International Journal of Multilingualism

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Adult literacy education in Timor-Leste:

multilayered multilingualism

Danielle Boon & Jeanne Kurvers

To cite this article: Danielle Boon & Jeanne Kurvers (2015) Adult literacy education in Timor-
Leste: multilayered multilingualism, International Journal of Multilingualism, 12:2, 225-240, DOI:
10.1080/14790718.2015.1009376

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2015.1009376

Published online: 16 Feb 2015.

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International Journal of Multilingualism, 2015
Vol. 12, No. 2, 225–240, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2015.1009376

Adult literacy education in Timor-Leste: multilayered multilingualism

Danielle Boon* and Jeanne Kurvers

Department of Culture Studies, Tilburg School of Humanities, Tilburg University, Tilburg,

the Netherlands
(Received 31 December 2013; accepted 3 July 2014)

This article reports on multilingualism in adult literacy education in Timor-Leste and

explores how choices made at the formal level of national language policy are dealt with
at the operational level of adult literacy education. The 2002 constitution of Timor-Leste
declares Portuguese and Tetum as the official languages. It recognises the need for
regional languages to be valued and developed by the state and proclaims Indonesian and
English as working languages. The national language-in-education policy is mainly
concerned with Portuguese and Tetum. A broad study of 100 teachers and about 750
learners, and an in-depth study in 20 classes, revealed the interplay between the official
language and language-in-education policy and the country’s complex multilingual
setting in adult literacy education. Tetum was the target language in literacy programmes,
but the (broad) study found no clear differences in beginning literacy skills (the reading
and writing of words) between learners with and without proficiency in Tetum. The
studies revealed the strong position of Tetum and the educational importance of regional
languages, and both findings are mirrored in more recent versions of the language-in-
education policy. The studies also revealed the more limited occurrence of Portuguese in
both teachers’ and learners’ language proficiency and day-to-day use, as well as in adult
literacy education.
Keywords: adult literacy education; multilingualism; Timor-Leste; language policy;
reading and writing acquisition

Introduction
Language-in-education policy is important in any multilingual nation that has won
independence after years. This paper analyses the interrelationships between language-in-
education policy as an ideal, and the reality of adult literacy education in the young,
multilingual nation of Timor-Leste.

Language planning and language use in multilingual contexts

As noted by Spolsky (2004), how languages are used might be different from how people
think they should be used and/or how authorities planned their use. Ricento and
Hornberger (1996) called for research that foregrounds the agency of language education
practitioners in deciding how to deal with language policies and throws light on the
complexity of language planning and policy processes. In adult education in multilingual
contexts, this complexity may imply that teachers have to teach using a language they are

*Corresponding author. Email: D.A.B.Boon@uvt.nl

© 2015 Taylor & Francis

226 D. Boon and J. Kurvers

not (yet) comfortable with, and learners have to learn to read and write using a language
in which they are not (yet) proficient.
Research on multilingual talk in classrooms where a former colonial language was
employed as the medium of schooling reveals how teachers and learners had to navigate
the constraints of particular language policies (Arthur, 2001; Hornberger, 1988; Lin,
1996). In her study on code switching in primary schools in Botswana, Arthur (2001)
used the terms ‘onstage’ and ‘backstage’ language to capture the dynamics involved in
the teachers’ use of English and Setswana. Onstage refers to the prestigious language that
students are required to use in class, backstage to the language(s) the students are familiar
with, but officially are not allowed to use at school. In more recent empirical work in
multilingual settings, the focus is shifting away from code switching in classroom talk to
‘polylanguaging’ (Jørgensen, Karrebæk, Madsen, & Møller, 2011), to foreground the
fluid and dynamic ways in which linguistic resources are employed in multilingual
settings. Following Martin-Jones and Jones (2000), we use the term ‘multilingual’ here to
signal the multiplicity of repertoires and communicative purposes represented among the
participants in the studies we discuss in this paper.

