Many countries have recently launched massive programs to promote nation-wide adult literacy, but while these efforts have been commendable, it has been observed that neo-literates who acquire literacy through such programs have great difficulty in retaining it; hence an urgent need to develop suitable programs of post-literacy and continuing…

This article highlights lessons from the experience of running a workshop that provides basic education. It focuses on the workshop that has been run for four years at Wakefield District College in England to support individuals from the community or students in college courses who need help with basic skills. The flexibility allowed by the…

This report describes certain assumptions and tentative conclusions made by an Advisory Group of the Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU) about work with the mentally handicapped from a nonspecialist perspective. With the basic education organizer in mind, the report addresses six major issues. A definition of the term mentally handicapped…

This handbook provides useful information on using the Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU) standards with English-as-a-Second-or-Other-Language (ESOL) students. The ALBSU standards were developed as the result of the Basic Skills Accreditation Initiative funded by the British Department of Education and Science and the Employment…

This handbook, which is designed for use by tutors involved in teaching adults to spell, contains information about the main techniques for teaching spelling, basic spelling programs, ways of integrating spelling in writing, and useful resources. Presented in the first section are 26 items of basic information about such aspects of spelling and…

This report analyzes recent English-language research on basic skills in the workplace. Part A, a thematic guide to the field, includes detailed references to publications listed in Part B. Section A1 indicates the scope. It defines basic skills and underlines the importance of other terms, especially key skills, information and communications…

This book surveys currently available software for English language learners and identifies future directions in the development of such software that are likely to prove fruitful. Discussed first are ways in which computers add to the learning experience. Stand-alone programs are compared with authoring systems, and "purpose-made" and…

This document contains a booklet and companion CD-ROM that introduce and describe a learner-centered assessment process for assessing students' basic skills upon entry into post-16 provision at further education colleges in the United Kingdom. After introducing the concept of learner-centered assessment, the booklet outlines a comprehensive,…

This document discusses policy and practice addressing the need for financial literacy education for older people in the United Kingdom. The discussion is based largely on the findings of survey and focus groups that were conducted to identify the difficulties older people encounter in dealing with different financial services and managing their…

This document brings together the good practice that was developed and demonstrated through a series of pilot projects that were funded in 2001 by the United Kingdom's Learning and Skills Council to extend outreach literacy and numeracy provision in local community settings. The guide's nine chapters discuss the following topics: (1) the…

This book examines the basic principles of the cognitive psychology of literacy and explains how insights gained from that theory can inform and improve reading, spelling, and writing instruction aimed at adults. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's eight chapters: the principles of cognitive psychology (the nervous system,…

These 15 papers share a common theme: seeking to promote literacy as a powerful tool for challenging existing inequalities and dependencies. "Powerful Literacies" (Jim Crowther et al.) is an introduction. Section 1 establishes the theoretical and policy frameworks that underpin the book and shows how literacy is situated in different…

Despite calls by consumer advocates for Australia's governments and financial services institutions to provide consumers with resources to help them understand how the financial services sector operates, financial education remains something that most Australians gain by default. Research conducted in the United Kingdom and United States, has…

This document is the course book of an accredited 3-day professional development course for qualified basic skills tutors in the United Kingdom who are interested in working in workplace settings. The course materials are organized into 17 sections grouped into 4 units as follows: (1) general concepts of workplace language, literacy, and numeracy…