Methodology and materials in English

The Alphabetter project website describes a methodology for supporting social groups at risk of illiteracy. The document on the website describes the methodology of the interventions, starting from the process of problem operationalization, through social diagnosis, to the preparation of an action strategy tailored to the specific characteristics and needs of a specific target group. The methodology is universal - it can be used by all professionals working with people affected by or threatened by functional illiteracy. Also for this purpose, the document has been translated into five languages, including the leading English version. The proposed solutions will make adult education activities simpler and, above all, more effective. The methodology developed is also tailored to the needs of users from the academic world, allowing for innovative improvements to be made to traditional courses in pedagogy, andragogy, anthropology or sociology.

The impact strategy described in the document is cross-cultural. Already during the joint development of the project proposal, we realised that although the general framework for understanding the phenomenon of functional illiteracy of each partner is broadly similar, our deeper understanding of its nature, causes and counteracting strategies is deeply conditioned by socio-cultural contexts and historical experiences. After all, the aim of the project was to innovatively adapt American achievements in counteracting functional illiteracy to the European context. Therefore, despite the initial diversity of intellectual traditions in the project proposal, we decided to adopt a universal working understanding of the phenomenon of functional illiteracy, which made it possible to start working together: exchanging ideas and creating a work plan for the adaptation of American solutions. Consequently, the first stage of the project team's work, which involved partners from five countries, thus became the agreement of basic assumptions and understandings of the constructs to which the methodology would apply. The process of establishing a common precise operationalisation of the concepts used by the developers of innovative solutions is a standard procedure for joint work, especially if we take into account that the solution is meant to be universal and that people from countries where traditions of combating functional illiteracy are very different from each other are working on it. In the case of the Alphabetter team, this part of the joint work was done during the first two project meetings, which took place in Poland and the USA. During these meetings, it became clear that although the concept of functional and secondary illiteracy appears in all partner countries, the traditions of understanding it, formulating goals and creating policies to counteract it are very different. In order to move on to a meaningful methodology and practical tools that meet modern standards for counteracting the phenomenon, it became necessary to agree on a more precise common framework for understanding what functional and secondary illiteracy is.

Each successive element of the project was worked on in a similar way: we agreed on a common solution in face-to-face meetings, workshops and online working meetings. As a result, the support methodology allows for the simultaneous development of all eight key competences (which is an innovation), in line with the EU Council recommendations on key competences for lifelong learning:

1) In terms of understanding and producing information,

2) on multilingualism,

3) in numerical thinking and in life sciences, technology and engineering,

4) digital,

5) personal, social and learning,

6) Citizens,

7) on entrepreneurship,

8) In terms of cultural awareness and expression.

The methodology is innovative. It goes beyond the usual ways of thinking about the problem of illiteracy. The proposed methodology and its matching tools have the character of a comprehensive tool allowing for post-adaptation application at different stages of adult development and in different social environments. Instead of focusing exclusively on the consequences of functional illiteracy, it allows for effective prevention. Moreover, the tools created are adapted to the real existential conditions of modern society, which consist of progressive networking and a variety of digital technologies. Most of the symbolic communication elements that modern people have access to, for example YouTube videos, social media posts and articles on websites, are no longer 'texts to be read', but include various modes of communication such as videos, images and sound. Modern communication is much more than writing and speech, and literacy is much more than language. For the recipients of our results to master today's world of text, they need much more than the ability to read and write words and sentences. Writing and speech are just two of the many modalities used in modern communication within the symbolic code.

It is noteworthy that in designing the impact methodology, we had the pleasure of collaborating with some of the most prominent American researchers from the University of California, San Diego. This globally renowned centre - located on the US-Mexico border, in a city where the problem of migrants' adaptation and research into their problems and ways of support are particularly developed - organised a series of workshops for Alphabetter project participants, demonstrating exemplary applications of the universal methodology for increasing literacy levels in migrant communities. The experiences of these workshops have been used in the further work of the consortium. It is worth noting, however, that the US partner's proposals were not adopted uncritically or unreflectively by the other consortium participants. The final line of action was adopted as a form of rational compromise between the expectations of the different national teams.

In the adopted solutions, we have explicitly stressed the need to take measures targeting migrants, who are particularly affected by the problem of functional illiteracy. This meant introducing into the methodology high standards of care for cultural and linguistic adaptation of the designed activities, as well as the necessity to cooperate with the communities targeted by a specific adaptation of the developed solution, the so-called "Community-Based Literacy Equity Design Framework", whose principles and procedures for implementation were described in the methodology document (in particular, the involvement of communities and families in the use of the developed interventions). According to the standards of the developed universal methodology, any practical measure aimed at counteracting functional illiteracy should be preceded by careful cultural and linguistic adaptation.

One of the main results of the project activities was the development and testing of methodology. It can be use by educators to provide more attractive and more effective classes and to improve the quality of adult education. The materials developed by AlphaBetter team were included in the process of educating the staff of institutions participating in the project and added to the pedagogical studies program at WSB University.

To see an explanation of the American approach to methodology, click here

To see an explanation of the development of the methodology in the project, click here.

Based on Alphabetter cooperation two scientific articles were published:

RESEARCH ARTICLE

1. Attending to cross-border sociocultural competence in bilingual programs in the Polish-Czech border region: An exploratory study
2. Dimensions of bilingual education program implementation in schools serving linguistically minoritized students in the Czech-Polish border region