Adult literacy acquisition in multilingual contexts

Literacy acquisition in a multilingual setting often implies learning to read and write in a
second language (or third; a language other than one’s first). Most studies on beginning
literacy have investigated children learning to read in their native language (Van de
Craats, Kurvers, & Young-Scholten, 2006; Wagner, 1999), but research on adults learning
to read for the first time in a second language is growing. Adult learners learning to read
and write in a second language were found to progress slowly, but seem to pass through
more or less the same phases as children when learning to read and write in an alphabetic
script (Kurvers, 2007; Kurvers & Ketelaars, 2011; Kurvers & Van der Zouw, 1990).
Accessing the written code was found to be more complex for adult second-language
learners, since building phonological knowledge and phonemic awareness is more
difficult in a language unfamiliar to them, and lack of vocabulary complicates the
learners’ ability to use feedback from their own lexicon in word recognition
(Share, 1995).
A number of factors have been found to facilitate success in beginning reading by
migrant learners in western countries. These are the learners’ proficiency in the language
in which they are learning to read, use of the learner’s first language as an instructional
aide in class, their rate of attendance at classes and the teacher’s ability to make
connections between class and the outside world (Condelli, Spruck Wrigley, Yoon,
Seburn, & Cronen, 2003; Condelli & Spruck Wrigley, 2006; Kurvers & Stockmann,
2009; Kurvers, Stockmann, & Van de Craats, 2010). These studies also revealed that
adult learners who had attended (a few years of) primary school were more successful in
learning to read and write than unschooled adults, and younger students more than older
ones. These studies, however, were carried out in highly literate environments in host
countries with highly educated teachers and ample resources for teachers and learners. In
developing countries like Timor-Leste, literacy teachers are generally not highly trained
and much of their work is in rural areas with considerable poverty and limited access to
printed and written materials (Boon, 2014a, 2014b; Taylor-Leech, 2009).
 International Journal of Multilingualism 227

The language situation in Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste, a developing country in Southeast Asia, gained independence in 2002. It
had been a Portuguese colony for hundreds of years until 1975 and was then occupied by
Indonesia until 1999. The country’s 2002 constitution (RDTL, 2002a) reflects its
multilingual context: Tetum and Portuguese are the official languages, the regional1
languages are valued and developed by the state and Indonesian and English are accepted
as working languages. Views differ on the number of regional languages spoken in
Timor-Leste. Lewis, Simons, and Fennig (2013), for example, identify 19 living
languages; Hull (2003) lists 16 languages (12 from the Austronesian language group
and 4 from the Papuan) and a number of dialects. It is reported that of the population of
almost 1.1 million (DNE, 2011a, 2011b), the majority understand and speak Tetum, often
as a second language, and a minority understand and speak Portuguese (Hajek, 2000;
Taylor-Leech, 2009). In recent years, the number of Portuguese speakers is growing.
Indonesian is mainly spoken by those who went to school during the 24 years of
Indonesian occupation. English is spoken more and more, since people from international
institutions and donor countries have become involved in development work in this
nation.
During the Portuguese colonial period, the language of education was Portuguese, and
during the Indonesian occupation it was Indonesian, although private church-run schools
insisted on using Tetum (Boughton, 2011). Since 2002, the Timor-Leste government has
made several changes to national policy on the use of languages in formal education,
mainly concerning the proportion of time devoted to Tetum and Portuguese as languages
of instruction. In the 2004 Education Policy, for instance, ‘implementation of Portuguese’
would ‘have precedence’, and Tetum was to be used as ‘a pedagogic aide’; in later
policies, use of Tetum was given greater emphasis (Quinn, 2013, p. 182). Since 2008, the
use of regional languages or ‘mother tongues’ alongside Tetum and Portuguese in
teaching literacy and curricular content in pre-primary and early primary education has
been considered (Cabral, 2013; Taylor-Leech, 2013). In 2011, the Ministry of Education
launched new policy guidelines on this topic (Ministry of Education, 2011a) and
announced a pilot project that is currently being evaluated.
Adult literacy education, however, is referred to in rather general terms in policy
documents. Mostly there is no mention of the target literacy language. For example,
Timor-Leste’s 2002 National Development Plan stated that ‘people will be literate,
knowledgeable and skilled’ (RDTL, 2002b, p. xviii). The country’s Strategic Develop-
ment Plan 2011–2030 speaks of reducing illiteracy in all age groups of the population
(RDTL, 2011, pp. 26, 39), and the National Education Strategic Plan 2011–2030
mentions the 2015 goal of eradicating illiteracy in all age groups so that ‘all Timorese are
literate’ (Ministry of Education, 2011b, p. 115).
The country’s adult (15 years and above) literacy rates are low: 58.3% according to
the Human Development Index 2013 (UNDP, 2013, p. 172) and 57.8% according to
Timor-Leste’s 2010 Population Census (men 63.1%, women 52.5%; NSD & UNFPA,
2012, p. 44). Timor-Leste has experience with adult literacy education since at least 1974,
when a literacy campaign in Tetum was initiated by FRETILIN2 (Cabral & Martin-Jones,
2008). After the 1974 Indonesian invasion on the heels of Portuguese colonial rule, this
campaign was continued underground. During the Indonesian occupation (1975–1999),
the Indonesian government provided adult literacy education in Indonesian. Local
nongovernmental organisations (e.g. the women’s organisation GFFTL3; see Da Silva,
2012) have provided adult literacy programmes in a number of districts, sometimes in
228 D. Boon and J. Kurvers

collaboration with international organisations. Since 2000, Timor-Leste’s Ministry of

Education has provided several adult literacy programmes on a national scale with various
development partners. Recent (post-independence) adult literacy programmes in Timor-
Leste have been described in several recent studies (Boughton, 2010a; Boughton &
Durnan, 2007; Taylor-Leech, 2009; Boon, 2011, 2014b).

