Improving literacy skills at the Opportunity Centre

Abstract

This study attempts to provide another opportunity for eleven year old students who still encounter severe difficulties in the development of literacy skills, despite the instruction provided during the primary school years. The first two chapters investigate how the process of spoken language acquisition is related to literacy development, while chapter two defines literacy and discusses its implications in relation to the individual and society. The third chapter presents the reader with a description of the normal process of reading acquisition and the teaching methods used to develop reading skills. It also investigates some possible causes of reading failure and reviews a number of methods and programmes for children with specific learning by leading experts in the, field. Chapter four explains the procedure of selection of a group of participants from the opportunity centre. The final chapter provides curriculum material we used in the implementation of the Literacy Improvement Programme, followed by an evaluation and the results obtained by the participants.