Lesotho’s educational system and development are largely influenced by missionaries and colonisers who taught the three ‘Rs’ (reading, writing and numeracy skills) to the Basotho. Most of those enlightened Basotho were to carry on the duties of either educating others or as missionary workers. Some became clerks, interpreters, police officers, nurses and Sunday school teachers. This article is an account of a functionally literate Mosotho male adult learner who was herding livestock and taught himself reading and writing skills. In his narrative, Hlalefang (not his real name) compares literacy to money and a watch or a clock. He further expresses how people like him have managed to muster some basic and restructure the cognitive and oral history and archival memories, through intuitiveness. The story is based on the work of Paulo Freire where culture influences the discourse of literacy. A qualitative narrative story-telling approach was used to relate Hlalefang’s lived-experiences as he navigated his ways and challenges using orality acquired through various life encounters. This inspirational cultural narrative demonstrates that culture and social uses are imperatives in functional literacy. The article challenges those in adult education, literacy, development practitioners and policy-makers to consider some aspects of culture and to be innovative in their approaches to multi-literacies.

中文翻译：

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口头和功能素养的文化和社会用途：叙事方法

莱索托的教育体系和发展在很大程度上受到传教士和殖民者的影响，他们向巴索托人传授了三个“ R”（阅读，写作和计算能力）。那些开明的巴索托人大多数将承担教育他人或作为传教士的职责。一些人成为文员，口译员，警官，护士和主日学校的老师。本文介绍的是一位具有功能素养的Mosotho男性成年学习者，他正在放牧牲畜并自学阅读和写作技巧。在他的叙述中，Hlalefang（不是他的真名）将识字与金钱，手表或钟表进行了比较。他进一步表达了像他这样的人如何通过直觉召集一些基本知识，并重新构造认知和口述历史以及档案记忆。这个故事是基于保罗·弗莱雷（Paulo Freire）的作品，其中文化影响着读写能力。Hlalefang使用定性叙事的故事讲述方法，通过使用各种生活经历中获得的口述来导航自己的方式和挑战，从而将他的生活经历联系起来。这种鼓舞人心的文化叙事表明，文化和社会用途是功能素养的当务之急。本文对成人教育，识字，发展从业人员和政策制定者提出了挑战，要求他们考虑文化的某些方面，并在创新多元文化方法方面进行创新。这种鼓舞人心的文化叙事表明，文化和社会用途是功能素养的当务之急。本文对成人教育，识字，发展从业人员和政策制定者提出了挑战，要求他们考虑文化的某些方面，并在创新多元文化方法方面进行创新。这种鼓舞人心的文化叙事表明，文化和社会用途是功能素养的当务之急。本文对成人教育，识字，发展从业人员和政策制定者提出了挑战，要求他们考虑文化的某些方面，并在创新多元文化方法方面进行创新。