The OECD's Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) represents a comprehensive international comparative assessment of the information processing skills of adults vital for the full participation in social and economic life in the 21st century. PIAAC is now in its second cycle and continues a series of international…

Based on research completed between 2018 and 2022 in the Republic of Ireland, this article examines how the distinctive ethos and relational pedagogy of adult literacy education have been impacted by broader changes in the field and wider society, with significant impact on its capacity to support learners. The learner-centred ethos, ways of…

The importance of professional development to the success of adult education cannot be emphasized enough. In a field with many part-time educators, and where recruitment and retention of adult educators is an ongoing challenge, professional development plays a critical role in attracting, retaining, and developing teachers, administrators, and…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine if, and to what extent, correlations existed between self-esteem level, age, and grade level change of an adult male inmate enrolled in a Functional Literacy (FL) Program in the Southern Region of Arizona. Current research examined the relationships between self-esteem and age…

Job automation is a topical issue in a technology-driven labor market. However, greater amounts of human capital (e.g., often measured by education, and information-processing skills, including adult literacy) are linked with job security. A knowledgeable and skilled labor force better resists unemployment and/or rebounds from job disruption…

Adult migrants need to attain proficiency in the language of their host society to fully integrate into those communities and lead meaningful lives. The concept of literacy, centred on reading and writing, has evolved to encompass multiliteracies, integrating linguistic, social, and digital aspects. This broader approach acknowledges that learners…

This article reports on a pilot research project conducted in nine countries of Africa and Asia on some aspects of the impact that teaching literacy to adults has had on the lives of some adult literacy facilitators (ALFs). The small-scale enquiry was implemented by a team of twelve researchers in nine countries (Afghanistan, Botswana, Ethiopia,…

Under UNESCOs global mission, fundamental education became an essential tool for development that was praised for promoting peace and improving the human condition. The Centro de Cooperación Regional para la Educación de Adultos en América Latina y el Caribe (CREFAL) hosted educators from throughout the Americas in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, to study…

Background: Political and economic upheavals in the current millennium globally have displaced millions of people, making cross-border and forced migration a reality. Many refugees are forced out of their countries and flee to other countries to find new languages with which they are not familiar. South Africa as a signatory to the 1954 UN…

This study examined the associations between adult education and training (AET) participation, educational attainment, literacy skills, gender, and race/ethnicity among the U.S. adult population aged 25 to 65 years old (n = 5,450). Given the socioeconomic advancements of women and racial/ethnic minorities in the last few decades, including higher…

This theoretical article reflects on a recent development in adult literacy studies: transnational adoptees relearning their heritage languages. Literacy and adoption scholars have studied the replacement of the heritage language with a second language and reported it as a permanent loss. Returning to the country of origin, return adoptees…

In the summer of 1978, at Church Teachers' College in Mandeville, Jamaica, a class of advanced students participating in the Jamaica Movement for the Advancement of Literacy (JAMAL) wrote, cast, rehearsed, and performed a play that satirized several major institutions--the family, the church, and the business sector--as well as class and gender…

While the English literacy outcomes of Aboriginal children are constantly measured and debated, attention falls away once they leave school, leading to limited data on English literacy rates among Australia's Aboriginal adults. This paper reports on an investigation into the prevalence of low literacy in adults in eight Aboriginal communities in…

Low levels of health literacy have been linked statistically with decreased health and quality of life, increased mortality, and financial and economic impoverishment at the individual and community levels of analysis. The problem space for this dissertation research was comprised of the problem of low levels of health literacy, problems that are…

Visual media (pictures, photographs) are often used in adult literacy instruction, presumably because they are easy for adult literacy learners to process. However, relatively little research has been conducted on how adult literacy learners comprehend visual media, such as picture stories. Some have argued that picture stories could be used as a…