Adult literacy programmes in Timor-Leste and research questions

For the studies reported in this paper, data were collected through visits to classes in three
literacy programmes provided by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with several
partners. The 3-month Los Hau Bele (‘Yes I Can’) programme was part of Timor-Leste’s
national adult literacy campaign in 2007–2012, provided in collaboration with Cuban
advisers. It was based on the Yo sí puedo programme developed in Cuba in the late 1990s,
which is currently being used in many countries (Boughton, 2010b). The programme
initially used was a (Brazilian-) Portuguese version (Sim Eu Posso) but since learners and
teachers in Timor-Leste were unable to work effectively with the Portuguese materials,
the materials were redeveloped in Tetum. The Tetum version became available in autumn
2008 and was used at almost all sites by mid-20094 until the programme ended in
late 2012.
Since 2007 the Ministry of Education has also provided a 1-year national adult
literacy programme, consisting of the 6-month Hakat ba Oin (‘Step Forward’)
programme for beginners and the 6-month Iha Dalan (‘On the Way’) programme for
advanced learners. Both use manuals in Tetum, developed and implemented with support
from UNDP5 and UNICEF. At the Ministry’s request, all materials were also made
available in Portuguese (programme titles: Passo em Frente and A Caminho). So far the
Tetum versions have been used most widely in all 13 districts, with the Portuguese
version used occasionally in recent years. In collaboration with the Secretary of State for
Professional Training and Employment, literacy and numeracy programmes were
provided in 2009–2011 within the framework of the Youth Employment Promotion
(YEP) programme. The 4-month YEP programmes used compact versions of the above-
mentioned Hakat ba Oin and Iha Dalan manuals in Tetum6 and did not make available
any materials in Portuguese. During the 2009–2011 period in which the data collection
was carried out, all programmes were conducted mainly using the Tetum version.
The two studies we discuss in this paper investigated the relationship between
language-in-education policy as an ideal and the reality of adult literacy education in
multilingual Timor-Leste. Three key research questions were formulated to guide this
investigation:
(1) How multilingual are teachers and learners in adult literacy education in Timor-
Leste?
(2) What is the impact of proficiency in Tetum on initial literacy skills (compared to
other potential factors of influence)?
(3) How is multilingualism reflected in literacy teaching and classroom interaction?

The studies were part of a larger research project: ‘Becoming a nation of readers in
Timor-Leste: Language policy and adult literacy development in a multilingual context’
(De Araujo e Corte-Real & Kroon, 2012).7
 International Journal of Multilingualism 229

Methods
Two studies, one broad and one in-depth, were conducted in the three adult literacy
programmes mentioned above. The broad study investigated the first and second research
questions through visits to 73 adult literacy groups in eight districts. Here the focus was
initial literacy skills of the adult learners and the learner and educational variables that
might be influential in this multilingual context. The in-depth study investigated the third
research question through visits to 12 literacy groups in seven districts, observing 20
classes and interviewing teachers, learners and coordinators.

Broad study
Participants in the broad study were 100 teachers and 756 learners in the 73 literacy
groups.8 Of the 100 teachers, 54% were women. The teachers’ mean age was 33.80 years
(SD 10.74), ranging from 19 to 66 years, and they averaged 10.65 years (SD 2.33) of
education. Most lacked teaching experience; only 25% had more than 1 year experience
as an adult literacy teacher. Of the 756 learners, 68% were women. The learners’ mean
age was 37.83 years (SD 15.33), ranging from 15 to 78 years. The majority (69.4%) never
had gone to school as children and most (85%) had never attended an adult literacy
course before.
Instruments used in the broad study included a teacher questionnaire and four reading
and writing tasks for learners, all in Tetum. The written questionnaire for the teachers
comprised 34 questions to elicit the following information9:
. their education and language background,
. their language use in the classroom and in other domains,
. their work experience and training,
. the teaching circumstances in adult literacy education (e.g. availability of a
classroom, electricity, chairs, tables, blackboard, enough notebooks, pencils), and
. the languages they preferred for literacy education.

