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Differences between Literate and Oral Learning
From SPARK
When working with cultures that are not based around written words, it's important to keep in mind how they process information. Their processing is vastly different from that of Western missionaries.
| Book Cultures | Oral Cultures |
|---|---|
| 1. Learn by reading, studying, examining, classifying, comparing, and analyzing. | 1. Learn by observing, imitating, listening, repeating and memorizing. They learn through proverbs, saying, stories, songs and expressions. |
| 2. Think and talk about concepts and principles. | 2. Think and talk about events. |
| 3. Manage knowledge in abstract, complicated, scientific categories. | 3. Use stories of human action to store, organize and communicate information. |
| 4. Seek to discover new information. | 4. Value and learn information handed down from the past. |
| 5. Value innovative solutions. | 5. Value traditional solutions. |
| 6. Understand things abstractly like the pieces of a puzzle. | 6. Understand things in their context and according to the people involved. |
| 7. See things in parts. | 7. See things as a whole, in their totality. |
| 8. Ask and answer direct questions. | 8. Avoid asking and answering direct questions. |
| 9. Feel the need to define words and concepts. | 9. Are uninterested in definitions since the context brings the meaning. |
| 10. Do not like repetition since material missed can be reread. | 10. Appreciate repetition in case something was missed the first time. |
| 11. Like brevity (few words can say much). | 11. Like to use lots of words (many words to say little). |
| 12. Use charts, diagrams, and lists to explain the message. | 12. Use symbols and stories to explain a message. |
| 13. Learn and retain knowledge as general principles. | 13. Learn and retain knowledge in relation to real and imagined events of life. |
| 14. Make lists but recite few genealogies. | 14. May recite genealogies but make few lists. |
| 15. Speak and write about their own feelings. | 15. Think and talk about people and events they know. |
| 16. Arrive at conclusions by logic. | 16. Make decisions based on experience. |
| 17. Organize the sermon or oratory with a logical progression of thoughts. | 17. Illustrate sermons, exhortations and oratory with events. |
| 18. Tend to communicate one-to-one. | 18. Tend to communicate in groups. |
| 19. Learn mostly alone. | 19. Learn mostly in interaction with other people. |
| 20. Can think about something for a long time while making notes about it. | 20. Cannot think about something very long without dialogue. |
Table material is from Ong, Brown, and Lovejoy.
Entered by SPARK Staff (mkb), January 26, 2009
