As churches in oral-majority contexts grow rapidly, leadership development faces challenges due to limited literacy and the high cost of training. Timothy Strauss examines how TheWell, a WiFi-based media tool, enables low- and non-literate believers to access and facilitate Bible and leadership training. Using an experimental case study with a qualitative approach, his two-phase study demonstrates that effective instructional design and local facilitators empower learners to teach others, showing that technology can bridge educational barriers and expand leadership capacity in high-orality reliant contexts.

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.

ISSN: 3028–1377

We invite scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts alike to contribute to and engage with our content. By fostering an ongoing dialogue about orality, OTJ aims to enrich the understanding and application of orality. Join us in this exciting new venture and be part of a community committed to advancing the study of orality.