The reading and writing tasks for the learners were developed to mirror instructional and
learning practices in all three programmes. They focused on crucial elements in the
process of gaining access to the written code, namely, grapheme recognition, word
reading, word writing and filling out a basic form. For the grapheme recognition task,
each learner was given a page with 30 graphemes and was asked to name the graphemes
he/she could recognise. The grapheme score was the number of graphemes the learner
identified correctly. For the word reading task, each learner was given a list of 80 Tetum
words and was asked to read aloud the words over 3 minutes, which was audio recorded.
The reading score was the number of words the learner correctly decoded in 3 minutes.
For the form completion task, each learner was asked to write down some personal data,
e.g. their name and date of birth, name of their district and their signature. The form
completion score was the number of correctly filled in blanks (ranging from 0 to 10). For
the word writing task, the learners were asked to write down 10 words that were read
aloud, one by one. The writing score was the number of words the learner wrote correctly.
All data were entered in an SPSS data file. Descriptive statistics were used to present
the background data of teachers and learners. To investigate the impact of learner and
educational variables, a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted.
230 D. Boon and J. Kurvers

In-depth study
To investigate the third research question, namely ‘How is multilingualism reflected in
literacy teaching and classroom interaction?’, an in-depth study was carried out in 12
literacy groups in seven districts. Twenty lessons were observed and learners, teachers
and (sub)district coordinators were interviewed. During the class observations, instruc-
tional practices and classroom interaction were audio recorded, field notes were taken and
still photography was used to capture literacy events like texts written on the blackboard
and the layout of the class. An observation checklist was used to make sure all aspects of
the classes visited would be described, such as teaching practices, languages used in
classroom interaction, time allocated to different subjects, available resources and number
of learners attending. After observing classes, 25 interviews were conducted: 9 with
learner groups, 10 with teachers and 6 with (sub)district coordinators. The interviews with
learner groups were conducted in Tetum and the regional languages, with help from local
interpreters (often the teachers and coordinators present). The interviews with teachers
and coordinators were conducted in Tetum and Portuguese. They were semi-structured
oral interviews, guided by interview guidelines that varied according to the interviewees’
specific activities and roles. Topics relevant to each group included the following: (1) for
the learner groups, their reasons for participating in literacy education and their further
learning needs; (2) for the teachers, their ideas on teaching literacy and on language use
in class; and (3) for the coordinators, their responsibilities and challenges in coordinating
literacy programmes in their (sub)districts. Language uses and preferences were discussed
in all interviews.

Results
This section presents and discusses study results relating to the three research questions.
First we describe multilingualism of teachers and learners in adult literacy education in
Timor-Leste (question 1). Second we investigate the impact of proficiency in Tetum on
adult learners’ development of literacy skills (question 2). Third we show how
multilingualism is reflected in literacy teaching and classroom interaction (question 3).

Linguistic repertoires of teachers and learners

All teachers involved in the broad study (N = 100) and the in-depth study (N = 10) were
asked in a questionnaire about their language knowledge, use and attitudes. Table 1
presents the outcomes on teachers’ self-reported language proficiency and the order in
which they said they learned the languages.
All teachers reported to be multilingual; all said they had a first and second language
and nearly all said they had a third language. Most (82.7%) said they had a fourth

Table 1. Teachers’ answers about their language proficiency (percentages; N = 110).

Regional language Tetum Portuguese Indonesian English Total

First language 80.0 20.0 – – – 100

Second language 6.3 70.0 6.4 17.3 – 100
Third language 4.5 10.0 25.5 55.5 0.9 96.4
Fourth language 1.8 1.8 53.6 20.0 5.5 82.7
Fifth language 0.9 – 3.6 0.9 20.9 26.4
 International Journal of Multilingualism 231

Table 2. Teachers’ answers about their language use in daily life (percentages; N = 110)

Tetum and
Regional regional Other
language Tetum language Portuguese Indonesian combinations Total

Parents 49.1 21.8 28.2 – – 0.9 100

Spouse* 30.0 27.3 19.1 – – 2.7 79.1
Offspring* 12.7 47.3 23.6 – – 4.5 88.1
Family 14.5 33.6 49.9 – – 1.8 100
Neighbours 24.5 33.6 40.9 – – 0.9 100
Friends 11.8 41.8 28.1 – – 18.1 100
Market 4.5 60.9 26.3 – – 8.1 100
District 0.9 93.6 0.9 – – 4.5 100
administration
Government 0.9 85.4 – 2.7 – 10.9 100
Church – 92.7 3.6 – – 3.6 100
*Not applicable for some of the teachers.

