According to Greaney (1996) and his study of reading (promotion) in the developing world, literacy is a definitive indicator of human development. Without the ability to read, people are denied access to pertinent information about health, social, cultural and political issues and well as pleasure and enrichment. According to Greaney, literacy is positively correlated with primary and secondary school enrolment, newspaper production and life expectancy.

Having established literacy and reading as principle pedagogical and research aims consistent with international (MDG) and nation objectives, the next step is to develop a coherent research method and design. The principal issue confronting method in the context of this research relates to the distinct differences in learning paradigms between the formal (grammar based, bottom-up) approach and the informal SOLE (communicative based, top-down) approach. The ability to read is viewed as the preferred bridge between the learning paradigms not only because of its significance in relation to the standard curriculum but also because of its relevance to the SOLE environment (mediation tool between technology and knowledge). Furthermore, phonics awareness has been positively correlated with reading and literacy ability. Phonics is not only a focus of Paulines work but could easily provide a focus for learning in all of the classroom environments associated with the research.

When comparing literacy ability in a large scale research programme covering 32 education systems throughout the world, Thorndyke (1973) identified the following salient factors believed to characterise the achievement difference in literacy levels (it should be noted that the study accounted for difference in Human Development Indices as a means of permitting a relative and fair comparison).

1. Library size
2. Frequent silent reading
3. More teaching time
4. More reading tests
5. More female teachers
6. Years of teacher training