Over the years there have always being a kind of correlation between mass communication, adult literacy programme on radio and rural development. There is advancement in adult literacy programme in Nigeria. The purpose of the implementation of adult literacy programme is to improve rural development. The adult literacy programme kick started via various radio programme.
Mass Communication
Mass Communication is defined as ‘any mechanical device that multiples messages and takes it to a large number of people simultaneously’. Face to face conversation is called interpersonal communication, a college lecture or a public speech will be examples of group communication, when we are involved in thinking process, and it is intra-personal communication. In addition to all these types of communication we also indulge in yet another level of communication when we read newspapers, magazines or books, listen to radio or watch TV. As the message is communicated to a very large number of people or to a mass of people, it is called Mass communication.
See Samples Of Mass Communication Research Projects And Materials
Mass communication is unique and different from interpersonal communication as it is a special kind of communication in which the nature of the audience and the feedback is different from that of interpersonal communication. Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of various means by which individuals and entities relay information to large segments of the population all at once through mass media. Both mass communication and mass media are generally considered synonymous for the sake of convenience. The media through which messages are being transmitted include radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, films, records, tape recorders, video cassette recorders, internet, etc. and require large organizations and electronic devices to put across the message. Mass communication is a special kind of communication in which the nature of the audience and the feedback is different from that of interpersonal communication. Mass communication can also be defined as ‘a process whereby mass produced messages are transmitted to large, anonymous and heterogeneous masses of receivers’. By ‘mass produced’ we mean putting the content or message of mass communication in a form suitable to be distributed to large masses of people. ‘Heterogeneous’ means that the individual members of the mass are from a wide variety of classes of the society. ‘Anonymous’ means the individuals in the mass do not know each other. The source or sender of message in mass communication does not know the individual members of the mass. Also the receivers in mass communication are physically separated from each other and share no physical proximity. Finally, the individual members forming a mass are not united. They have no social organization and no customs and traditions, no established sets of rules, no structure or status role and no established leadership.
Adult Literacy Programme
The adult literacy programme that would ensure functionality has the following components:
 Reading; i.e., ability to read up to a particular grade level;
 Writing; i.e., the ability to write clearly and reasonably in a particular language;
 Mathematics: “Numeracy” or the ability to perform basic mathematical operations needed in daily life.
 English as a second or other language (ESOL):
 The teaching of English speaking, listening, reading and writing skills to those for whom it not a native language.
 Cultural literacy: Familiarity with the background knowledge of the cultural heritage of one’s society.
Adult literacy programme can be categorized into two: basic adult literacy and functional adult literacy programmes. The Basic Adult Literacy Programme is mainly designed to arm or furnish the students with the rudimentary skills of reading, writing and computation through the use of the local languages, especially in the mother tongue. The objective here is to equip the learners with basic skills of communication and understanding of their environment. On the other hand, functional adult literacy programmes combine both the teaching of literacy, numeracy and vocational skills. The objective is to equip recipients with skills and knowledge that could make them employable and useful in other spheres of life on completion of training. For this reason, adult literacy learning programmes should take place in the context of development or livelihood activities. Literacy can best be learned by adults through a highly contextual, even individualised programme in which the literacy learners are engaged in doing their own daily life literacy activities “learning by doing” rather than “learning in preparation for doing”, or… “breaking out of the education silo into …” a “literacy second” model, a programme starting with a developmental activity and including informal literacy learning within it”. This type of adult literacy makes the participants useful to themselves as well as to the larger society. In effect, adult literacy programme should not take a single model, rather it should be diversified. It could be argued that a “one-size-fitsall programme” can be a recipe for failure.
Rural Development
The rural, beyond being defined as that which is not urban, is a contested space from a definitional standpoint. Rural can be taken to mean from or of open areas – those outside cities. Rural has a common strand of meaning with country or countryside but is more frequently encountered with such nomenclature in public policy. Rural, as a word, is also endowed with other sorts of value: it is associated with agriculture and farming and people from outside city areas. Connections are made between people from rural areas and the land itself. While a contrasting relationship might be supposed between rural and urban, more properly, a continuum exists between the two as definitions of rural and agriculture are altered due to the forces of modern living and ultimately bear less resemblance to historical identities. Nevertheless, rural areas have a rich history and identity of their own, even while they share some aspects in common with urban areas. Rural development, for purposes of this entry, encompasses efforts that are economic and social in nature, intended to encourage growth or expansion in areas outside cities. This entry considers rural development from a variety of perspectives, including economic aspects, infrastructure and service considerations, socio-cultural factors, and the role of stakeholders
The Importance Of Adult Literacy Programme To Rural Development
Literacy which involves the skills of teaching, writing, and computing, is the bedrock of any meaningful development of any country. No nation can develop beyond it’s literacy level. The human capital resources of a country can function only within the limit of their literacy level. Illiteracy has been recognized as a world problem that hamper development projects especially in developing countries of Africa of which Nigeria is a part. The high level of illiteracy in Nigeria has been a major source of concern for Nigerian government over the years. The awful illiteracy level in Nigeria especially among the women could have informed the giant stride taken by the president towards the eradication of illiteracy by launching Universal Basic Education (UBE) in 1999. UBE Programme aims at combating illiteracy among children; youths and adults by providing free and compulsory education. There is high level of school enrollment as a result of the introduction of UBE. There has been high level of sensitization among illiterate adults, especially women on the need to enroll in adult literacy classes. However, literacy is not acquired for its own sake. It is a means to an end. For adult literacy programme to be meaningful in the lives of the recipients, it has to be functional. Functionality is the ability to transfer knowledge gained from scholarship to solve ones or societal problems. Functional literacy is an intellectual equipment for the individual to enable him/her become not only literate but perform other tasks that are of benefit to him/her and to the society in which he/she lives. Functional literacy is work-oriented, career, or occupation oriented literacy. Women in Africa countries are generally impoverished, live in servitude and relegated to the background due to illiteracy. Therefore literacy programme for the women should not be limited to just teaching of reading, writing and computing. Adult literacy programme for the women should be functional, treating the women participants in a group context within an environment or occupation with a view to satisfying their collective and individual needs in order to make them functional members of their society
Conclusion
The study delved into the functional impacts of Adult Literacy Programme in the family life, trades, and community development roles of the rural women. It was however concluded that some aspects of family and community life of the rural women have not been positively affected by the programme. The areas include: cookery, family planning, and need for peace in their communities. These are vital issues that need to be tackled through functional literacy in order to create enabling environment for meaningful development in the country. The radio programmes on adult literacy has improve the level of enrollment for adult education programmes in most of the rural areas in Nigeria