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The pamphlet on ESL programs is available at all times,
provided the display is kept well-stocked. The Directory from the Library Board
is available only in libraries where illiterates are not likely to be. The
catalogues from the boards of education are distributed once a year but are
available all year in libraries. There appear to be few sources of continuously
available, usable information for the undereducated woman even though adult
basic education programs are often provided on a continuous intake basis.
| 6. |
Information which is available tends to vastly over-rate
the reading level of potential |
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users. Sources of information for those who
cannot read at all are virtually non-existent. There are a number of methods
for determining readability level of print material. By these methods, the
material provided in Appendix C average out to a reading level of grade 9. The
surrounding material and the format tends to raise this somewhat. |
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| 7. |
The entire system of information dissemination is made
more difficult by a basic |
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conflict in the styles both sides prefer to use
when communicating. |
In general, the undereducated adult prefers: (1)
- personal information from personal contacts which requires a
labour intensive information service
- information which reflects concrete realities rather than
abstract ideas and which leaves nothing to mind-reading, assumption-making or
guess-work.
- information in their native language or at least in a
symbolic form they have had some experience with.
- information through a media they are familiar with such as
radio or TV.
In general, the service-provider prefers:
- impersonal information which can be delivered in bulk and
without an intensive input of staff time.
- information which sells an idea rather than a specific fact
and which leaves the next step and the interpretation up to the recipient.
- information in the language of the majority and in words
rather than any other symbolic form, and at the reading level of the average
adult rather than at the level of the potential user. The general attitudes are
that "one must never talk down to the recipient" and "symbols are so easy to
misinterpret".
- information through the least expensive medium which reaches
the widest audience (not necessarily an audience of potential users).
(1). Department of Regional Economic Expansion,
Planning Division, Who knows? A report on the Canada Newstart Program.
(Ottawa: Information Canada, 1973) |