Welcome to the World of Orality

Welcome to the World of Orality
A Look at Oral Cultures Steve Evans . Revised Feb ‘06

Getting Into the Mind of the Oral Communicator

Name These

Oral Communicators name geometric patterns by what they resemble: plate, box, house, etc…
Those with even a small amount of education, though, name them as circle, square, triangle: all learned conceptual ideas!

Which does not belong?

Both a saw and an axe will ‘work the log’, but a hammer won’t
Both a saw and an axe will ‘work the log’, but a hammer won’t. An oral communicator wouldn’t include the hammer as part of the grouping. A ‘group of tools’ is conceptual thinking!

Which does not belong?

Some oral communicators who associated with literates were aware that others think differently. One replied: A wise man will say the cup doesn’t belong. When asked what a foolish man would say, he replied: A foolish man would say the orange doesn’t belong.

We are used to logical thinking. We grow up that way. It is our default!

A B C =

You have ten seconds to read the following list, tell me which three places you need to visit and what you need to buy from each place...

In table #1 you saw a list as an oral communicator sees our lists -- nothing but a bunch of incomprehensible symbols!

Poetry is an oral art form -- at least it was meant to be!
Somebody read for us the following poem by e e cummings...

grasshopper who, as we look, now gathering up into THE LEAP arriving as to rearrangingly become grasshopper

This poem, No. 276, takes literacy to its ultimate
This poem, No. 276, takes literacy to its ultimate. Read as we would normally write it doesn’t make sense. It has to be SEEN AND READ to be appreciated!

We are used to conceptual / abstract thinking.
We say things like: He’s acting like a round peg in a square hole. What are your circles of influence? He or she is really square!

We are also used to logical / propositional / deductive thinking or reasoning. Again, we grow up that way; it is our default! We say things like: God is a God of love. God loves all people. Does God love you? (Of course, we think!)

We also say things like:
After God created Adam and Eve, they disobeyed God and sinned. Because of Adam's sin, all people are sinners. Are you a sinner? (Again, we think, of course! )

However, some people think or process information differently than we do. Let’s look at a survey done with oral peoples of Russia…

In a formal survey, one oral communicator was told: Precious metals do not rust. Gold is a precious metal. Does gold rust? He responded: Do precious metals rust or not? Does gold rust or not? Precious metals rust. Precious gold rusts.

Another was asked: In the far North, where there is snow, all bears are white. Novaya Sembla is in the North and there is snow there. What color are the bears? He responded: I don’t know. I’ve seen a black bear. I’ve never seen any others...

When asked the same question the second time, he responded: To go by your words, they should all be white.

One oral communicator was asked: Try to explain to me what a tree is.
He responded: Why should I? Everyone know what a tree is. How would you define a tree in two words? Apple tree, elm, tree, poplar tree...

One oral communicator was asked: Try to explain to me what a tree is.
He responded: Why should I? Everyone know what a tree is. How would you define a tree in two words? Apple tree, elm tree, poplar tree...

Question: What would you tell people a car is?
Answer: Buses have four legs, chairs in front for people sit sit on, a roof for shade, and an engine. But… when you get right down to it, I’d say -- If you get in a car and go for a ride, you’ll find out!

Question: What would you tell people a car is?
Answer: Buses have four legs, chairs in front for people to sit on, a roof for shade, and an engine. But… when you get right down to it, I’d say -- If you get in a car and go for a ride, you’ll find out!

Question: What sort of person are you, what’s your character like, what are your good qualities and shortcomings? Answer: I came here from Uch-Kurgan, I was very poor, and now I’m married and have children.

Question: Are you satisfied with yourself or would you like to be different?
Answer: It would be good if I had a little more land and could sow some more wheat.

Question: And what are your shortcomings?
Answer: This year I sowed one acre of wheat, and we’re gradually fixing the shortcomings.

Question: Well, people are different -- calm, hot-tempered, or sometimes their memory is poor. What do you think of yourself? Answer: We behave well. If we were bad people, no one would respect us.

Another responded to that same question: What can I say about my own heart? How can I talk about my character? Ask others, they can tell you about me. I myself can’t say anything.

