Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Journal of Social Work
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nai Ming Tsang
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Orality and Literacy

Their Relevance to Social Work

Nai Ming Tsang

Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong, ssnmtsa{at}polyu.edu.hk

• Summary: This article examines the issue of orality and literacy and reflects critically on their relevance, challenges and opportunities in relation to social work practice and education.

• Findings: The findings from language studies on the effects of literacy on individuals are examined, identifying the significant features of the oral and literate mind-sets. Using these findings, the hiatus between the literate mode of education and oral mode of practice in social work, and its possible effects, are scrutinized. Three types of incompatibility are identified: between clients and social workers; between direct and indirect practice; and between education and practice.

• Applications : Empirical studies can be conducted in education and practice based on the deliberations of this article to test the validity of the assertions and the heuristic tools suggested. Social work educators and practitioners may want to redress the balance between the oral and written modes of communication in curriculum design, methods of assessment and accounting for practice, with due recognition of the orally mediated mode of knowledge construction and dissemination.

Key Words: literacy • orally mediated knowledge • orality • social work education • social work practice

Journal of Social Work, Vol. 7, No. 1, 51-70 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1468017307075989
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?