Preparing teachers for early grade reading in Afghanistan: Implications of Dari and Pashto on teaching and learning material development

• In Event: Language Matters: How Language Impacts Reading Instruction

Proposal

As part of the overall goal of improving early grade reading in Afghanistan, Afghan Children Read (ACR) project is designed to ensure that teaching and learning materials and teacher training exist in the two national languages, Dari and Pashto, in the country so that children who speak those languages can read and write well in them before the end of the third grade. This presentation focuses on the efforts to work with the Ministry of Education to design, develop, and implement teaching and learning materials for Dari and Pashto languages so that it will incorporate a focus on teaching reading. These efforts have been unique in that they have been introducing innovations in introducing the script of both languages in a way that enhances reading speed, visual discrimination, and following patterns. The presentation will also discuss findings from the field testing of the materials in different provinces of Afghanistan and highlight how teachers, parents, and policy makers reacted to the innovations in the materials developed. Finally, the presentation concludes with reflections on the lessons learned from this process and with recommendations for best practices in the development and testing of materials in similar script.

Author

• Zohal Atif, Creative Associates