Cell phones, learning and literacy in a South African township

Teaching texting skills and stimulating cell phone use can improve the literacy of a very vulnerable group of people who have had very limited access to education or none at all. Researcher Fie Velghe of Tilburg University has conducted ethnographic field research in the Wesbank township of Cape Town, South Africa, to study the potential of cell phones as an informal, 'alternative' learning environment for underprivileged older women. Learning to use an abc keyboard, for instance, helped them to have more social interaction through texting, and learning to use facebook allowed them to create a new identity.

Read the whole article on Physorg

More from Physorg