When asked what he thought about a new village school headmaster, a Central African man replied:
Let’s watch how he dances.

When we require oral communicators respond to our literate-based teaching styles, we think they just don’t measure up!

The fact is, in a world of oral communicators, we are the learning disabled.

Characteristics of Oral and Print Communicators
Oral Communicators Learn by Hearing… Print Communicators Learn by Seeing… Oral Communicators Learn by Observing and Imitating… Print Communicators Learn by Reading, Studying, Analyzing… Oral Communicators Think and Talk About Events, not Words… Print Communicators Talk About Words, Concepts, Principles… Oral Communicators Use Stories to Package Information… Print Communicators Manage Knowledge in Categories and Store It in Print… Oral Communicators Memorize Information Handed Down from the Past… Print Communicators Seek to Discover New Information… Oral Communicators Value Tradition… Print Communicators Value Novelty…

? Will those we work with, serve, and minister to say –
To go by YOUR words: God loves me. I am a sinner. Jesus paid for my sin. ?

We want transformed lives !
Is that the kind of Christianity we want ?!? Are those the kind of Christians we want !?! NO ! We want transformed lives !

Matters of the Heart!

THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF STORIES!
Some approaches try to change behavior by saying, “Do this and don’t do that!” What is not changed? …WORLDVIEW! How do I act? What is good or best? What is true? What is real? Worldview Some approaches, such as a propositional approach, can provide knowledge or change beliefs, but what is not changed? …WORLDVIEW! Beliefs Stories Change …WORLDVIEW! Stories Change …LIVES! Values Behavior

Stories change worldview!
Get this! This is important! Our worldview, our lives, the very core of who we are, is made up of the events that surround us and the stories that are implanted within us. Stories change worldview! (This is true for all people of all cultures, anywhere, anytime!)

The use of the narrative or stories addresses the very core of who we are...
How do I act? What is good or best? What is true? What is real? Worldview Beliefs Values Behavior

…and those stories reflect worldview issues found within our culture.
The use of the narrative or stories addresses the very core of who we are... How do I act? What is good or best? What is true? What is real? Worldview Beliefs …and those stories reflect worldview issues found within our culture. Values Behavior

…you do it with better stories
Professor and Pastor N.T. Wright in England suggests that to replace one’s life stories at the core... How do I act? …you do it with better stories What is good or best? What is true? (and what better stories are there than those stories found in the Word of God ! ). What is real? Worldview Beliefs Values Behavior

…you do it with better stories
Professor and Pastor N.T. Wright in England suggests that to replace one’s life stories at the core... How do I act? …you do it with better stories What is good or best? What is true? (and what better stories are there than those stories found in the Word of God ! ). What is real? And when you change the core, you can change beliefs, values, and behavior as well. Worldview Beliefs Values Behavior

The preferred method of the oral communicator for learning, remembering, and conveying & receiving information is through stories.

The World Around Us…

Functionally Illiterate ORAL/PRINT COMMUNICATOR
ORAL COMMUNICATOR Illiterate Functionally Illiterate ORAL/PRINT COMMUNICATOR Semi- Literate PRINT COMMUNICATOR (Highly) Literate Stories from the past, from today Repetition Proverbs Traditional Sayings Songs Chanting Poetry Drama Life Experience Lists Tables Outlines Diagrams/Graphs Steps Teaching Points Abstract Concepts ILLITERATE: KRIS AND RAJA’S STORY Kris used to be a farmer but now he lives in the city and works as a day-laborer selling fruits and collecting trash. He and his wife Raja have two boys and a girl. Kris never went to school. Until recently, he never even traveled past the market town three hours’ walk from his farm. Although he is surrounded by writing in the city and knows about letters and words, he doesn’t think of words as “things”. For Kris, words are simply sounds he uses to paint a picture of what is happening in his life. It wouldn’t occur to him to take a single word and consider its “definition,” because meaning is shaped by the context of his communication. Kris entertains his children with funny stories from his day at work. But as soon as he finishes speaking, the story “disappears”. It is gone forever unless he repeats it. So the children beg him, “Tell it again!” and they tell their friends the next day. Raja listens too so she has something new to tell her neighbor when they drink tea. As illiterates, both Kris and his wife are oral communicators by necessity. Their lives are based on what they learn through stories, anecdotes, proverbs, songs, and practical experience.

