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Improving Adult Literacy Outcomes : Lessons from Cognitive Research for Developing Countries

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  • Helen Abadzi

Abstract

Despite the existence of about one billion illiterates in the world, adult literacy programs make up 1-5 percent of government or donor budgets, and they remain severely underfunded in comparison to primary education. Though dropout and course completion rates improved in the 1990s, the outcomes of literacy instruction are still modest and may have improved little since the 1970s. The results may disappoint governments and donors who expect that once taught, people will have usable skills and remain literate. The modest results make it hard to increase coverage and to argue for increased expenditures for this sector. The results may be due to inefficient instruction but also to the structure of human memory, which has important implications for adult literacy acquisition. The need to learn the rapid recognition of complex patterns poses problems that are not apparent to people who became expert readers in their childhood.

Suggested Citation

  • Helen Abadzi, 2003. "Improving Adult Literacy Outcomes : Lessons from Cognitive Research for Developing Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15136.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbpubs:15136
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ulrike Hanemann, 2015. "The Evolution and Impact of Literacy Campaigns and Programmes 2000–2014," Working Papers id:7516, eSocialSciences.
    2. Emily Smith-Greenaway, 2015. "Educational attainment and adult literacy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(35), pages 1015-1034.
    3. Claudia Tufani, 2016. "The Brazilian Adult Literacy Programme: a brief overview and possible areas of research," Policy Research Brief 59, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    4. Abadzi, Helen, 2003. "Teaching adults to read better and faster : results from an experiment in Burkina Faso," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3057, The World Bank.
    5. Werner L. Hernani-Limarino & Paul Villarroel & Christian Valencia, 2015. "¿Libres de Analfabetismo? Evaluando la Experiencia Boliviana con el Programa Nacional de Alfabetización “Yo Si Puedo”," Working Papers 04/2015, Fundación Aru.
    6. Bhardwaj, Sakshi & Shonchoy, Abu S., 2024. "Social identity and learning: Adult literacy program in India," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    7. Pooja Nakamura & Adria Molotsky & Rosa Castro Zarzur & Varsha Ranjit & Yasmina Haddad & Thomas De Hoop, 2023. "Language of instruction in schools in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), December.
    8. Gizaw, Abiy Menkir & Rogers, Alan & Warkineh, Turuwark Zalalam, 2019. "Leaving the job half done? An analysis of mid-term withdrawals by facilitators in some adult literacy learning programmes," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 194-206.
    9. Fernández, Andrés & Martínez, Rodrigo, 2010. "Impacto social y económico del analfabetismo: modelo de análisis y estudio piloto," Documentos de Proyectos 3747, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).

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