by Danyal Qalb
Foreword by Tom Steffen

ISBN: 978-621-96888-5-7

This book explores how the Maguindanao perceive their reliance on orality and how this shapes their worldview and identity. Using ethnographic grounded theory, Danyal gathered stories, dialogues, and reflections through interviews and narrative-based focus groups. The findings reveal a tension between secular education, the striving for economic progress, and religious life, where oral traditions remain strong. Out of this dynamic emerges the Orality Education Grid (OEG), a framework for understanding orality reliance across both secular and religious education. The study highlights how high-orality-reliant ways of learning continue to shape thought, belief, and community life, offering insights for educators, spiritual leaders, and cross-cultural communicators.

by Larry Dinkins

ISBN: 978-621-96888-4-0

Fifty years ago, Bruce Wilkinson saw the need for a chronological approach to teaching the Bible, which would, at a local church level, unleash the communicative power of biblical narrative. He designed his seminars using a variety of creative methods, including hand signs, geography laid out in the room, slides, and a colorful manual. Others recognized the cross-cultural potential of this unique approach, which enabled WTB materials to be translated into numerous languages worldwide. What was lacking, however, was proper research, which could unpack and explain just how WTB achieved its global success. Over a seven-year process, both quantitative and qualitative instruments were used to analyze the Old Testament WTB seminar within the Thai context. This dissertation’s design is to discern how a culturally specific Western teaching method could be adapted to the learning styles and oral views of the Thai.

by Jennifer W. Belcher
Foreword by R. Daniel Shaw

ISBN: 978-621-96888-2-6

This book is an adaptation of my doctoral dissertation, the purpose of which was to research the Logic of Retribution and the response to teachings about biblical forgiveness after the implementation of Story-Based Trauma Healing (SBTH) lesson seven, How Can We Forgive Others in the Wore people group of the Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). In PNG, there exists a cultural norm of paying back offenses. Though the Wore have a system in place for bringing about peace when a grievance has occurred, after implementation of the SBTH course, the Wore reasoned that their cultural road to peace lacked a personal encounter with Jesus and true forgiveness.

This research investigates instructional narrative interventions for transformative learning among high orality reliant peoples. Two research questions asked: “Does an oral strategy of radio drama in a participatory environment lead to significant changes in knowledge and beliefs,” with a hypothesis stating there would be significant positive changes; and “When listeners experience narrative transport can it affect receptivity leading to knowledge and belief change,” and the hypothesis stated that narrative transport would correlate to higher positive responses. The mixed methods design analyzed personal experiences and survey responses of treatment group and control groups. Quantitatively I assessed a treatment group using a matched pre/posttest survey related to learning goals and the Transportation Imagery Survey. The qualitative data was gathered in focus groups and personal interviews. The findings showed a significant change in treatment group in knowledge and beliefs (40%). The treatment group also scored 74% correct answers in contrast to the posttest only survey control group of 56%. The additional modified Transportation Imagery Survey (TMS) assessed the treatment group’s level of transport into the narrative (6.1/7) and a positive correlation (.65) to the change in answers for the posttest. The study presents relevant considerations for instructional communication designers and professionals serving higher orality reliant audiences and the power of participatory narrative instruction constructing healthier knowledge and beliefs.

by L. Lynn Thigpen

Foreword by Tom Steffen

How does the world’s oral majority–adults with limited formal education (ALFE)–really prefer to learn? Few pause long enough to ask those who eschew print. The result of scholarly research and prolonged immersion in the Cambodian culture, Connected Learning exposes the truth about orality–the shame associated with limited formal education; the unfortunate misnomer that is orality; the place of spirituality, grace, and hope; and the obvious but overlooked learning preferences. ALFE have different ways of learning and knowing, a different epistemology and culture from print learners, even though we all begin alike. The choice is not between Ong’s orality or literacy, but between learning from people or from print. Dr. Thigpen, a veteran cross-cultural worker, shares remedies for the hegemony and inequities unwittingly fostered by the literate minority. In a dominant culture where learning from people is prime, how can educators with a preference for print adapt? Providing an important tool in the Learning Quadrants diagram, Connected Learning advises teaching to the quadrant and calls for seven necessary shifts in teaching. Anyone versed in orality will admit these findings have “global implications and applications” (Steffen). The reader who heeds will positively impact a huge portion of humanity.