School of Distance and Lifelong Learning (SDLL)
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Browsing School of Distance and Lifelong Learning (SDLL) by Subject "Adult literacy"
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ItemAn ethnographic study of rural community literacy pactices in Bweyale and their implication for adult literacy education in Uganda(University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2008-03-15) Openjuru, George LadaahThis was a study of rural community literacy practices in Uganda. I used the social practices theory of literacy as a theoretical framework to investigate literacy use in rural community life in Bweyale. The social practices theory of literacy sees literacy as variable social practice that can only be understood within the social context of its use. Consistent with the social practices theoretical perspective and following similar research traditions in this area of literacy study, I used ethnographic research methods to collect data and grounded theory methods to analyse data on literacy use in Bweyale. The study revealed that rural people, contrary to popular perceptions about their illiteracy and hence lack of literacy, actually use reading and writing in a variety of ways in different domains of literacy use. Literacy pervades most aspects of rural community life, making rural people use literacy in many rich and creative ways. Most people, regardless of their literacy status, participate in local literacy practices. The most prominent areas of literacy use in rural community life are livelihood activities, education, religion, bureaucracy, household life, and personal life. The study also found that the conception of literacy among rural people in Bweyale is similar to the dominant conception of literacy. In this conception, literacy is seen as equal to education and/or schooling and it relates to modernity. Rural people see literacy as a valuable and important aspect of life. The literacy they value most is the dominant English language literacy. This is due to the multilingual nature of Uganda and the national language policy that made English the dominant language of literacy even in rural community life. The use of English literacy is also reinforced by its use as the language of instruction in Uganda’s education system where most people learn how to read and write. This dominance of English complicates literacy use in rural community life because it brings in the need for translation, especially when people who do not understand English are involved in a literacy event. It also complicates local language literacy learning. The use of English is closely associated with the dominant non-traditional activities like school education, the police service, modern trade practices, and to some extent, Christian religious practices. Local language literacy is mainly used when communicating information relating to traditional activities, for example, traditional medicinal practices or for personal use. The study recommends that adult literacy education curricula should be tailored to the local literacy practices of the people for whom the literacy programmes are being developed. This will help to make the literacy programmes immediately relevant to the everyday literacy practices of the learners’ community. The programmes should promote literacy use in the community by exploring new areas of literacy use in rural community life. These are areas in which the use of literacy could lead to better management of some activities in rural community life. In all, rural people are literate in ways that are not acknowledged in dominant literacy thinking and hence even by rural people themselves. This way of thinking must be discouraged.
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ItemFamily planning education and practices amongst rural non-literate women in the reproductive age: The case of Mbaare Sub-County, Isingiro District(Makerere University, 2014-11) Garuzooka, John FrancisThis study aimed at finding out about the family planning education and practices of rural non-literate women in the reproductive age in Mbaare Sub-County Isingiro District. It specifically intended to assess the attitude of non-literate women towards family planning; to determine how non-literate women acquire family planning knowledge; to identify the different family planning practices used by non-literate women in the reproductive age and to find out family planning education needs of non-literate women if they are to effectively use family planning. In trying to understand the above objectives, the researcher employed an exploratory study design in order to gain an in- depth understanding of the responses regarding family planning education and practices of rural non-literate women of Mbaare. In-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were the main data collection methods used amongst thirty four (34) rural non-literate women. Findings from the study showed that rural non-literate women in Mbaare Sub-County acquired family planning knowledge and information through friends, peers, relatives, Traditional Birth Attendants, the local radio and very few from health centers. This information was mainly acquired informally and through experience and this greatly influenced their attitudes which were negative towards family planning utilization. They used the information and experience from friends, relatives and peers to make their own family planning choices and decisions than relying experts‟ knowledge. This knowledge that was acquired informally was inadequate, lacking in scientific evidence and therefore could not favorably allow women to utilize modern family planning services effectively considering many challenges they faced including lack of sexual feelings, prolonged bleeding, loss and gain of body weight among others. This research concludes that experiential and informal learning processes through which rural non-literate women acquire knowledge and information on family planning methods are never organized and planned by family planning experts an issue that has greatly created a knowledge gap between the family planning practitioners and consumers in this case the non-literate rural women. These knowledge gaps negatively influence the attitude of women towards family planning use, creating the unmet need as is the case for Mbaare S/c. This study therefore recommends that specific Village Health Teams be trained to identify and train those mothers and peers to disseminate adequate family planning information, and that the Functional Adult Literacy that teach non-literate women how to read, write and numeracy skills should be utilized to make the women access FP information. Also, a variety of media can be adopted rather than depending on just informal learning approaches.