Local-language adult literacy and skills that matter in rural Ghana

• In Event: Highlighted session: Literacy, language and foundational skills in Africa: learning in unexpected places

Proposal

The development of skills for lifelong learning and sustainable well-being is a central aspect of current international education and development efforts. This study examines four community-based literacy programs among the Kusaal and Dagbani language communities of northern Ghana, in order to identify the connections between adult literacy programming and acquisition of the skills necessary to thrive in rural Africa.

These programs were examined more broadly in a 2015 study of the outcomes of adult literacy programs in five African countries, as identified by program beneficiaries (Trudell and Cheffy 2017). The current study consists of interaction with literacy program implementers in Ghana, to explore the links between local-language literacy program curriculum and the life skills that program graduates have identified. The study looks at the programs’ intentions in contributing to the acquisition of life skills by the literacy learners, as well as the strategies that were used, inside and outside the classroom, to facilitate skills acquisition.

This study draws on the Most Significant Change (MSC) evaluation method (https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/plan/approach/most_significant_change). This method is well suited for exploring the skills outcomes that the literacy program staff identify as the most significant. This is a unique approach in the field; among the many lists of “21st century skills”, there is little evidence of which skills are most important for “improving one’s life prospects” in different contexts. Querying program staff about this not only gives insight into which skills are intentionally being taught in these adult literacy programs; it also gives a local perspective as to which of the skills taught are most significant to learners in rural Ghana.

The perspective of local sources is also an important source of input on program sustainability, allowing a better understanding of how literacy is relevant to their daily lives. Input from local program implementers and beneficiaries ensures that the literacy program curriculum “connects the dots” between literacy skills and the life skills that are truly relevant to rural Africa. Since sustainable change is change that is enacted by program beneficiaries, beyond the instigation of external change agents, the study is helping literacy program staff in Ghana to understand the program outcomes and motivations that matter most to the learners. Local priorities and practices thus give insight into how local communities can sustain literacy practices on their own.

As well as calling attention to important skills outcomes of the local-language literacy programs, this research has a broader application to literacy organizations in the global South. Framing literacy instruction as a contributor to the “skills that matter” locally allows literacy organizations to legitimately position themselves as participating in the discourse of skills central to the SDGs. It also encourages local literacy organizations to review their curricula, so that literacy programs can maximize the application of literacy skills to the development of skills that matter to program beneficiaries.

Author

• Joel Trudell, SIL Africa