Describes the literacy training provided by the Armed Forces as both minimal and dehumanizing, with an overriding emphasis on training young, disadvantaged recruits to perform necessary tasks without any thought or analysis. (GC)

Literacy education is modeled along a continuum moving from a technical conception of literacy to a conception of literacy as praxis, or critical literacy. These competing models are contrasted, and special emphasis is given to one adult basic literacy organization that is managing to humanize the process. (Author/BJV)

Examines the literacy program in Cape Verde against theories of cultural production and reproduction. Argues that the use of Portuguese rather than the Capeverdean dialect reproduces a colonial, elitist mentality, and that functional literacy in Portuguese fails to provide Capeverdeans with opportunities for critical reflection and social…

Any use of language involves the following interlocking systems: (1) referential; (2) contextualization; and (3) ideology. These together constitute culturally viable "discourse systems." Examination of these systems as they operate in daily contexts reveals a paradox in the concept of literacy. (Author/BJV)

Discusses recent curricular and instructional reforms, collectively called basic skills restructuring, that have developed in urban schools. Discusses these reforms as a response to various crisis tendencies in the operation of schools by dominant power groups. Discusses the causes and effects of top-down curricular reform initiatives. (JS)