Applying Earlier Literacy Research in Iran to Current Literacy Theory and Policy

In this paper, I attempt to bring together approaches toliteracy in theory and in practice, drawing upon variousactivities I have been involved in over the years–research inIranian villages during the 1970s; linking research andtheory to literacy policy, with particular reference to acontribution to the Unesco Global Monitoring Report in2004 and involvement in an ongoing adult literacy trainingprogramme appropriately entitled Learning Empowermentthrough Training in Ethnographic Research (LETTER).IJSCL is interested in publishing original research andreview articles on the relationship between society, culture,and language and in particular ‘linking sound theoreticalapproaches on these fields with visible practical applicationsthat can be used by specialists in anthropology, sociology,linguistics, education, intercultural studies, and policymaking’. I hope that this piece on literacy, with duereference to work in Iran, will fit with that brief.