On Migration and Illiteracy--Dealing With Texts in L2 Italian Initial-Literacy Classes

Acquiring the language spoken in the host country is crucial for social inclusion of migrants.From this perspective,illiteracy represents a social problem since it has repercussions on second-language acquisition/learning process.In order to investigate the role of illiteracy in L2 Italian acquisition,the paper aims at analyzing the oral productions of L2 Italian learners with equal L1 but a different level of education,i.e.,low educated vs.non-educated.The learners’productions are collected through semi-structured video interviews.From the perspective of the conversational analysis,the interviews are transcribed and studied taking into account also non-verbal aspects of the oral interactions.The learners belong to the specific category of the“unaccompanied foreign minors”.These minors are characterized by a particular sociolinguistic profile as they are often plurilinguals with a low,very low,or zero level of education.The lack of previous schooling limits the competence in languages(including L1)to oral competence alone,and this has repercussions on second-language acquisition and,therefore,on social inclusion.In fact,a certain competence in writing and reading has an important impact on mental processes.The low or zero familiarity with written texts has inevitable consequences in the second-language acquisition process,in terms of lack of meta-textual and meta-linguistic reflection.From the comparison of the interviews,the characteristics of the learners’interlanguages show that the learners deal with the non-inflectional initial phase of the second-language acquisition process:Their linguistic varieties are certainly basic varieties.Actually,data show significant differences in the learners’performance depending on(il)literacy,which is the only parameter differentiating the learners’profile.In particular,literacy,namely a certain,albeit low,level of education and proficiency in writing skills,has positive repercussions on the performance in terms of a greater awareness of verb and verbal categories,greater skill in oral interaction,greater communicative efficacy,greater accuracy and fluency.In addition,as part of communicative competence,textual competence has also important implications both on second-language learning and on improving read-write skills.Within a literacy pathway,working on texts is normally destined to the advanced literacy class.Actually,some specific textual activities can be successfully proposed in the initial literacy class,in order to immediately accustom learners to some types of text.The results of these textual activities are also illustrated.

Women Empowerment in the Arab Region： Between the Anvil of Illiteracy and the Hammer of Passive Representative Bureaucracy

This paper emphasizes on enacting comprehensive mainstreaming institutional mechanisms to promote the role of women in socio-economic development in the Arab region. Sustainable development could never take place unless both the government and civil society are committed towards women empowerment and gender parity to achieve gender mainstreaming. However, cultural legacy, with its socioeconomic and political dimensions, is envisaged as the most challenging impediment. There are three critical areas of concern of substantive nature, which are high rates of women illiteracy, passive representative bureaucracy, as a result of underrepresentation at decision-making levels, as well as gender disparity. To investigate women empowerment challenges in the region, the study first presents the multifaceted hurdle of cultural legacy and identifies the relevant social, economic and political challenges from a multidisciplinary perspective. Thereafter, it looks at two inseparable issues facing women in the Arab region, illiteracy and underrepresentation at decision-making levels. The study, then, indicates the pressing need for policy changes to fill up the massive gender gap existing in the majority of Arab States, where not only a description of gender disparity profile of the Arab region is presented but also a comparative outlook vis-a-vis global trends is highlighted. Finally, the research identifies the indispensible roles of both the government and civil society to address key challenges in synchrony. It does not only call for placing women empowerment among the top priorities on the agenda of policy-makers in setting development plans, but also reiterates the significant role of civil society institutions in the areas of illiteracy eradication, civic education, and women fights advocacy. In this context, a framework of recommended policy actions is presented in an attempt to set effective women empowerment mechanisms to achieve gender mainstreaming and hence contribute to sustainable development.

Efforts to Eliminate Illiteracy

FOLLOWING the Chinese women's emancipation movement, the Chinese women's illiteracy elimination drive has also gone through a history of 50 years. Although this task is a huge and arduous one, due to various historical, economic and ideological reasons, the rate of illiteracy amongst Chinese women has declined from 90 percent immediately after the founding of New China in 1949 to the present level of 23 percent. The rate of girls going to school has risen from 20 percent to 96.8 percent.

