This paper explores the phenomenon of premature learner exit from Adult Literacy (Learning) Service (ALS) courses from the perspective of seven ALS tutors working in three Education and Training Boards (ETBs) in Ireland. The findings highlight ALS tutors' insights into the situational, institutional, and dispositional barriers facing ALS students…

Some people in Japanese society have been classified as 'invisible' because they could not complete their compulsory elementary school education and have failed to assimilate into mainstream society. The 2010 Japan Census identified about 1.3 people per thousand over 15 years old who had not graduated from elementary school. However, the…

More than 93 million Americans read at or below the Basic level, leaving them unprepared for job training or workforce success. Existing workforce development programs typically screen out low level readers or fail to meet their needs. Dual pathway teaching combining basic literacy skill development with job-related content shows promise as an…

In the 1960s and 1970s, mass campaigns were the dominant model of adult literacy provision, especially in countries of the Global South. After a long absence, there is now a revival of international interest in this model. This paper looks back on the earlier history of mass campaigns and the geopolitical reasons for their rejection, to help make…

The prevalence of low to very low adult English literacy levels in First Nations communities in Australia continues to be an issue, despite ten years of government-supported Foundation Skills training provided through the national vocational education and training system. This study examines an innovative First Nations community-controlled…

This study uses Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) data to examine latent profiles of engagement in reading, numeracy, writing, and computer skills-use for U.S. adults with low literacy skills. Additionally, we examine how these profiles relate to overall literacy performance and demographic heterogeneity.…

Numerous projects and programmes for adult literacy have been undertaken in developing countries in the past years, so it comes as no surprise that the fundamental problems and the global statistics on literacy have not changed even slightly in a country like South Africa. The present study examines the elearning readiness of adult facilitators…

I argue that local adult literacy programming involves consciousness and praxis that obscures and renders invisible the social relations of race and ethnicity, and a key mechanism that enacts these processes in Canada are the Essential Skills Framework. Race and ethnicity, as social relations, have both a muted and active presence in the…

This scoping review of research explores the use of educational technologies for adult literacy, specifically for those with low literacy skills. The sample explores research published since 2010 across four major databases, yielding 21 relevant peer-reviewed articles published through the end of 2020. Half of the final included studies were…

Motivational research identifies utility value, or the importance of a learning task to future goals, as central to motivation to learn. This study analyzed survey data (N=86) collected from adult literacy learners to examine their utility value of writing improvement in grammar and spelling skills, word processing skills, and planning, drafting,…

Motivational research identifies utility value, or the importance of a learning task to future goals, as central to motivation to learn. This study analyzed survey data (N = 86) collected from adult literacy learners to examine their utility value of writing improvement in grammar and spelling skills, word processing skills, and planning,…

In Pakistan, adult literacy programs are offered to enable learners to function effectively to attain individual, family, and social sustainability, but these programs are continuously reporting low participation. This study aimed to explore the reasons behind low participation, employing a descriptive phenomenological design to examine the…

This study explores the impact of adult basic education programs aimed at enhancing social inclusion for immigrant learners in the Netherlands. Basic literacy skills are vital for performing everyday tasks and building human capital, which in turn facilitates employment and skill acquisition. Low adult literacy is often associated with social…

This commentary urges researchers and readers to rethink definitions of adulthood and its relevance in literacy research by arguing that adult readers are distinct from children and even college students. More specifically, it argues that adult literacy learners (those reading at the 8th-grade level equivalent or below and those who did not…

AutoTutor-ARC (adult reading comprehension) is an intelligent tutoring system that uses conversational agents to help adult learners improve their comprehension skills. However, in such a system, not all lessons and items optimally serve the same purposes. In this paper, we describe a method for classifying items that are "instructive,…