Tool: Dialogic Literary Gathering

“Dialogic Literacy Gathering” is a tool which is open to anyone and aims at the enhancement of civic, literacy, environmental, Personal and interpersonal capabilities of a wide range of population groups such as low socioeconomic background adults, low-skilled adults, children, teenagers, Young adults, families, adults, elderly people, offenders/Ex-offenders. The tool first developed in 1980.

The EAEA contributed the tool Dialogic Literary Gatherings, which have their origin in the 1980s at the Adult’s School from La Verneda-Sant Martí, Barcelona. They consist of meetings around literature in which participants read and discuss classics of Universal Literature.

Picture 1: Dialogic Literary Gathering

Participating in Dialogic Literary Gatherings improves the learners’ reading and speaking skills. Learners do and feel better when expressing themselves. They stop being passive receptors of knowledge because they actively participate in the process of building knowledge. The tool empowers participants to acquire a broader and richer knowledge of universal topics of society while improving their basic skills. Open discussions offer sharing values like solidarity, respect, coexistence, acknowledging different and new points of view. Adults, mainly coming from initial levels of basic education, gain more self-confidence, which encourages them to participate in other public spaces. Participants’ engagement in gatherings contributes to a deeper social transformation of their environment and personal lives.

The applicability of the innovative tool for the development of Life Skills

A study conducted by Llopis et al. (2016) showed the influence of the situated genre (Dialogic Literary Gatherings) over status in the prevalence of politeness and how the participants use polite mitigation strategies that favour dialogue in the conversation, regardless of the participants’ position. Based on an egalitarian dialogue among learners, as well as between learners and Picture 20: Dialogic Literary Gathering facilitators, provokes relationships and communication.

Dialogic Literary Gatherings are addressed to a variety of target groups and can be used for mixed groups of learners (for example, people with no university qualifications who take part in adult education centres or associations, children, teenagers, families, adults and elderly people with different backgrounds, imprisoned etc.). The tool is easily transferable as it can take place anywhere there is a comfortable place to meet, thus the knowledge can be transferred from the literary background to many other life dimensions.