On Teaching Reading and Writing for Functional Literacy

The teaching of reading and writing can be approached from various angles, and with varying degrees of emphasis. Teaching reading and writing to primary school children is not the same as teaching reading and writing to illiterate adults, minimally literate adults, secondary and college students, and university students. True, certain fundamental principles have to be observed in all these teaching-learning situations but there are basic differences in aims, in ability to learn and so forth, which have to be taken into account. In this article, the teaching of reading and writing will be discussed with particular reference to the achievement of functional literacy