RECALL the statement that two-thirds of the world's people can't, won't, or don't read and write. The bulk of this paper has focused on those who can't. This part will focus on those who don't. These are those who choose to learn by oral methods as opposed to literate ones, in spite of their literacy. These people are known as secondary oral learners. James B. Slack defines "secondary oral learners" as "people who have become literate because of their job or schooling, but prefer to be entertained, learn and communicate by oral means." Walter Ong, father of the modern orality movement, says, "I style the orality of a culture totally untouched by writing or print, 'primary orality.' It is 'primary' by contrast with the 'secondary orality' of present-day high-technology culture, in which a new orality is sustained by telephone, radio, television and other electronic devices that depend for their existence and functioning on writing and print."32

Earlier in this paper we explored the characteristics of oral learners. It is increasingly evident that many of these same characteristics are as descriptive of secondary oral learners as they are of primary oral learners. As such, the effectiveness of our communication is dependent on what we do with this knowledge.

Our purpose is to call missions-minded Christians to explore ways to be more effective in communicating with secondary oral learners-in reaching them for Christ, helping them grow and mobilizing them to involvement in ministry.

Why is it important to do this? A 2004 study reported that "literary reading in America is not only declining rapidly among all groups, but the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young." This reflects a "massive shift toward electronic media for entertainment and information."33 Numerous western societies are seeing similar shifts toward electronic media and the accompanying secondary orality.

Consider the following statistics:

• 58% of the U. S. adult population never read another book after high school.
• 42% of U. S. university graduates never read another book.
• Adults in the U. S. spend four hours per day watching TV, three hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines. 34
• British teenagers' pleasure reading declined by about a third from 1991-1998.35
• In Denmark one-third of adults do not do any significant amount of reading.36
• More than half the adults in the Netherlands hardly ever read a book. 37
• Dutch 12 year old school children spend, on average, less than half an hour a week reading in their leisure time.

32 Ong, Walter J. Orality & Literacy: The Technologizing of the World (London and New York: Routledge, 1982).

33 Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, Research Division Report no. 46 (Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts, 2004), vii. The term "literary reading" includes books such as romance novels, so these statistics reflect pleasure reading generally, not just the reading of "literary classics." The survey included 17,000 adults and was administered by the U. S. Census Bureau.

34 The first three items are reported by Dan Poynter and cited in http://newwway. org/news/2004/apr 2.htm.

35 Young People in 1998, a report compiled from surveys of 18,221 pupils by the Schools Health Education Unit based at Exeter University. Available at http://www. sheu.org.uk/pubs/yp98.htm.

36 Viggo Sogaard, Evangelizing Our World: Insights from Global Inquiry (Pattaya, Thailand: 2004 Forum for World Evangelization, 2004), 11.

37 Both statements about reading in the Netherlands are from Marieke Sandersten Holte, "Creating an Optimum Reading Culture in the Low Countries: The Role of Stichting Lezen," a paper presented at the 64th International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions General Conference, Aug.16-21, 1998, Amsterdam, http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla64/098-80e.htm.