FUNCTIONAL ILLITERATE: ALI’S STORY Ali is a former soldier, but he now works in the city running a small blanket factory and business. He has a wife and two daughters. He completed trade school before he entered the army. However, when his schooling finished, he did not continue to read. Ali is very proud of his older daughter who is at the top of her class in school. But he secretly feels shame that he can’t help her with homework. At age eleven, she already reads and understands what she reads better than he does, especially when it is a subject he doesn’t know much about. Ali buys the newspaper as some of his friends do and he sits in the tea house looking at it. But he really gets the news and forms his opinions from conversation with his friends and from the radio. Printed information has very little effect on his values or his behavior. Yet every country in the world counts Ali as being “literate”. As a functional illiterate, Ali is an oral communicator. His life is based on what he learns through stories, anecdotes, proverbs, songs, and practical experience. ORAL COMMUNICATOR Illiterate Functionally Illiterate ORAL/PRINT COMMUNICATOR Semi- Literate PRINT COMMUNICATOR (Highly) Literate Stories from the past, from today Repetition Proverbs Traditional Sayings Songs Chanting Poetry Drama Life Experience Lists Tables Outlines Diagrams/Graphs Steps Teaching Points Abstract Concepts

SEMI-LITERATE: AISHA’S STORY Ali’s wife, Aisha, is 30. She grew up in the city and graduated from high school. After she married Ali, she worked as a clerk until her first child was born, but since then she has been a housewife. She wrote to Ali every week when he was away doing military service and she also likes to read. Mostly, she reads novels that she borrows from friends or the library. But her favorite entertainment is the drama on TV and radio, especially those on Sundays. Aisha helps her older daughter with schoolwork and makes sure that all the assignments are done on time. But when Aisha needs information for herself, she doesn’t “look it up” at the library even though she’s capable of doing that. Instead, she finds someone to tell her or show her. In spite of her education, she still thinks of people as being the best sources of information. She understands a little when someone explains using outlines, points, lists, tables, graphs or steps, but she finds this kind of information hard to remember and hard to pass along to other people. Aisha prefers oral communication to print communication. She learns best and most easily through stories, anecdotes, proverbs, songs, and practical experience. ORAL COMMUNICATOR Illiterate Functionally Illiterate ORAL/PRINT COMMUNICATOR Semi- Literate PRINT COMMUNICATOR (Highly) Literate Stories from the past, from today Repetition Proverbs Traditional Sayings Songs Chanting Poetry Drama Life Experience Lists Tables Outlines Diagrams/Graphs Steps Teaching Points Abstract Concepts

LITERATE: MICHAEL’S STORY Michael is a 26-year-old university student majoring in mathematics who hopes to get a job at a Teacher Training College. He likes to read and he buys books on subjects that interest him, even when they aren’t required for his classes. He and his two brothers share a computer at home and use for school. But he also goes to the Internet café to write his friends and do a bit of Web research for his classes. Michael does not expect nor gets repetition in the classroom, and he likes getting new information each time. But he also likes having pictures with everything he reads since he’s become accustomed to seeing this on the Internet. So he groans at the sight of books with long chapters and paragraphs, and no illustrations! As a print communicator, Michael prefers to learn and share information with others using outlines, point by point teaching, lists, tables, graphs and steps in a plan. He enjoys TV or a good film, and he’s always ready to enjoy a good story, his favorite songs or poetry. ORAL COMMUNICATOR Illiterate Functionally Illiterate ORAL/PRINT COMMUNICATOR Semi- Literate PRINT COMMUNICATOR (Highly) Literate Stories from the past, from today Repetition Proverbs Traditional Sayings Songs Chanting Poetry Drama Life Experience Lists Tables Outlines Diagrams/Graphs Steps Teaching Points Abstract Concepts

