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Literacy rates in the UK and Turkey

 
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dmb



Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397

PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:37 am    Post subject: Literacy rates in the UK and Turkey Reply with quote

this is a question more for you guys who teach 11 and 12 year olds.Well, can they read? 1.2 million 11/12 year olds in the UK are unable to reach basic standards.seems a bit high http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1428369,00.html
Quote:
Schools news
1.2m pupils 'unable to read properly'

Rebecca Smithers, education editor
Wednesday March 2, 2005
The Guardian

More than a million children have been failed by Labour's national literacy strategy, which has left them unable to meet basic standards of English, according to a new report out today which warns that the number unable to read properly could be even higher.

The report from the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank suggests that youngsters who struggle to read and write may vent their frustration in violence and vandalism. It urges the government to rethink the "flawed" strategy.

The right-of-centre CPS said the failure of the literacy strategy had caused appalling misery for 1,188,000 children and their parents and teachers. It urged ministers to set up extensive trials of a scheme based on synthetic phonics, a method of teaching the sounds of letters that has brought better results in Scotland.

Its findings are embarrassing for the government amid increasing scrutiny of its policies designed to raise school standards. In a white paper last week the education secretary, Ruth Kelly, promised a "relentless focus" on the basics in secondary schools.

There remain concerns about the government's failure to meet key targets in reading and writing for 11-year-olds.

The new report - After the Literacy Hour: may the best plan win! - is written by Tom Burkard, who warns that the number of children unable to read properly could be even higher than 1.2 million, with concern among academics about the methodology used for measuring standards.

The shadow education secretary, Tim Collins, said: "This report gives a valuable insight on the extent to which four Labour education secretaries have managed to waste eight years of 1.2 million children's lives."

But a spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "It is ridiculous to suggest that the literacy strategy has failed over a million children. Thanks to rising standards of teaching and learning, over 3.2 million children achieve or exceed the expected level for their age."



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vre



Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 371

PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

if that's the case, it must be very high here in Turkey!
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ghost



Joined: 30 Jan 2003
Posts: 1693
Location: Saudi Arabia

PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reading in Turkey Reply with quote

Quote:
if that's the case, it must be very high here in Turkey!


Most Turks are not book lovers but prefer to read the sensationalist papers which are numerous. This can easily be observed on public transport - one almost never sees a Turk reading a book....but newspapers are enjoyed...especially those with vivid/crude photojournalism....

Some will say the reason Turks don't read books is because they (books) are expensive....but that is not the real reason, because Turks spend plenty of money on other forms of entertainment...like Internet cafe computer games, outings with friends etc....endless cups of cay in Kahveler....so it's not just the question of expenses.

When ghost worked in Eskisehir, he was told not to expect his students from Anadolou University to enjoy reading for its own sake....Anadolou happens to be one of the better Universities in the country, and so one can assume that if these students do not enjoy reading, then the rest of the populace would be in even worse shape.

Turks prefer to talk and communicate with others rather than read books. They are (in general) very sociable, especially with their own.

Many Turks are functionally illiterate, but this does not show up in the statistics, because those people are evaluated differently from the standards common in the modern industrialized world.
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31



Joined: 21 Jan 2005
Posts: 1797

PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 8:33 pm    Post subject: Re: Reading in Turkey Reply with quote

Ghost:

I think you are right but for the wrong reasons. Agreed massive generalisation-Turks don`t read but I think these are some possible reasons:

There aren`t public lending libraries. Ok AKM have libraries but you cannot take books away. Unis have libraries but you cannot take books away.

Bookshops-For a city of what 18 million the good bookshops like Robinson Crusoe etc. cater for foreigners-how do the rest of the country cope?

State education which is still largely rote learning-enough to put you off reading for life.

The Education Ministry textbooks - so old fashioned.

Go to ta Turkish English teachers house-how many books will you find- a few old grammar books and Jane Eyre which he or she had to memorise at uni.

No book tokens or kids book culture.

An apallingly demoralised media where journalists are under scared and under the control and pay of a few govt sponsored media groups.

A legacy that continues in Arab culture today.
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FGT



Joined: 14 Sep 2003
Posts: 762
Location: Turkey

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Add to the above the fact that kids start school at the comparatively late age of 6 or 7 and parents are told in no uncertain words NOT to interrupt the teaching process by introducing their kids to the written word at home first - it must be done by trained teachers. By my reckoning that's approximately three years of vital time in which children of an impressionable age miss out on the possibility of learning to enjoy books - once lost, never to be regained.

By the time a Turkish child is struggling with "Mehmet ve Ayse" or whatever the Turkish equivalent is of "Peter and Jane" (BORING); I was struggling with "The Hobbit" (EXCITING). I know which method I prefer and I also acknowledge that I'm one of the few literate Brits (according to that survey).

Is literacy an absolute? Can some "illiterate" people know and identify letters? If so, Turkish, being a phonetic language, would naturally produce fewer "illiterates" - they would understand the written form of Turkish better than their equivalents in English.
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justme



Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 1944
Location: Istanbul

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 1:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I tend to read during breaks at school or when nothing else is going on, and many students who I thought were literate commented on it like it was a weird thing foreigners do.

Then one guy (Macedonian) asked me if, when I read, I can picture what I'm reading in my head. He said he asks a lot of people this, and has met very few who can. I think if you can't do this, reading would be both difficult and boring. It's just looking at words otherwise.

I've also noticed most Turks move their lips while reading, or even say the words softly. I know we usually use this as an example of a stupid person, but really I think it indicates inexperience with reading, or just not being very good at it, since I think children all start off reading this way...

I agree with ghost-- books are rarely seen. If a student brings one, they all talk about it over all the breaks. Not what the book is about, but the fact that he or she has one and is reading it. And I think cost can't be that much of a factor-- used books and a lot of Turkish press books are dirt cheap (though the quality is pretty bad...).

If they were avid readers, would all newspapers be in full color with a scantily clad woman on the front and back page? And if I can understand newspapers, the level must be pretty low-- 4th to 6th grade perhaps?

Staring kids in school at 7 years old is so sad I'd rather not think about it...
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dmb



Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 1:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Most Turks are not book lovers
That is probably the same in the UK. Maybe not to the same extent.
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