This report describes presentations and discussions at a seminar to bring together research initiatives in the area of functional literacy and to explore appropriate ways of developing policy-driven research in all countries. Opening remarks by representatives of the European Community, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and Unesco are summarized. They explain organizational objectives and programs regarding functional literacy. Issues raised in discussions of appropriate strategies for the assessment of adult illiteracy and analysis of the factors and dimensions of adult illiteracy are listed. Outlines depict the situation of different countries in research on the subject of functional literacy. Each outline has these topics: why research is necessary, available data, and future projects. Outlines for these countries are included: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, and Soviet Union. Seminar conclusions are discussed, and the state of progress of five projects is reported for Czechoslovakia, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Soviet Union. (Appendixes, amounting to almost three-fourths of the report, include a list of participants; program; the Canadian report on assessment strategy, "Direct versus Proxy Measures of Adult Functional Literacy" by David Neice et al.; and the Unesco Institute for Education report on the analysis of the factors and dimensions of adult literacy, "Illiteracy: From the Myth to the Reconstruction of the Facts" by Jean-Paul Hautecoeur.) (YLB)