Teaching Adults to Read Better and Faster : Results from an Experiment in Burkina Faso

Abadzi, Helen

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACHIEVEMENT;    ACHIEVEMENT TESTS;    ADDITION;    ADULT LITERACY;    ADULT LITERACY INSTRUCTION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3057
RP-ID  :  WPS3057

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Two cognitively oriented methods weretested in Burkina Faso to help illiterates learn to readmore efficiently. These were (a) speeded reading ofincreasingly larger word units and (b) phonologicalawareness training to help connect letters to speech.Learners were given reading tests and a computerizedreaction time test. Although the literacy courses wereshortened by the arrival of rains and government delays, thepiloted methods helped adults read better than those in thestandard "control" classes. Learners enrolled inthe experimental classes performed better on the outcometests than did learners enrolled in control classes. Ninetypercent of the possible comparisons between treatmentclasses and control classes favored classes receivingtreatments, and 72 percent of the measurements in favor oftreatments were statistically significant. The evidencesuggests that phonological awareness training isparticularly effective in situations where the trainingperiod was short, and that rapid reading was moreadvantageous in longer training situations. Overall, theresults are indicative of the potential that scientificallybacked methods have in making adult literacy instructionmore effective. However, due to the short duration of theclasses (3-4 months) learners apparently did not receivesufficient practice to consolidate skills. Literacy skillsmay still be prone to being forgotten if readers do notlearn to read automatically and if opportunities to read are few.