THE EFFECT OF A MIXED-ABILITY CLASS ON ILLITERATE WOMEN

The aim of this paper is to see the reason behind women’s dropping out of literacy programs in Souk Arbaa El Gharb, a town in El Gharb Region. I have collected my data from four mosques, namely Arrahma, Atawba, the Industrial Sector and Alharrata, where illiterate women go to eradicate their ignorance. My job is to bring attention to the drawbacks of a mixed-ability class arising from a mixture of learners – learners of different ages, learners of different levels of educational background and learners of different social status, i.e. mothers, workers and school-age youth. I would like to see whether age, prior schooling or mixed category people are the influencing factors leading women to stop attending literacy courses, despite being dissatisfied with their illiteracy status quo and determination to fight it. The results show that only two factors are at play and exert a powerful influence over the learning process, but age makes no difference to learners. The difference in the women’s level of educational background and motives of learners ’ categories lay behind their dropping out of literacy programs. Key words: adult learners, literacy programs, dropouts, categories of learners, educational backgroun