Immigrants form an important and growing part of the Canadian population. Governments recognize the need to help new immigrants integrate into Canadian society by learning to speak either English or French, and therefore offer or support Language training programs. The federal Government, through the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, runs…

This discussion paper is part of a larger Movement for Canadian Literacy (MCL) project entitled "Linkages: Connecting Literacy and English as a Second Language" (ESL). The goal of the overall project is for MCL to work with national organizations that support the ESL/Settlement and literacy fields to identify common issues and concerns…

A project in British Columbia, Canada, explored a deeper understanding of what it would be like to become literate and probed how that experience related to the life of the educator. The phenomenological study began with a literature search. It focused on and explored the stories of three adult learners, using the journals of two and extrapolating…

Compared to most countries assessed in 1994, the United States had a greater concentration of adults who scored at the lowest literacy levels across prose, document, and quantitative literacy domains. However, it had one of the higher concentrations of adults who scored at or above level 4 on the prose scale. The proportion of adults who scored at…

This publication reprints the text of the Accountability Framework for the Adult Literacy Education System and Core Quality Standards for Programs in Ontario. The framework describes how the Ontario Training and Adjustment Board (OTAB) is accountable to Ontario's adult literacy education system and explains how OTAB-funded programs are accountable…

This guide is designed to help Ontario's literacy program coordinators implement the Core Quality Standards in their literacy programs. It provides ideas about simple approaches to evaluation which they can use. The first part of the guide discusses what program evaluation is and what it can do for the program coordinator. The second part…

Educational issues were studied as related to women in one visible minority population in the Vancouver area--recent immigrants from the Punjab state in India. The 10-month demonstration project involving 13 participants is analyzed in terms of five research topics: participation in the program, Punjabi-English biliteracy, classroom instruction…

This January 2002 issue of "Federal Literacy Facts" contains the following sections: (1) The Skills and Learning Agenda; (2) Budget 2001; (3) Coming Soon: Green Paper on Skills and Learning; and (4) Ensuring a Strong Response from the Literacy Community.

Reports on a survey of Native Canadian adults (with limited reading skills but not currently in adult programs) about their perceptions of literacy. Discusses (1) purposes and values of literacy; (2) types of goals; (3) past barriers; (4) preferred learning environment (they preferred "watch then do" learning); and (5) current barriers.…

"In Quest of the Quick Fix: Staff Development in the 'National Literacy Training Act'" (Quigley) argues that professional development programs must consider "literacy for what?""Foundations for Adult Learning and Development Policy" (Craig) evaluates a policy document of the Alberta Advanced Education Ministry. (SK)

Adult literacy students (n=94) were interviewed upon program entry; follow-up interviews with 69 were conducted over 3 years. They perceived positive cognitive, psychological, and social changes from participation, especially initially. Increased school demands and minimal social support made some less positive about themselves by the end of their…

Presents highlights of a panel discussion on workplace literacy at the Literacy in the 21st Century Research Conference (Edmonton, Alberta, October 1997). Participants from business, government, and university discussed Syncrude Canada's Workplace Literacy Program, implications of the International Adult Literacy Survey for the labor market, and…

Using qualitative methods, the author explores how adult learners' lives are affected by participating in adult literacy programs in Manitoba, Canada. After a description of research methods, changes in six major areas of learners' lives are discussed: general attitudes toward life, levels of interpersonal awareness, self-esteem, academic…

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…

The validity of the Southam News 1987 survey of literacy in Canada was questioned relative to its content and structure. The survey viewed literacy as a set of complex information processing skills and adopted a hierarchical view of these skills. This hierarchy model set up illiteracy as a deficiency. The Southam study's underlying assumption was…