This special topic issues focuses on workplace literacy. "Literacy Practices in Today's Workplace" (Larry Mikulecky) provides a picture of demands and practices in workplace literacy. "Workplace Literacy Skills: Making Reading Work for Work" (Esther Minskoff) advocates use of contextual instruction and offers guidelines for providing workplace…

These four newsletters focus on issues related to adult basic education and the challenges faced when teaching adult learners. The first issue looks at the characteristics of learning disabilities, providing information to help teachers determine whether a learner has a learning disability and who might be appropriately referred for testing. The…

This booklet should be of interest to educators and people seeking to understand the mechanisms of exclusion and the forging of new paths towards community empowerment and basic education skills. Many inhabitants of Cairo, Egypt, depend on the zabbaleen/garbage collectors but know very little of these people who make their way up and down the…

Discusses a program at Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology (Ontario) for educationally disadvantaged adults which integrates academic training in basic language, math, and social skills with technical skills training. Describes the application of basic skills training in an Advanced Food Preparation course. (JM)

This material provides an initial assessment procedure to help identify the level of basic skills competence of people entering education or training. It is based on Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit Standards that describe how and to what level of performance adults should be able to use communication and number skills. The material can be…

This instructor's guide to mathematics instruction is one of the five books developed during a 21-month cooperative project to develop instructional materials that enhance skills in a workplace context. Partners in the project included the University of Texas at Austin, consultants, the Austin/Travis County Private Industry Council, Hart Graphics,…

This student edition of learning modules in refresher mathematics is one of the five books developed during a 21-month cooperative project to develop instructional materials that enhance skills in a workplace context. Partners in the project included the University of Texas at Austin, consultants, the Austin/Travis County Private Industry Council,…

This final report contains the proceedings and other materials from a workshop to provide training experience in literacy follow-up materials development to participants from UNESCO member states in the Asia and Pacific region. Focus is on practical agricultural training for adults. The proceedings discuss the objectives of the workshop and…

A literature search revealed various definitions of literacy and various theories about how basic skills relate to occupational skills. For example, literacy was said to be defined within the context of a society and was often measured in society, rather than in isolation. Alarms were sounded about the many people in the United States who lack…

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…

Data were obtained from the National Child Development Study (NCDS), a large-scale longitudinal study in the United Kingdom following up a sample of people born in a single week in 1958 through to adult life, to demonstrate that poor numeracy skills have a major impact. At age 37, a 10 percent sample of 1,714 cohort members were interviewed and…

This document describes how 10 mathematics and numeracy teachers from Technical and Further Education colleges and community providers in Australia assisted in identification of mathematics skills that would form the mathematics component of the Adult Basic Education Curriculum Framework. The draft competencies are organized under the headings of…

This publication contains 37 stories, vignettes, and poems written by participants in the British Columbia Buildings Corporation Workplace Language Program. The pieces center on family, work, people, and places and were written by people who decided to learn how to improve their language skills. They represent slices of employees' lives as they…

This instructor's guide contains 11 lesson plans for inplant classes on workplace skills for employees in a cement plant. The 11 units cover the following topics: goals; interpreting memoranda; applying a standard set of work procedures; qualities of a safe worker; accident prevention; insurance forms; vocabulary development; inventory control…

This booklet provides an introduction for health service managers, trainers, and personnel about basic skills. It provides background information on the link between poor basic skills and poor health as well as information about the ways in which people use basic skills in their daily lives. Two reasons for health care organizations to be involved…