Colleagues: The discussion of photonovels brought to mind the innovative use
of this approach to teaching literacy used in World War II. Following is an
overview of the literacy programs of World War II and the innovations in
adult literacy education that were introduced, including the first use of a
photonovel approach that I have found.

During World War II the armed services faced the need to utilize hundreds of
thousands of men who were illiterate or poorly literate. Paul Andrew Witty,
with an M.A. (1923) and  Ph. D. (1931) from Columbia University in
Psychology, specialized in understanding the process of learning to read
and in developing methods for helping students who were having difficulties
in learning to read. With this background, he was called upon to serve as an
education officer in the War Department.

In his work for the Army’s Special Training Units for literacy instruction,
Witty directed the production of two major reading programs. One, the most
extensive, was for new recruits entering into the Army with literacy
problems. The second was for soldiers who had missed literacy education
when they first entered the Army and were now getting ready to get
discharged and return home. In these two major programs, Witty introduced
numerous adult literacy education materials which today would be known as
developing "multiple literacies."

Witty's innovations used in the literacy program for new recruits included
the following:

(1) The first film media materials was a 1943 film strip entitled Meet
Private Pete which introduced 40 sight words. In this film strip, soldiers
were introduced to Private Pete, a fictional fellow member of a Special
Training Unit who was also learning reading, writing, and arithmetic. The
idea was that soldier's would be able to identify with Private Pete and
understand what they were reading about him because they shared common
experiences, such as living in the camp, sleeping in the barracks, eating
in the mess hall, and so forth. Witty was apparently the first adult
literacy educator to use this approach of trying to motivate adults
learning to read by providing a fictional counterpart with whom they could
identify.

(2) Witty introduced Army Technical Manual TM 21-500, entitled the "Army
Reader" which provided practice in reading the words used in the film
strip. The Army Reader was divided into four parts, from least to most
difficult, and dealt not only with reading but also writing and arithmetic
for daily camp life and meeting family obligations for insurance,
allotments for spouses, and so forth. In this reader Witty continued the
use of the fictional Private Pete with which the soldier learners could
identify, and he introduced the first systematic approach to assessing
progress in learning to read by the use of pre- and post-unit tests for
each part of the four part manual to determine if the soldier was ready to
progress from one part to the next, more difficult part of the reading
program. This was the first use of a modular, programmed approach to adult
literacy education that I have found.

(3) Witty introduced the first comic strip which appeared in a special
newspaper for soldiers learning to read called Our War. The comic strip
featured Private Pete and a buddy called Daffy in various activities that
presented information about Army duties and were frequently aligned with
major holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Day, Valentine’s
Day and so forth.

In the second major literacy program, this one for soldiers getting
discharged, Witty introduced the first photonovel that I have found for
teaching adults to read. In this approach Witty used real people as models
for Private Pete, Daffy, and other fictional soldiers and took photos of
them engaged in various activities as they prepare to get discharged and as
they travel home. The trip home includes a ride aboard a ship that passes
the Statue of Liberty. One photo shows a group of soldiers passing the
skyline of New York City and  a second shows a group looking at the Statue
of Liberty. One of the soldiers says, "It is hard to tell how I feel.
Everybody has this feeling when he first sees the Statue of Liberty. She
has welcomed many human beings to this country. She has furnished hope for
many men. To some, she stands for justice. To others, she resents freedom
and a kindly feeling for all human beings." In the final pages of the
photonovel Private Pete, now civilian Pete Smith and back home again,
marries his pre-war sweetheart Mary on Christmas day and they build a home
together.

Witty's approach reflected the influence of William S. Gray, one of the
founders of the famous Dick and Jane series for children, which provided a
model for Witty's use of Private Pete in the Army’s literacy programs, and
Arthur I. Gates, a leading reading professor at Columbia University. Both
of these men were advocates of the "meaning emphasis" approach known as the
"word" method. Today this is usually referred to as the "whole language"
approach. In this method students first develop readiness to read by
discussing illustrations from the readers. Then they learn a basic store of
sight words used in the readiness training. Then they move on to simple
sentences made up of the sight words. In this approach, phonics instruction
is postponed until the student can do quite a bit of reading based upon
discussion and whole word recognition training.

Positive Outcomes From the World War II Literacy Education

Among the major outcomes of the teaching of illiterates in World War II was
the demonstration that hundreds of thousands of adults whom many thought
were not capable of learning to read were, in fact, capable of acquiring at
least rudimentary reading ability in a fairly brief time, generally less
than three months.  Furthermore most of them went on to learn and perform
their Army duties in a satisfactory manner.

There are lessons here regarding factors important in teaching reading for
children, adolescents and adults. In World War II the functional nature of
the material, relating as it did to the daily lives and needs of soldiers,
created motivation for learning that may be missed in many instructional
contexts. For reading teachers, the main lesson may be that what makes the
most difference in teaching reading may not be reading methods such as the
so-called "meaning" or "code" methods, but rather  an emphasis upon the
interests of the readers and an understanding of the factors underlying
their desire for learning.

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net