Literacy at a Distance in Multilingual Contexts: Issues and Challenges
Keywords:
Literacy, multilingual societies, ICTs, case studies, developmentAbstract
Literacy is perhaps the fundamental skill required for effective participation in education (formal and non-formal) for national development. At the same time, the choice of language for literacy is a complex issue in multilingual societies like Nigeria. This paper examines the issues involved, namely: language policy, language and teacher development as well as the role that distance education and ICTs can play in making literacy accessible in as many languages as possible. Two distance learning literacy projects are presented as case studies and the lessons learnt are discussed. The findings of this study suggest that although there is evidence of growing accessibility to ICTs like mobile phones, their use and success in increasing access to literacy in users’ languages, similar to the economic benefits that have been achieved, are yet to be maximised and attained. The implication of the lessons learnt should be relevant to other multilingual nations for the ultimate goal of creating access to learning for development.
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