Research has suggested that many adults choose not to participate in available literacy programs because they equate literacy education with school. Two new directions in adult literacy program development are being explored in an effort to make programs more appealing to nonparticipants. The first is connected to program content and the second centers around greater consideration of the differences among individual students. Literacy educators are shifting their focus from discrete reading/writing skills to the expressed needs of the broad spectrum of current and potential adult learners. They are developing programs emphasizing literacy for access and orientation and literacy as voice, a vehicle for independent action, and a bridge to the future. Increasing numbers of adult literacy educators advocate understanding learners both as individuals and as members of their cultural groups/communities. The following strategies have been recommended as ways of making literacy programs that are more appealing to adults, especially nonparticipants in literacy programs: (1) involve adults in program planning and implementation; (2) develop an understanding of learners' experiences and communities; (3) hire program staff who share the culture and life experiences of the program's learners; and (4) be clear about philosophy and purpose. (Contains 11 references.) (MN)