Historical, ethnic, and educational factors found to affect literacy acquisition in mother tongue and Spanish by ten ethnolinguistic groups, with profile and history of each. Methodologies include interviews, document studies, on-site surveys; application of three models of ethnicity and language use.

Barbara K. Trudell served as Africa Area Literacy Coordinator for SIL International. She did fieldwork in Peru from 1982 to 1993 as literacy specialist, consultant, and coordinator, and received an M.A. in Applied Linguistics (with an Education minor) from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1991.