This article offers an ethnographic case study of two Adult Basic Education (ABE) teachers' characteristics and their literacy instruction. It draws on the New Literacy Studies tradition and used ethnographic tools (in-depth interviews, classroom observation and the think-aloud protocol) to explore the characteristics of two ABE teachers and…

Building health literacy skills among adult learners has the potential to contribute to efforts to eliminate health disparities and improve health outcomes. Adults with limited literacy skills are more likely to be underserved by health services and at risk for poorer health. Recognition of the need for stronger health literacy skills and a desire…

This article examines the conflicts and challenges that student leaders in adult basic education and literacy programs experience in balancing their leadership responsibilities with academic endeavours. Based upon a case study of an adult basic education student leadership council in New York City, the article shows that leadership activities can…

This dissertation investigates the Community Writing and Education Station (CWEST), a community engagement project that partners a community adult basic literacy program with a university writing lab. The author argues that the community and university partners, the Lafayette Adult Resource Academy (LARA) and the Purdue Writing Lab, offer positive…

Literacy Volunteers of America is described as a grassroots effort that has grown to national proportions. An overview of its development and case studies of library literacy projects in various states are provided, and recommendations are made for continued and future library participation in the literacy effort. (EM)

Explores literacy sponsorship at an academy that schooled young Native American men near Lexington, Kentucky in the early 19th century. Presents case studies based on the correspondence of two advanced students who turned their literacy lessons toward a critique of their living and learning conditions. Notes the students embraced liberatory…

To acquaint teachers of adult literacy with the special needs of adult learners, a series of computerized case studies was developed as part of three teacher training courses. The first course sensitized teachers to the learning problems of certain target populations; the second introduced diagnostic and prescriptive teaching techniques; and the…

Presents the case history of an adult nonreader taught to read through the language experience approach, rereading, retelling, assisted reading, and sustained silent reading. (DD)

The author theorizes that her students, single-parent welfare recipients, develop negative reading habits to camouflage low literacy. She describes instructional strategies that fail to help and methods she found effective. (SK)

Describes a case study that focused on the influence of the family's literacy interactions on all family members. Describes how, once the student learning to read (a 47-year-old father and grandfather) invited the family to take part in his learning, his reading improved, and the frequency and nature of family interactions changed. (SR)

Describes, in a case study, how a functionally illiterate adult coped with the disabling effects of not being able to read and how, once he was involved in an educational therapy program, his attitude toward reading, his self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, coping strategies, and actual progress in reading were influenced by the treatment.…

A case history of a female literacy student examined how journal writing about her literacy experiences increased her metacognitive self-knowledge, reading comprehension, writing performance, and self-esteem. With one-to-one tutorial guidance, she learned to assess her literacy learning from her own perspective. (SK)

The stories of 10 outstanding Pennsylvania men and women in this booklet illustrate the determination of educationally disadvantaged people to overcome insurmountable obstacles. They were aided in their successful struggles to enhance their reading and math skills as well as their careers by their participation in various adult basic education and…

Describes a case study involving the reading development of an adult nonreader (a woman in her early fifties) and discusses this growth in comparison with children beginning to read. Discusses the student's background and her literacy development and progress. Notes similarities and differences to children's learning. (SR)

Tells the story of one student's experience in an adult literacy class to reflect on whether teaching practices can foster changes in adult literacy learners that are transformational. Finds mixed answers. (SR)