The English Learning and Skills Sector (LSS) contains a highly diverse range of learners and covers all aspects of post-16 learning with the exception of higher education. In the research on which this paper is based we are concerned with the effects of policy on three types of learners--unemployed adults attempting to improve their basic skills…

Presents an inventory through which teachers of adult beginning readers can plan instruction, select materials, assess student growth, and make recommendations to publishers. (AEA)

This theme issue addresses the systemic and institutional barriers that impact urban adult basic education learners and programs in the United States. Focuses on provisions of the Workforce Investment Act (1998) and literacy education. (SLD)

The Basic Skills Improvement Program, adapted from a resource program model, serves learning problem adults unable to benefit from traditional adult education. Participants are evaluated through an interdisciplinary approach, and a short-term small group instructional program is designed for them. (CL)

Through a partnership between Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing West, a business, the Asian Association of Utah, a community-based organization, and the Utah State Office of Education, this workplace literacy project taught literacy skills to 35 adults with limited English proficiency. The workers spoke Vietnamese, Lao, and Cambodian. The project…

This index of workplace and adult basic skills computer software includes 108 listings. Each listing is described according to the following classifications: (1) teacher/tutor tools (customizable or mini-authoring systems); (2) assessment and skills; (3) content; (4) instruction method; (5) system requirements; and (6) name, address, and phone…

During its infancy period, humanistic education was strongly influenced and nurtured by T-Group and Human Relations Training, along with the personal growth and encounter activities of the human potential movement. As it moved into childhood, humanistic education recognized the need for more practical methods of implementing its new ideas and…

This paper presents the final report of a project designed to produce an effective individualized adult learning program in mathematics. The need for such a project has been reflected in the reports of national commissions and studies which provided documentation and statistics on the lack of proficiency of adults and young adults in the basic…

The second of two conferences on adult literacy focused on the broader contexts of adult literacy. That is, lack of basic skills is not a problem in a vaccum but is bound up with people's other problems and needs and the forces shaping their lives; likewise, efforts to teach basic skills must be viewed in relation to the local, state, and national…

An overview of adult learning disabilities is presented with an emphasis on the most recent developments in the field. Areas discussed are definition, characteristics, current literature, and program design. Various definitions of a learning disabled adult are identified and the problems associated with these definitions are considered. The…

Designed to meet the needs of older nonreaders, this booklet provides teaching suggestions and classroom activities for functional or survival reading skills. The topics covered include using the telephone; figuring the cost of a purchase; following directions; survival vocabulary for public signs; vocabulary for the medicine chest; reading the…

The American Management Association's (AMA) 10th annual survey on workplace testing was mailed in January 1996 to a sample of its 9,500 member companies, resulting in 961 usable responses. The survey sought to determine how many firms test for "basic skills," how job applicants perform on these tests, how much the tests costs, and what firms do…

Individually administered literacy assessments were conducted with approximately 6,000 adults representing the 20 million persons served by the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration through the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) or the Employment Service/Unemployment Insurance programs. Information-processing…

The Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU) analyzed draft plans, required by the Education Reform Act 1988, from about 40 percent of the local education authorities (LEAs) in England and Wales to identify basic skills and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provisions for adults. Topics of concern were the maintenance of programs…

A survey of the literacy proficiency of 1,500 Australian adults indicates that: (1) people who demonstrate some proficiency with using printed material should not be classified as illiterate; (2) appropriate rating scales should be developed for assessing adults' literacy skills; (3) more detailed analysis of the characteristics of those who…