This qualitative case study presents an investigation on how three adult literacy educators in community-based teaching contexts are using anti-deficit, culturally relevant and critical practices to engage racialised women in learning processes that counter colonial epistemology. These educators work in Ontario, Canada where policy around adult…

This paper gathers descriptions on the use of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and essential skills cross Canada. IALS was developed as a population measure to lay out the distribution of skills and their relationship to other social and economic attributes. The information was taken from federal, provincial, and territorial…

This article reports on a mixed methods study that investigated aspects of formal, non-formal and informal learning for workers and adult high school learners seeking literacy and essential skills. Three key themes emerged from the qualitative data: motivations for participation in various forms of learning; seeking out informal learning…

In this paper, the author would like to put forward a number of issues to think about and discuss. At the same time, she argues for a better articulated system that more closely matches the needs and goals of various subgroups of English language learners. Adult ESL programs serve diverse immigrant populations with different needs and goals. A…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how Canadian adult students collaboratively learn with peers in both formal and non-formal adult literacy programs. A multisite case study research design was used involving several local literacy organizations. Data collection occurred over a four-month period and focused on nine different program…

In Canadian society there are people who are totally illiterate, and they are all the more conscious of their illiteracy as a personal weakness because most of the population is literate. Literacy teaching and practices in Canada are discussed. Illiteracy in Canada and in the third world is also compared. (RM)

This document consists of the four issues of a newsletter published during 1998. Typical articles explore topics in literacy education, media, and technology: "Not a Myth but a New Reality: What IALS [International Adult Literacy Survey]-like Tests Measure" (John Comings); "Who Will Train the Teachers?" (Winston Emery);…

Discourse analysis reveals how the meanings of literacy are both socially produced and variable between different discourses. A recent consultation with researchers is used to demonstrate how the outcomes were influenced by the discourses of participants and organizers. An argument is made to establish a literacy discourse analysis tradition to…

This report profiles 13 exemplary adult literacy programs and 6 innovative practices throughout Canada. Compiled through personal contacts of the researcher and knowledge of the field, the programs described represent institutional programs, workplace programs, and community-based programs. For each of the programs, the following information is…

This document is a script for a videotape highlighting an oral history project conducted in Sarnia, Ontario (Canada), with Chippewa Indians. The script contains both a narrative explaining the process of implementing an oral history project and producing the tape and vignettes of the oral history as told by the older Indians. The script explains…

This book contains 29 stories recorded during an oral history project conducted in the spring of 1991. The stories were told to adult literacy students from 28 literacy projects in Ontario (Canada). They record the authentic voices of the following groups: native people in Thunder Bay and Golden Lake, women in Kingston and Killaloe, deaf people in…

A teacher at a northern Ontario adult Native literacy program describes how she cultivates student motivation. The teacher-student relationship is the most influential factor for motivating students. By focusing on cultural awareness, cultural teaching practices, and a sense of community, teachers can help students be successful. Program…

This book, which is written and designed for intermediate adult literacy students, relates selected outcomes of 12 "woman-positive" literacy and adult basic education programs that were sponsored/studied in different parts of Canada by the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women (CCLOW). Part 1 discusses the mission of the…

The experience of eight prominent Canadian business organizations was examined in terms of how basic skills deficits are identified in their work force, the impact of those deficiencies on organizational competitiveness, and why corporate programs are developed in response to the issue. Some of the key findings were as follows: (1) employee…

In the winter of 1994, selected planners and coordinators of Canadian labor-based literacy programs were interviewed regarding the evolution of and concerns surrounding labor-based literacy and/or basic skills programs for union members. It was discovered that the impetus for labor-based literacy programs has generally come from the local and…