Interaction between oral and literate modes of communication in a predominantly oral culture is discussed in the Islamic context of West Africa. Communication is viewed as transmission of knowledge in a formal learning situation (a one way process) and as an informal shared process between literate and nonliterate community members. (BRR)

Since the nineteenth century, moral education in Africa's traditional societies, generally presented in schools as Christian instruction, has been hampered by difficulties inherent in colonial situations and in attempts to integrate western and indigenous values. Success in these circumstances calls for cooperation between school, home, and the…