language and about a quarter even said they had a fifth language. A large majority (80%)
claimed a regional language as their first language, and a smaller majority (70%) claimed
Tetum as their second language. Over half (55.5%) said they learned Indonesian as a third
language, and slightly fewer (53.6%) claimed Portuguese as a fourth language. Of the
26.4% who said they had a fifth language, for nearly all it was English. Table 2 shows
which languages the literacy teachers said they used in various domains in their daily
lives.
Table 2 shows high percentages of Tetum use across most domains (social and more
institutional). It also shows high percentages of regional language use at home with
parents and partners, while with offspring, regional languages are used less and Tetum is
used more. In communication with family and neighbours, high percentages said they
used a combination of Tetum and regional languages. Notable here is the absence of both
Portuguese and Indonesian as the only language used in any domain, suggesting both
these languages are used mostly in combination with other languages. Some teachers said
they used Portuguese and/or Indonesian in combination with Tetum and/or regional
languages, for example when communicating with government workers (combinations
including Portuguese) or with friends (mainly combinations including Indonesian, and
only occasionally including Portuguese).
When the teachers were asked what languages they preferred for literacy education,
73% said Tetum only, 13% said Tetum and Portuguese and 9% said Tetum and their
regional language. When they were asked what language they thought their students
preferred for literacy education, the answers were almost identical (74% said Tetum only,
13% said Tetum and Portuguese, and 9% said Tetum and their regional language). On
what languages the teachers used during the literacy classes, 56% said Tetum in
combination with the regional language, 26% said Tetum only, 14% mentioned
combinations of three or four languages (besides Tetum also the regional language,
Indonesian and/or Portuguese) and only 3% said Tetum and Portuguese.
The language background of the learners reveals a slightly different picture, as shown
in Table 3 presenting the outcomes on learners’ self-reported language proficiency and
order in which they learned the languages.
Of the 756 adult learners who participated in the broad study, the majority (77.8%)
said they knew more than one language; the 22.2% who said they knew only one
232 D. Boon and J. Kurvers

Table 3. Learners’ answers about their language proficiency (percentages; N = 756).

Regional language Tetum Portuguese Indonesian English Total

First language 87.7 12.3 – – – 100.0

Second language 4.4 70.3 0.9 2.0 – 77.8
Third language 1.9 2.9 5.0 17.3 – 27.2
Fourth language 0.5 0.1 2.9 2.1 0.1 5.8

language were mainly from the enclave Oecusse and remote areas of Baucau district. Of
all learners, 12.3% said Tetum was their first language; the remaining 87.7% said a
regional language was their first language. Of the 77.8% of learners who knew more than
one language, a large majority (90.4%) reported Tetum as their second language. Of all
756 learners, 27.2% reported a third language, mainly Indonesian. Very few claimed
knowledge of Portuguese.
A first conclusion is that the majority of both learners and teachers have a regional
language as their first and Tetum as their second language. In general, teachers and
learners shared knowledge of the same regional languages, since most teachers are from
the same region as their learners. But the linguistic repertoires, measured by the number
of languages known, differ for the two groups: nearly all teachers knew at least three
languages (and many four), while the majority of the learners were bilingual and 22%
monolingual. A second conclusion is that besides Tetum, the regional languages play a
much more important role than Portuguese in the language knowledge and use of both
teachers and learners. In the next sections, we explore how this relates to the building of
reading and writing skills and classroom interaction in adult literacy education.

Literacy skills
The 756 adult learners who participated in the reading and writing tasks of the broad
study included people with prior education in primary school or in previous literacy
courses. In this section, we focus on the group of learners with no elementary school
education and who have never attended adult literacy courses (N = 436). These are the
learners for whom the literacy programmes Los Hau Bele, Hakat ba Oin and YEP were
intended. These learners ranged in age from 15 to 76 years, with an average age of
41 years. Their length of attendance in the course ranged from less than 1 month to
15 months or from a few hours to more than 700 hours, and averaged about 3.5 months.
The proportion of non-Tetum speakers in this group (25%) is higher than in the larger
group (17%). The proportion of Tetum speakers did not differ significantly for the various
literacy programmes attended (χ2 = 5.55, p = .06), but the groups did differ in learners’
average age and the average number of hours they had attended the course (p < .05). In
the statistical comparison of Tetum- and non-Tetum speakers, we therefore control for
these variables. Table 4 presents the results of the reading and writing tasks, by
proficiency in Tetum.
Of the 30 graphemes in the grapheme task, the learners on average (see column
‘Total’) recognised 13 graphemes, ranging from 0 (14% of the learners) to all graphemes
(2%). Of the 80 words in the word reading task, the learners on average read correctly
11 words within 3 minutes, ranging from no words (59% of the learners) to all words
(1%). On the basic form, learners on average filled in correctly around three items
(mostly including their name and signature), ranging from 0 (17% of the learners) to the
 International Journal of Multilingualism 233

Table 4. Average scores on beginning literacy skills (N = 436), by proficiency in the language of
instruction and literacy, Tetum.

