vowel length was contrastive for all Tamang vowels which he marked by : following the vowel. Varenkamp 2005: Phonology suggested 19 consonants and 10 vowels as the
working Eastern Tamang phonemic orthography. He also noted the tone system of Tamang as below:
―Along with all the other languages in the Tamangic or Gurung Branch, Tamang is tonal, albeit ―semi-tonal or marginally tonal‖ Mazaudon 1978:157. The tonal
system of a number of languages in Nepal, particularly those of the Tamangic Branch is based on a contrast between clear or tense and breathy or lax
phonation types, resulting in higher and lower p
itch ‗registers,‘ respectively‖ ibid.: ETCh3.
Interestingly, the translators of the Eastern Tamang Language Team ETLT
suggested 29 consonants and 10 vowels including all the contrastive long vowels in their working orthography chart see Appendix E. In the alphabet chart of their primer, there
are 29 consonants and 8 vowels without long [u:] and long [o:]. Generally, they follow the rule of consistency, but some inconsistency is found particularly in verbal suffixes of
both present and past tense, and the use of the length mark [:]. They do not employ any tone marks which they consider cumbersome and not distinctive enough to mark. They
wrote the loan words from Nepali just as they are in Nepali.
3.3.4.2 The content and cognitive components of the primers
The content and cognitive components of the Eastern Tamang Primer Book I and II are presented in Table 17:
Table 17: Contents and cognitive components of Eastern Tamang Primer Book I II
Content Cognitive component
Primer Book 1 Primer Book 2
19 letters –
12 consonants and 7 vowels
37 letters total including 18 new ones
– 17 new consonants and 1 new
vowel – and 8 half
consonants Phonemic phonological awareness
letter-sound recognition and production
19 key words and some sight words
18 key words and some sight words
Word recognition and production reading words correctly and fluently
Text and comprehension questions for each chapter
Text reading and comprehension fluency and accuracy
explicit and implicit comprehension simple passage, prose, and document reading and
comprehension
Numbers 1-100, counting, and
simple addition and subtraction
Simple multiplication and division
Numeracyquantitative literacy number recognition and counting
addition and subtraction multiplication and division
word problem solving
Writing practice Print awareness, copying, and dictation
letters, words, numbers, and simple sentences Discussions on issues related to life skills
– health, sanitation, family planning, nutrition, and
forest conservancy Collecting useful and valid information, fostering
healthy andor safe attitudes and behaviors, critical thinking, and problem-solving
Half consonants are the first or second consonants which occur in consonant clusters and are written incompletely to be jointed with following consonant.
3.3.4.3 Topics selected for the newly revised
Naya Goreto 2065
In the newly revised
Naya Goreto 2065
, several topics which were outdated, negative, and limited to rural areas were removed, and some cultural, educational, and
social topics were added, such as house, wedding, the native country with various indigenous people groups, writing letters and getting news, and natural disasters such as
floods and landslides. Topics and themes carried over from the earlier version include social and personal life skills such as work, farming, neighbors, clothes,
dysenterydiarrhea, sanitation, family planning, nutrition, education, market, forest conservation, and critical thinking about goodbad behaviors.
In terms of numeracy, the revised
Naya Goreto
includes simple multiplication and division with explanations in words, while the former one taught basic addition and
subtraction up to three digits. To assess the knowledge and skills of adult learners in the Eastern Tamang
literacy program, a criterion-referenced literacy assessment instrument is designed on the basis of what was explored above and the SQC or the Basic Learning Competencies
assessment model as well as the NAAL model. The assessment instrument designed for the ET adults is much simpler than the NAAL but more complex with more test
components than the BLC model. It is intended for assessing adult literacy performance primarily at program levels even though it can be adopted for national level assessment
for various people groups in Nepal. The test items of the instrument will measure the following components shown in Table 18:
Table 18: Test components for Eastern Tamang adult learners
Literacy skill Literacy domain Test component
Type of test Precursor
literacy skills
Decontextualized print
1 Book and print awareness – pointing the title, the
table of contents, a particular page, a particular punctuation, etc. in a given book
2 Understanding and interpreting illustrations 3 Discerning shapes
– the same or different 4 Alphabet knowledge
– reading aloud given printed letters and numbers
5 Phonological awareness –reading aloud given
printed syllables and simple common words and blending letterssyllables to make new
syllableswords 6
Writing one‘s own name Oral
Oral Oral
Oral Oral
Written
Reading skills
Decontextualized print
7 Word recognition – matching written words with
pictures, matching spoken words with written words, selecting a word that does not belong in a
group of words, and matching a written word that best matches a definition presented verbally or in
written form OralWritten
Literacy skill Literacy domain Test component
Type of test 8 Word Accuracy
– reading aloud words given in the list
Oral Prose text
9 Sight word recognition of common words in road signs, labels, leaflets, etc.
10 Accuracy and fluency – reading a written
passage aloud as fast as possible 11 Comprehension skills
– identifying and locating specific information embedded in prose texts
12 Critical reading skills – analyzing, evaluating,
and synthesizing stories, newspaper articles, etc. Written
Oral OralWritten
Written
Document text 13 Comprehension skills
– identifying and locating specific information on a document e.g., time or
place where an event will take place, pay amount and due date on utility bill, transportation schedule
Written
Writing skills
Decontextualized print
14 Dictation of words, phrases, and simple sentences
Written Numeracy
quantitative literacy
skills Decontextualized
print 15 Oral counting fluency
– counting number 1 through 20
16 Number identificationDecoding – identifying
randomly selected numbers between 1 and 100 17 Quantity discrimination
– comparing and identifying greater or smaller quantities of objects
or numbers 18 Missing numbers
– identifying a missing number in a set or sequence of numbers
19 Applied numeracy – telling time, reading
money, and reading a calendar 20 Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division problems Oral
Written Written
Written OralWritten
Written
Prose text 21 Computing skills
– performing appropriate arithmetic functions using information given in
prose texts Written
Written Document text
22 Computing skills – performing appropriate
arithmetic functions using information given in documents
Written Written
These components will be assessed in two major types of tests: oral and written. The oral test includes most of test components for measuring precursor skills, oral
reading fluency and comprehension skills, and oral counting fluency of numeracy. The written test includes decoding and comprehension skills of silent reading as well as
computing and pattern extension skills of numeracy. Further descriptions and instructions of these two types of tests are presented in the following chapter.
3.4 Setting tentative standards for Eastern Tamang adults
