THE WAYS PEOPLE LEARN By Dr. James B. Slack Exploring the ...

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The Ways People Learn--Slack 4who completed ten years of school or secured a high school diploma but did not spend alot of time in developing reading and writing skills, almost always test out to be semiliterate.Semi-literates learn best and most comfortably by means of oral communicationstyle presentations rather than through literate style presentations. However, most aredeveloping competencies that move them in the direction of full literacy. Even so, all ofthose in this category, and most of those in the functional illiteracy category wouldbe classified by every school system and every country as literate, when in realitymost prefer and can best handle oral communication learning styles. This is one ofthe many reasons why most published literacy percentages cannot be trusted and used.The published percentages are as much driven by incorrect definitions of literacy;financial lending agency criteria for country loans and aid; and by "saving face" reasonsThe fourth category is literate. Some countries and some of those who work in literacyeducation refer to this category as functional literacy. This is not to be confused with aprevious category of functional illiteracy which is just the opposite. Literates are usuallythose individuals who have continued to exercise their ability to read and write up to andbeyond the equivalent of ten grades of school. They have not only gone through thegrades in school, but have in fact attained the competencies equivalent to those grades.They are literate learners. Information such as ideas, precepts, concepts, and principlesare easily understood and handled by them through literate means. Functional literacy is aterm that has been chosen to describe literacy in a way that is not dependent upon thenumber of years in school. 3 A gifted and/or applied learner, usually a self-starter andhighly motivated person, could become functionally literate after only a few years ofstudy, whether in or out of school. It would also be true that some could study wellbeyond twelve years and not be functionally literate.The average literate person, on the way to becoming literate, has lost or given up ameasure of his or her oral communication skills. Like physical body parts, oral skillstend to atrophy if not used regularly. Numerous academic studies in the fields ofeducation, psychology and anthropology have been conducted relative to this issue.Atrophy of oral skills is the price of becoming literate. The literate’s memory has becomeless and less dependent upon recalling what has been heard orally, and has progressivelybecome dependent upon recorded notes and information contained in books and otherrepositories. These individuals are no longer classified as oral communicators. This doesnot mean that they do not appreciate oral communication or that they will not respond tooral communication. It only means that they are less characterized by orality than byliteracy. A few do carry significant oral skills with them into functional literacy.The fifth, and final category is highly literate. A highly literate person has usuallyspent time daily developing and using reading and writing skills at a very advanced level.Such individuals have usually attended college and are often professionals in liberal artfields. They are thoroughly word-culture individuals. Like literate level individuals, theyare no longer predominately oral communicators, but are literate communicators. Theyhave, through education, moved progressively from being an oral communicator to a3 Ibid.
The Ways People Learn--Slack 5highly literate communicator. As Walter Ong comments, many of these highly literateindividuals do not remember and thus do not appreciate the oral roots from which theyemerged.Not only does the status of a person change as they progress from oral communicationlevels to literate communication levels, but their style of communication has changeddrastically. Oral communicators — illiterates, functional illiterates and semi-literates —are not comfortable with, and cannot easily understand information that comes in theform of outlines, precepts, principles, and steps in a process. It is difficult, if notimpossible, for them to engage in true analysis. They find it very difficult to outlineand reduce bodies of information to “bottom line” statements. Oral communicatorsprefer that information come to them in the form of narratives or stories. They cannoteasily handle, and are definitely not comfortable with information that comes by othermeans. In fact, if they have a teaching, a concept, or a principle they want toremember, they will clothe it in a story. Narrative styles are the common vehiclesthat oral communicators use to process and “carry around” information. Expositionalpresentations such as outlines, steps, principles, or lists of any kind are formidableobstacles for them. They find it difficult to understand them, and certainly cannot recallthem. They cannot use what they cannot recall. Knowledge for oral communicators,and especially illiterates, consists only of what can be recalled.There are two important considerations. First, oral communicators — illiterates,functional illiterates, and semi-literates — can learn as well as literate persons. Theirability to learn is just as good as literates and their memory is superior to the averageliterate person’s memory. The problem is not that of learning but of the presentationformat through which information comes to them. Information must come to oralcommunicators through stories, parables, poems, ballads, and similar types of formats.Format is the key for them.Second, and conversely, most literates mistakenly believe that if they can outline theinformation or put it into a series of steps or principles, anyone, including oralcommunicators, can understand it and recall it. That is a misconception concerninglearning, and how different individuals process information. Most oral communicators donot understand outlines, steps or principles, and they certainly cannot remember them.For that matter, neither can the literates, but they store information in notes and can “lookit up” to refresh their memory. Illiterates cannot “look anything up,” and have nopersonal means of refreshing their memory if they have forgotten something.It is very important when literate individuals prepare to communicate with others thatthey determine what learning category — illiterate, functional illiterate, semi-literate,literate, or highly-literate — the hearer represents before choosing the presentationformat. The Learning Grid illustrates the relationship between each learning category andthe corresponding presentation format.When communicating with oral communicators — primary illiterates, functionalilliterates, or semi-literates — the story is the best “vehicle” that carries the information
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