Total Non-Tetum speakers Tetum speakers

(N = 436) (N = 108) (N = 328)

Grapheme recognition Mean 13.01 11.03 13.95

SD 9.50 10.11 9.21
Range 0–30 0–29 0–30
Word reading Mean 10.67 11.07 10.60
SD 20.62 21.00 20.53
Range 0–80 0–80 0–80
Form filling Mean 3.34 3.43 3.39
SD 3.03 3.29 2.98
Range 0–10 0–10 0–10
Word writing Mean 2.85 2.50 3.05
SD 3.27 3.22 3.32
Range 0–10 0–10 0–10

maximum of 10 (3%). The average number of words written correctly in the writing task
for the whole group was around three, ranging from no word written correctly at all (38%
of the learners) to 10 (4%). The differences in the average scores of Tetum and non-
Tetum speakers on beginning literacy skills were small. Proficiency in Tetum did not
seem to provide an advantage at this basic literacy level of word reading and word
writing.
To investigate the impact of learner and educational variables, a multivariate analysis
of covariance in SPSS (MANCOVA) was conducted with grapheme recognition, word
reading, form filling and word writing as dependent variables. Literacy programme and
Tetum proficiency were independent factors and learner’s age, number of hours they had
been taught and years of experience of the teacher were covariates. This analysis revealed
a significant main effect of learners’ age on all literacy skills (p < .001), a significant
main effect of number of hours learners had been taught for all except word reading (p <
.01 for graphemes and form filling and p < .05 for word writing) and a main effect of
teacher experience on word reading (p < .05). Younger learners learned faster, the number
of hours learners had received instruction mattered and more experienced teachers were
better than less experienced teachers at teaching their learners the alphabetic principle.
Controlled for these variables, a significant main effect of programme was found for all
literacy skills (p < .01 for word reading and p < .001 for the other three skills); learners
who attended the YEP programme scored significantly higher on all tasks than learners in
the Los Hau Bele programme, and Hakat ba Oin learners scored in between, their scores
for all four tasks not being significantly different from Los Hau Bele, and differing from
YEP only for the two writing tasks. Being a Tetum speaker or not revealed a significant
main effect only for grapheme recognition (p < .05), not for the three other tasks (see
Boon, 2014b for further details).
The first conclusion here is that while the average scores on literacy skills were low in
general (on average 11 words read in 3 minutes), proficiency in Tetum turned out to be
less important in building initial (word) reading and writing ability than expected. In the
next section, we explore how this might be related to classroom interaction in adult
literacy education.
234 D. Boon and J. Kurvers

Classroom interaction
During the in-depth study, we observed and audio-recorded 20 literacy classes of 12
groups in seven districts in Timor-Leste. The classes were part of the Los Hau Bele, the
Hakat ba Oin or the Iha Dalan programme, all targeting literacy in Tetum. The first
author has described and analysed in detail two of the literacy classes observed, one in the
district Viqueque in the southeast and one in the district Covalima in the southwest
(Boon, 2013). In both these classes four languages were used: Tetum, the regional
language, Portuguese and Indonesian. Tetum was the target language for literacy learning
and the main language of classroom interaction. The regional languages, Makasae in
Viqueque and Bunak in Covalima, were used for extra explanations, repetitions of
teaching points, translations and small talk. This applied to small talk before, after and
during the lesson, and between teacher and learners as well as among the learners
themselves. For meta-talk on literacy and numeracy, the teachers used Tetum, Portuguese
and occasionally Indonesian words such as kalkula (‘calculate’, Portuguese word spelled
according to Tetum orthography), fahe (‘divide’, Tetum) and kali (‘multiply’, Indone-
sian). To practice the letters and the spelling of syllables and Tetum words, teachers and
learners often used originally Portuguese letter names.
The two class observations revealed that in the Viqueque class, reference to numbers
was mostly in Indonesian, but also in Tetum and Portuguese, and occasionally in
Makasae; in the Covalima class, this was mainly in Portuguese and occasionally in
Indonesian but not in Tetum (although Tetum was the main language of instruction). The
teachers’ use of Indonesian and Portuguese when referring to numbers might have to do
with their own formative years during the Indonesian occupation or the Portuguese
colonial period. At local markets and in shops in Timor-Leste, it was common for decades
(and still is) to refer to numbers and prices in Indonesian, which might explain the
learners’ use of Indonesian for numbers.
Analysis of the recorded classroom talk of the two classes revealed that in some cases
switches in language distinguished different kinds of talk: from small talk in the regional
language to lesson content in Tetum, from explanation in Tetum to extra explanation in
the regional language. On other occasions, people simply drew on the multilingual
communicative resources available to them; they were getting things done multilingually,
blending different languages without distinguishing different kinds of talk.
The multilingual classroom talk in these two adult literacy classes nuanced the
national language-in-education policy: the two official languages were indeed used, but
not equally and not as the only languages. Next to Tetum as main language, some
Portuguese and Indonesian was used in metalanguage and numeracy, while regional
languages were used frequently for certain communicative functions; Indonesian and the
regional languages were not ‘banned’ from the classroom or explicitly rejected. In fact,
the extensive use of regional languages (next to Tetum) and the limited use of Portuguese
in adult literacy classes actually deviate from the national language-in-education policies
for formal education. In the adult literacy classes such as those in this study, regional
languages appeared to serve as useful communicative resources, alongside other
languages. This might be specific to adult education, but it is not surprising, given that
regional languages are widely used in local communication outside the classroom.
Following Arthur’s (2001) approach, Tetum could be described as the ‘onstage’ language
in the two adult literacy classes, and the regional languages as the ‘backstage’ languages,
since the latter were accepted for small talk and extra explanations and repetitions, but not
as languages to be used in ‘staged’ question-and-answer performances.
 International Journal of Multilingualism 235