102 Women Win Illiteracy Elimination Awards

SHEN Kexin is one of the 102 women who won the Women’s Illiteracy Elimination Award (WIEA) in 1995. Through her unremitting efforts, 326 illiterate women learned to read and write and 44 girls went back to school. The award winners came from different ethnic groups and different walks of life. Thirty local governments and women’s organizations also won the award.

Population Normative Data of the Moroccan Arabic Version of Three Components of the 10/66 Dementia Research Group Cognitive Test Battery;with Moroccan Illiterate and Semi-Illiterate Subjects

The aim of this study was to provide normative data of the Moroccan Arabic version of the 10/66 Dementia Research Group cognitive test battery and to explore the effects of age, education/illiteracy, and gender on the performance of these tests. One hundred healthy subjects (67 illiterates and 33 semi-illiterates) participated in this study. None of the participants had serious medical, psychiatric, or neurological disorders including dementia. The protocol included the administration of three components of the 10/66 Dementia Research Group cognitive test battery;Community Screening Instrument for Dementia (CSI “D”, generating the COGSCORE measure of global function), and the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease (CERAD) verbal fluency (VF), word list memory (WLM, immediate recall) tests. All the test scores were not significantly influenced by sex and age. There was no significant effect of education/illiteracy on the CERAD verbal fluency (VF) and Word List Memory (immediate recall) test scores, but a weakly significant (p < 0.05) effect on the CSI “D” COGSCORE performance. These normative data will be useful for clinical interpretations of the three components of the 10/66 Dementia Research Program protocol in illiterate and semi-illiterate Moroccan subjects with cognitive disorders.

Characteristics of Child Labour and Their Health Problems: Findings from Rural Community of India

Background: Child labour is a big problem. Studies have indicated several problems of child labour. However, few studies have indicated the characteristics of child labour rural India. Objectives: This study has explored characteristics of child labour and their families in the rural community of eastern India and also identified their health problems. Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed to explore their characteristics in purposively selected areas in rural Howrah, India. Frequency table and bar-diagrams were used. Results: The study identified 72% boys and 28% girls as child labour. Majority of the children (67.9%) were labour because they wanted to help their parents. In 8.9% cases, they were forced to work by their parents. In 5.4% cases, they were orphans. Majority of the children were not satisfied (78.6%) with their job place and job status. Conclusions: Child labourers are not satisfied with their job. Their money is used in family. Parents are illiterate. Lack of effective education system and availability of functional schools are both causes and consequences of child labour. Due to illiteracy, working conditions for these children get worse as they are not even aware of the occupational benefits.

Foot Care Knowledge and Practice among Diabetic Patients Attending General Outpatient Clinic in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital

Background: Diabetes Mellitus results in several serious complications and among them foot problem is one of the commonly ignored complications. This study is an attempt to find out the level of patient’s awareness and practice in Nepalese context. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the knowledge and practice of foot care among patients with diabetes in Nepal. Methods: This is a six-month long cross-sectional study done in the General Practice Clinic of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Diabetic patients were given structure questionnaires on knowledge, foot care practices, and demographic information. Results: Illiteracy was found be significantly associated with poor knowledge and practice of foot care. Those who have no education are more likely to have poor knowledge and foot care practice. The odds of having poor knowledge is 6.414 (3.075, 13.379) in those who have no education/primary education compared to those who have education and the odds of poor foot care practice is 4.5180 (2.077, 8.411) in those who have no education/primary education compared to those who have education with significance of Conclusion: This study has highlighted the need of appropriate education intervention for the patients with diabetes who have no education background to prevent from foot complications. Health education materials such as graphics, photos are needed to make them comprehensible for the illiterate patients.