CHARACTERISTICS OF NON-LITERATES AND ORAL PREFERENCE PEOPLE and False Assumptions

Learning skills are based primarily on spoken word and non-written visual images.

Do not see or have difficulty seeing words as symbols which convey meaning.

Prefer stories, proverbs, pithy colorful sayings to detailed descriptions or lengthy explanations with technical or other non- ordinary terminology.

Enjoy receiving information in informal exchanges or group settings which foster communal fellowship.

Enjoy recall and repetition of already familiar stories and sayings. This is important to refresh or keep alive their memory.

May participate in “group memory” in which the sum of information is possessed by members of the group who each add their part.

File or classify information along chronological sequences as a series of events which happened over time, by using time markers—references to other events which happened before, during and shortly after the information or event to be remembered, or often by family generations or intra-family relationships.

Their library is their memory. If it is not in their memory, it is not in their library and cannot be looked up and recalled as literates do from their notes.. Their library is their memory. If it is not in their memory, it is not in their library and cannot be looked up and recalled as literates do from their notes.

Tend to see events not analytically but holistically with all the parts necessary to give the complete picture, often comparing new events to previous events they are familiar with.

When sharing or recalling they must be allowed to “chase all the rabbits” they deem important to their story rather than cutting to the bottom line.

Often count the process or event of sharing a story or information as important, or more important than the actual story or information.. Often count the process or event of sharing a story or information as important, or more important than the actual story or information.

Have difficulty in remembering lists, especially if referring to abstract things or not having a relationship that is familiar or common.

Tend to describe people by stories or proverbial sayings which carry the characteristics of the person.

Generally live in a “narrower world” which consists primarily of their oral community. Because they do not read things beyond this oral community these are considered foreign or non- relevant.

Tend to be conservative, banking on past experiences and the stories by which they are remembered, rather than taking risks or adventuring into new things based on new information.

May be slower or more deliberate in their decision making as new information displaces previous information, or is seen as more relevant or better, or somehow relates to their everyday life in a meaningful way.

Often enjoy folk media as communication channels: ballads, drama, dance and other relevant media or mix of media. These provide an event as well as convey information.

May look with suspicion upon those possessing literacy or who are dependent upon literacy in their lives.

They are just as intelligent as literates but may need more time to learn a new thing. Once it is learned, it is more likely to be retained and religiously followed than a literate would with the many sources of new information available to the literate.

Tend to look with favor and trust upon those sources or people they like or who have developed a good relationship through personal contact or presentation format that is entertaining and non- threatening.

False Assumptions Concerning Orality and Literacy l Assumption: Literacy is the normal, standard communication style l Fact: Literacy is a technical constructed style l Assumption: There was a high level of literacy during New Testament times l Fact: Literacy during New Testament times was somewhere between 3 and 9%. l Assumption: Any person, literate or illiterate, can understand expositional type presentations l Fact: Oral communicators have great difficulty in understanding expositional type presentations

l Assumption: Any person, illiterate or literate, understand and prefer outlines of information, organized principles extracted from information, steps in performing a task and propositional statements of truth l Fact: Literate individuals generally prefer these types of presentation but oral communicators find them confusing, difficult to understand and almost impossible to recall and reproduce l Assumption: Singular words have clear and exact lexical meaning among their language users l Fact: Among oral communicators isolated words and even sentences seldom have clear and understandable meanings False Assumptions Concerning Orality and Literacy

l Assumption: Pictures are understood by young and old, literates and illiterates alike l Fact: Humans are not born with the ability to “read” a picture, for pictures are a literate and technical convention designed to interpret living settings to trained viewers False Assumptions Concerning Orality and Literacy