Statistics indicating that the problem of illiteracy is lessening mask a greater problem--that of functional illiteracy. Functional illiterates may have some reading and writing skills but are not able to apply them as functioning members of society. A 1975 study using the most sophisticated instrument that had ever been used to determine…

This package of instructional materials is designed to aid adults in prison to perform the functional skill of applying for a job. A teacher's guide outlines 14 hours of instruction. Other materials consist of vocabulary flash cards, a student's work sheet and answer sheet, discussion ideas and activities, a sample job application, and brochures…

In presenting the work of participants before and during the Symposium, the report begins with an introduction giving an overall view of concepts, projects, and problems of functional literacy with reference to other sections of the report. The keynote lecture deals with functional literacy in the context of adult education--results and innovative…

Over twenty years of attempts to provide instruction in adult literacy skills have accomplished very little in the country of Ethiopia. (MKM)

Describes the "Walking Teachers" program in Thailand, developed to bring functional literacy to all adults in the community where they live. The walking teachers have three functions: (1) teaching adult functional literacy, (2) overseeing nonformal educational activities, and (3) coordinating rural development activities in general. (CH)

Argues that the obligatory nature of functional literacy does not deprive the individual freedom of thought and opinion, and that voluntarism in basic adult education in the United States has greatly contributed to putting the nation at risk and to keeping it a nation at risk. (HOD)

The adult basic education program has had little impact on reducing illiteracy among adults in the United States. Reasons include a bad funding formula, lack of measurable objectives, and curtailed federal project activity. (JDS)

Describes the first Unesco Experimental Literacy Program. (SP)

A radical re-structuring of traditional schooling requires research into effective means of offering the whole population of developing nations access to the educational system: the role of mass media, means and limits of functional education, institutionalization of lifelong education. (JB)

Reports on the extent of illiteracy in the United States and explores various definitions of literacy. (GT)

Some of the broad issues of literacy and national economy are addressed in this article, which provides a historical context for the claims frequently made by policymakers and employer organizations about the economic benefits of increased language skills. Contains 42 references. (LB)

Compares and comments on two recent national surveys of adult literacy standards in the United States and Canada, which move away from reporting the number of literates/illiterates and use levels of literacy proficiency. Notes that different concepts for literacy levels, different types of sampling, and different ways of measuring literacy and…

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.…

Due to fragmentation of the field, framing and engaging in debates over adult literacy standards have been particularly difficult. The discourse of adult literacy standards reflects this fragmentation. The terms content standards and opportunity-to-learn (OTL) standards have typically not been used. The term performance standards has been used…

In 1993, under contract from the National Center for Education Statistics, the Educational Testing Service assessed the literacy proficiencies of a nationally representative sample of all adults, aged 16 and over, from nearly 27,000 homes. That assessment, the National Adult Literacy Survey, produced a profile of the English literacy skills of the…