This document, written in the first person, describes the history and feelings of a woman who was functionally illiterate as an adult but who, having learned to read, is now a student at Rancho Santiago Community College District in Orange, California. This "open letter" urges teachers to support and encourage students with similar problems,…

Examines various approaches that have been taken to promote literacy and makes a plea for more research to clarify issues that will permit more useful definitions of literacy and more productive approaches to developing and enhancing literacy among youth and adults. (HOD)

Explores causes of adult illiteracy and examines the effectiveness of adult literacy programs. (MM)

Freire reflects on his role as consultant to the Adult Literacy Program in Sao Tome and Principe. Emphasizing the political aspects of pedagogy, he describes how adults learn to read and write, as well as to think critically and participate in national development. (SK)

The validity and usefulness of learning disabilities diagnoses have not been demonstrated. Identifying adult basic education students as learning disabled is not only unjustified but serves to confound understanding and remediation of their problems. (Author/JOW)

Illiteracy among the formal working force has largely been eliminated: illiterate laborers are generally self-employed farm and home workers. Discusses the relationship between the work environment and the literacy environment as well as new directions for literacy research. (JOW)

Discusses the language experience approach (LEA) to teaching adults to read. LEA capitalizes on the adult's rich experience and advanced learning and speaking skills. (JOW)

Suggestions are offered for incorporating George Herbert Mead's ideas on the structure of literacy instruction, the use of volunteer tutors, student assessments, and instructional activities. (JOW)

Passive learners rarely play a role in their own education, but follow whatever their teachers decide is best for them. Active learners are self-motivated, independent people who take responsibility for themselves. (JOW)

Provides reflections on the work of four writing teachers in a neighborhood adult literacy center to understand better the potential "violence" of literacy learning, to reassess assumptions of expressivist pedagogy, and to turn to M. Bakhtin and M. Foucault as interpretive frames for theorizing adult literacy learning. Proposes…

A case is described that tested the relevance of Freire's "liberationist pedagogy." One student's improved language skills resulted in changing smoking arrangements at the local bingo hall and in gaining personal social and political skills in the process. (Contains two references.) (LB)

Looks at a literature-based approach to reading instruction and the whole-language approach to teaching adult literacy. Describes the instructional procedure used in a workplace literacy program serving employees of the Ohio State University hospital staff. (JOW)

Assesses the Australian Language and Literacy Policy in terms of the metaphors and constructions of subjects it uses. Examines concepts of skill deficiency, continues learning, nonparticipation, the scourge of illiteracy, stunted growth, deprived subject, and disempowerment. (SK)

Hamilton's critique of the National Federation for Educational Research (NFER) study, Progress in Adult Literacy, addresses the conceptualization of literacy, flaws in the research design, school-oriented focus, and validity and reliability of tests used; she suggests a research strategy. Brooks summarizes NFER's response. (SK)

Discusses student writing as it relates to adult literacy education and describes "Write First Time," a newsletter of adult literacy students' writings. Suggests that having writing published gives learners a different view of other printed texts. (JOW)