The multilingual interactional practices observed in these two classes in the districts
of Viqueque and Covalima resembled the practices investigated in the other 18 adult
literacy classes observed in the districts of Aileu, Dili, Ermera, Manufahi and Manatuto
(Boon, 2014b). Nearly all literacy teachers used several languages in teaching, and
teachers and learners drew on the various linguistic resources available to them as they
tried to find ‘local pragmatic solutions’ (Lin, 2001) to the challenges involved in taking
on a – for most – new language of teaching and learning.

Discussion and conclusion

In this study we have investigated three research questions concerning teaching and
learning adult literacy in contemporary Timor-Leste through two studies – one broad and
one in-depth – in three adult literacy programmes.
The first research question investigated the linguistic repertoires of teachers and
learners in adult literacy education. Results from the broad study revealed that of teachers
in adult literacy education, nearly all knew at least three languages and most of them
knew four and that most learners were bilingual, while 22% reported to be monolingual.
Regional languages were an important part of the linguistic repertoire of both the teachers
and the learners, next to Tetum, and, to a much lesser extent, Portuguese and Indonesian.
This is consistent with the findings on multilingualism reported in Hajek (2000) and
Taylor-Leech (2009). The likelihood of a Timor-Leste person being monolingual and not
knowing either of the official languages, Portuguese and Tetum, is highest among the
target groups of adult literacy programmes, namely, adults with no previous schooling,
living in remote areas.
The second research question investigated the impact of proficiency in Tetum on
initial literacy skills of adult learners. As discussed above, the learners’ literacy was still
far from fluent at the moment of measuring, with an average of 11 words read in
3 minutes. Analysis of the research data found that proficiency in Tetum had less positive
impact than expected (only on one of the four tasks); other factors like a learner’s age and
number of hours they had received instruction, and programme had more influence on the
acquisition of reading and writing. Our finding of the limited influence of being a Tetum
speaker is quite different from findings of other studies on beginning literacy in a second
language (Condelli et al., 2003; Kurvers & Stockmann, 2009; Kurvers & Van der Zouw,
1990). Several reasons may help to explain this. First, the other studies had also included
reading comprehension, while our study mainly investigated technical decoding and
recoding of simple (high-frequency) words. For participants who said their regional
language was their only language, the basic Tetum used in the literacy programmes
probably did not turn out to be problematic. Second, given the multilingual backgrounds
of teachers and learners and the multilingual nature of their classroom interaction,
learners who did not speak Tetum probably received explanations about new lesson
content also in their regional language. Third, we stress that our analysis of the impact of
language proficiency is based on learners’ self-reported data; the difference between non-
Tetum and Tetum speakers might actually be small since the former may know some
Tetum anyway and the latter may have rather limited Tetum proficiency.
This touches on the third research question concerning how multilingualism was
reflected in literacy teaching and classroom interaction. Language use in the classes
observed underlines the important position of Tetum and the regional languages. Adult
literacy programmes were available in both Portuguese and Tetum as the official
languages, but teachers and learners alike used and preferred Tetum. During their lessons
236 D. Boon and J. Kurvers

