With the advent of the UN Literacy Decade launched in 2003, there is increased emphasis on monitoring and evaluation of adult literacy around the globe. The present paper presents an overview of the main approaches that have been taken to measure adult literacy within and across countries. A particular focus of the present review is to compare and…

Misconceptions include the following: (1) literacy changes the way people think; (2) illiteracy will soon be eradicated; (3) U.S. literacy is far worse than elsewhere; (4) U.S. government has made major investments in literacy; (5) increased public awareness has led to significant improvements; and (6) better applications of technology will solve…

Reviews three volumes that address national and international efforts to increase adult literacy. The books focus on: (1) case studies of literacy campaigns since 1560, and better known, contemporary mass education programs; (2) literacy work as a form of cultural politics; and (3) United Nations field-based literacy projects. (SV)

Focuses on developments in the field of adult literacy in the 1990s and outlines seven areas related to key topics in the field. Provides a brief analysis of major research findings in each of these areas and offers a prognosis of the next generation of adult literacy work in the United States. (SLD)

Continues the exploration of the future direction for the field of adult literacy and calls for improved empirical underpinnings for practice in the area of adult literacy and the improvement of the research base. (SLD)

A more literate society cannot be created in the United States or elsewhere without a more comprehensive conceptual framework. This framework attempts explicitly to link children's acquisition of literacy with that of adults and assumes there is no single normative theory to literacy development. In a life-span and life-space approach, literacy…

A review of Maghreb language and literacy covers the following: historical and cultural context; sociolinguistic situation; language policies and planning; language and literacy use; literacy education in three instructional contexts (Quranic, public primary, and adult literacy schooling); and future directions. (42 references) (LB)

In the context of the UN Literacy Decade (declared in February 2003), the present paper suggests three parameters that should be considered when new tools for assessment are considered in less developed countries (LDCs), each of which poses a special challenge to international comparative literacy assessment, such as in the International Adult…

State and national surveys of programs, literacy performance levels, and participants suggest that demand for literacy instruction should be estimated from current participation and not from assumptions about needs. Supply should be defined in terms of layers of service providers. (SK)

In the fields of adult literacy and adult learning, most researchers have focused on the acquisition of various skills and abilities. Very little attention has been devoted to skill retention. Without more research information, it is difficult to know whether the literacy skills learned in the nation's adult education programs are likely to be…

Available literature pertaining to the following topics was reviewed: cognitive skill retention across the life span, literacy and basic skills retention, and policy implications of skill retention work. Among the key findings of the review were the following: (1) available evidence suggests that adult literacy skill retention may vary…

The public has formed some myths and misconceptions about literacy. No substantive proof supports the grandiose assertion that literacy changes the way humans think and their intelligence. No one who has studied national surveys of adult literacy seriously believes that illiteracy in the United States will be eradicated by 2000. The literacy…

Literacy and economic development are inextricably linked in the literature, often with little examination. There are five rationales for this relationship: economic objectives, social objectives, political objectives, endogenous pressures, and exogenous pressures. To achieve both understanding of literacy and improved literacy programming, better…

A global thematic study on literacy and adult education considered trends and innovations particularly salient during the World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA) decade. According to the most recent UNESCO statistics, world illiteracy rates dropped over the last 20-30 years because of increased primary school enrollments, yet the actual…

The importance of research in literacy is that it provides some routes to greater efficiency in literacy provision. Research from the past shows how important reading and writing have been over the centuries. Literacy was often invested with social and moral power as well, and religious literacy was the predominant form of reading and writing from…