Nearly two of every four people in the world are oral communicators by necessity. ORAL COMMUNICATOR Illiterate Functionally Illiterate ORAL/PRINT COMMUNICATOR Semi- Literate PRINT COMMUNICATOR (Highly) Literate Stories from the past, from today Repetition Proverbs Traditional Sayings Songs Chanting Poetry Drama Life Experience Lists Tables Outlines Diagrams/Graphs Steps Teaching Points Abstract Concepts By necessity they communicate this way

Nearly three of every four people in the world are oral communicators either by necessity or by choice. ORAL COMMUNICATOR Illiterate Functionally Illiterate ORAL/PRINT COMMUNICATOR Semi- Literate PRINT COMMUNICATOR (Highly) Literate Stories from the past, from today Repetition Proverbs Traditional Sayings Songs Chanting Poetry Drama Life Experience Lists Tables Outlines Diagrams/Graphs Steps Teaching Points Abstract Concepts By choice they communicate this way

ORAL COMMUNICATOR Illiterate Functionally Illiterate ORAL/PRINT COMMUNICATOR Semi- Literate PRINT COMMUNICATOR (Highly) Literate Stories from the past, from today Repetition Proverbs Traditional Sayings Songs Chanting Poetry Drama Life Experience Lists Tables Outlines Diagrams/Graphs Steps Teaching Points Abstract Concepts Only one of every four people in the world is a print or literate communicator. They communicate this way

ORAL COMMUNICATOR Illiterate Functionally Illiterate ORAL/PRINT COMMUNICATOR Semi- Literate PRINT COMMUNICATOR (Highly) Literate Stories from the past, from today Repetition Proverbs Traditional Sayings Songs Chanting Poetry Drama Life Experience Lists Tables Outlines Diagrams/Graphs Steps Teaching Points Abstract Concepts 50% or more of the world’s people are oral communicators by necessity… Nearly 70% of the world’s people are oral communicators by necessity or preference… 20% to 30% of the world’s people are print or literate communicators…

Did you know that in the USA
Over 50% of the adults are functionally illiterate? One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives? 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school? 42% of college graduates never read another book? 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year? 57% of new books are not read to completion. Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased? Each day, people in the US spend four hours watching TV, three hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines?

In Eastern & Central Europe
Media preferences of a majority of those living in Central and Eastern Europe are ALL NON-PRINT !

If it is that way with the people of America and Europe, what is it like with the people you are working with ?!?!

Status of Scripture Translation
10,000+ languages and dialects 6813 living languages 2355 languages with some Scripture 414 have a complete Bible 1068 have a New Testament 873 have at least one book of the Bible Source: United Bible Societies (2003)

4458 languages without even one book of the Bible 2644 languages needing translations 64 language projects initiated per year on average ( ) by Wycliffe Bible Translators

280 million people without any Scripture 147 million without any translation project in process (Source: Wycliffe International, 2003)

What God’s Word Tells Us

Deuteronomy 31, 32 2 Samuel 12 Mark 4

2 WHEN CONSIDERING THE WORLD OF ORLAITY THERE ARE TWO IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS

First, oral communicators can learn as well as literate people.
Their ability to learn is just as good as a literate’s, and their memory is superior to the average literate person’s memory.

The problem is not that of learning, but of the presentation format through which information comes to them Information must come to oral communicators through stories, parables, poems, music / songs, and other similar formats. FORMAT IS THE KEY FOR THEM!

Second, and conversely, most literates mistakenly believe that if they can outline the information or put it into a series of steps or principles, anyone, including oral communicators, can understand it and recall it.

That is a misconception about learning and how different individuals process information! Most oral communicators do not understand outlines, steps, or principles, and they certainly cannot remember them.

For that matter, neither can the literates
For that matter, neither can the literates! But they store information in notes and can ‘look it up’ to refresh their memories!

When a bushman dies, a whole library is lost!
Most Oral Communicators cannot ‘look up’ anything, and they have no personal means of refreshing their memories if they have forgotten something! A good proverb to remember is: When a bushman dies, a whole library is lost!

Welcome to the World of Orality

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