teachers also used several other languages, including the regional languages, for
additional explanation, clarification and translation/interpretation. Here we see how adult
literacy education adapts to the situation ‘on the ground’, where proficiency in Portuguese
is much less evident than proficiency in Tetum, and where regional languages are used
frequently and widely. Two particular sources shape the linguistic situations that learners
and teachers in adult literacy education in Timor-Leste deal with every day. One is
national government choices that determine the national language and language-in-
education policies and the other is the country’s multilingual setting and people’s regular
use of their multilingual repertoire in their daily lives. Compared to the seemingly
somewhat ‘stricter’ interpretation of language policy in formal education, it seems that in
non-formal (e.g. adult literacy) education there is more space for pragmatic solutions in
which use of regional languages alongside Tetum is common, evident and broadly
accepted.
In the interplay between layers of multilingualism in education policy and its
implementation, two developments became visible: (1) the position of Tetum – as a
national language alongside Portuguese – has strengthened; and (2) the importance of the
regional languages and their function in education is being better recognised, although it
can be acknowledged here that for most of the teachers and learners, regional language
was not the preferred target language for literacy. Further investigation of the role of
regional languages in adult literacy education in Timor-Leste could focus on two
questions: (1) whether using regional languages as languages of instruction (alongside
Tetum) is indeed more effective in teaching literacy and (2) whether using regional
languages also as target languages for beginning literacy (alongside Tetum) would be a
useful contribution to adult literacy acquisition. On the one hand, literacy in the first
language facilitates literacy in the second language (Benson, 2005; Bühmann & Trudell,
2008; UNESCO, 2007). On the other hand, building literacy ability in their first language
is not always what learners seek, since they may see their first language as ‘only of
limited modern utility’ or leading to segregation (Coulmas, 1984, p. 15). They may prefer
to learn to read and write in their nation’s official languages, which in their eyes have
higher status and provide better access to continued education and employment (Asfaha,
Kurvers, & Kroon, 2008).
Although the ideal study would have been a more controlled one, following a group
of comparable beginning literacy learners from their first lesson to the end of the
programme, the actual circumstances on the ground did not allow for this. There was
huge variety among learners on nearly all background data (age, previous education,
linguistic repertoire, class attendance and so forth) and in teaching circumstances. This
meant that our investigation of adult literacy education in this developing country
required great care in treatment and analyses of the data. Nevertheless, such heterogeneity
may well be encountered in field research in other developing countries, and further
research is needed, especially on the challenging dilemma of language choices in adult
literacy education in multilingual countries.
To conclude, our investigation has been conducted against the background of the
national language-in-education policy, which has been changed over time since Timor-
Leste achieved independence in 2002. From initially giving predominance to Portuguese,
the policy has given Tetum an increasingly important position in education and Tetum is
now treated equally with Portuguese. In formal education we also observe the increasing
importance given to regional languages, from initially no attention and space in the
national language-in-education policy, to growing recognition of the importance of these
languages for pre- and early primary education. These developments suggest that the
 International Journal of Multilingualism 237

language-in-education policy is gradually adapted to the actual multilingual context and

language proficiency and use in Timor-Leste society. The outcomes of our studies in adult
literacy education confirmed these developments.

Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude to all learners, teachers, coordinators, staff of the Ministry of
Education and nongovernmental organisations, advisers, and others involved in adult literacy
education in Timor-Leste. They have made invaluable contributions to this study through their
enthusiastic participation and support.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes
1. In the constitution, these are called ‘national’ languages; in this article we call them regional
languages, since all are spoken in certain regions of the country but none of them are spoken
nationwide.
2. Frente Revolucionário do Timor-Leste Independente (The Revolutionary Front for an Independ-
ent East Timor).
3. Grupo Feto Foinsa’e Timor Lorosa’e (Young Women’s Group of Timor-Leste)
4. Interview with the coordinator of the Cuban advisors, Dili, 16 June 2009.
5. In 2004–2008, the first author of this article, as adult literacy adviser in Timor-Leste’s Ministry
of Education, was involved in the joint development of the Hakat ba Oin and Iha Dalan
curriculum and manuals (including piloting and revision). Her position in the Ministry was
funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
6. These versions, YEP Livru 1 and 2, were developed with the involvement of the first author of
this article.
7. Financial support was obtained from NWO/WOTRO, the Netherlands Organisation for
Scientific Research, Science for Global Development (file number W 01.65.315.00). This
research project investigated historical and contemporary dimensions of adult literacy in Timor-
Leste (see Boon, 2011, 2014a, 2014b; Boon & Kurvers, 2012; Cabral & Martin-Jones, 2012;
Da Conceição Savio, Kurvers, Van Engelenhoven, & Kroon, 2012).
8. Informed consent was obtained in advance at all levels (including ministerial, directorate and
coordination level), and during each class visit it was secured at an individual level in face-to-
face interactions with the adult learners, with translations in their regional language.
9. Questions asked were, for example: What was the first language you learned (mother tongue)?
What language/languages have you learned later and in what order? Please tick the languages
that you use while teaching and while talking to your students. What language/languages do
you use at home, at the market, in free time with friends, in contact with the district
administration? In which language do you prefer to teach literacy?

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