSTRUCTION
ILLITERACY
INSTRUCTION
INSTRUCTIONAL TIME
INTERVENTIONS
KINDERGARTEN
LANGUAGE ARTS
LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION
LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION
LANGUAGES
LEARNERS
LEARNING
LEARNING CURVES
LEARNING TIME
LECTURES
LISTENING
LITERACY
LITERACY INSTRUCTION
LITERACY LEVELS
LOW-INCOME STUDENTS
MEANING
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
OLDER CHILDREN
PRIMARY SCHOOL
PROFICIENCY
READING
READING ACTIVITIES
READING COMPREHENSION
READING INSTRUCTION
READING MATERIALS
READING METHODS
REPETITION
SCHOOL PRINCIPALS
SCHOOLING
SCHOOLS
SECOND LANGUAGE
SPEAKING
SPORTS
STUDENT PERFORMANCE
STUDENT PROGRESS
STUDENT TEACHERS
SUBJECT AREAS
SYLLABI
TEACHER
TEACHER TRAINING
TEACHERS
TEACHING
TEXTBOOK DESIGN
TEXTBOOK PROCUREMENT
TEXTBOOKS
TRAINEES
TRAINING COLLEGES
TRAINING NEEDS
UNTRAINED TEACHERS
VOCABULARY
WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH
Abadzi, Helen
Literacy for All in 100 Days? A Research-based Strategy for Fast Progress in Low-income Countries
relation Global Partnership for Education (GPE) working paper on series;no. 7
description In low-income countries many students are marginalized very early and remain illiterate. In grades 1-3 they attend rarely, though they may officially drop out in grade 4. Many others graduate from primary school without having learned letter values. The worrisome outcomes, despite much donor investment in low-income countries, have prompted scrutiny of the methods, and textbooks used to make students literate. This document offers insights from cognitive neuroscience and evidence suggesting that students can be taught basic literacy within the first semester of grade 1, if taught in consistently spelled languages. Teaching students at risk of dropout to read as early as possible enhances equity. However, the reading methods used in many countries are complex and hard for teachers to execute. They pertain to high-income countries and to certain western European languages. English but also French, Portuguese, and Dutch have complex spelling systems. English in particular requires three years of learning time. (French requires about two). Reading instruction for English is expensive and complex. Lists of whole words must be learned, vocabulary and early training in predictions are needed in order to make sense of words that cannot be sounded out. Learning must be started at kindergarten, parents must help at home, and many weaker students require remedial instruction. Since English is an official language in many countries, the travails of learning to read in this language have been considered the normal fate of reading. Overall, reading methods must be resilient to the vicissitudes of implementation. Many activities work well in higher-income countries or small pilots, but at scale-up they sink. Governments and donors should train up to existing capacity, rather than try to raise capacity to the requirements of complex methods.
format Publications & Research :: Working Paper
author Abadzi, Helen
author_facet Abadzi, Helen
author_sort Abadzi, Helen
title Literacy for All in 100 Days? A Research-based Strategy for Fast Progress in Low-income Countries
title_short Literacy for All in 100 Days? A Research-based Strategy for Fast Progress in Low-income Countries
title_full Literacy for All in 100 Days? A Research-based Strategy for Fast Progress in Low-income Countries
title_fullStr Literacy for All in 100 Days? A Research-based Strategy for Fast Progress in Low-income Countries
title_full_unstemmed Literacy for All in 100 Days? A Research-based Strategy for Fast Progress in Low-income Countries
title_sort literacy for all in 100 days? a research-based strategy for fast progress in low-income countries
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2013
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/18042078/literacy-all-100-days-research-based-strategy-fast-progress-low-income-countries
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16248
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