This handbook presents a wide range of research on adults who have low literacy skills. It looks at the cognitive, affective, and motivational factors underlying adult literacy; adult literacy in different countries; and the educational approaches being taken to help improve adults' literacy skills. It includes not only adults enrolled in adult…

This document presents the transcript of Congressional hearings held before the Committee on Labor and Human Resources on the scope and implications of illiteracy in the United States and on school and adult programs addressing literacy. After opening statements of the Hon. James M. Jeffords and the Hon. Christopher J. Dodd, the transcript for the…

The 20 essays in this collection are based on a project undertaken by the California Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Model Literacy Project in 1983-85. (The goal of the project was to institute changes within the CCC to enhance the literacy of corpsmembers.) Essays describe innovative approaches to literacy education, analyze bureaucratic…

Documents a literacy problem in an electronics factory in which workers failed to read or follow written instructions. Suggests that to be truly literate, employees need access to a wider range of information about companies and their work and that work should be organized to allow, even require, workers to take responsibility for reading and…

Attention has been focused on whether U.S. competitiveness in a global market can be sustained if the work force has deficient reading skills. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 90 million adults (50 percent of the adult population) do not have the literacy skills they need to function in society. These persons have limited reading…

The literature shows that state federations of labor should be, and many are, actively involved in current state literacy initiatives. The United States must develop a coherent and comprehensive system of lifetime education. This will require a greater commitment of public and private resources to education and training. Too many employers are…

Most major workplace literacy programs involve unions. Organized labor's current leadership in worker education and training is not a continuation of earlier activities but an expansion of union interest and activity that is unprecedented in the history of organized labor. These efforts do not rely on public funding, because many unions have…

This blueprint is intended to give employers and organized labor an overview of the issues involved in workplace literacy. The guide is divided into six sections. Section 1 defines and introduces workplace literacy. Section 2 highlights some of the issues employers and organized labor are facing as a result of low literacy levels in the workplace.…

Argues that metaphor, as it thrives in fiction and poetry, is relevant and even essential, to adult-literacy theory and practice. Argues that the concrete poetic images, metaphors, and stories literacy educators learn from students should help shape their theoretical discussions of adult literacy; and likewise, once learned, these should be the…

Discusses the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s: the context of the time, its educational programs, instruction, teachers, and how it handled the problem of illiteracy. Examines whether this kind of program would work in the 1990s, concluding that many of the programs components would transfer well to the present. (SR)

Reporting recent and significant studies across the spectrum of the literacy movement to help plan the United States' literacy future, this book discusses the history of the adult literacy movement, especially in the United States, and the emergent definitions of adult literacy. The book also reports on the scholarship about, practice of, and…

This booklet provides guidelines for setting up workplace programs to strengthen employee basic skills. It is intended to help employers who are contemplating the establishment of basic skills training programs and those with programs already in place who seek to improve their current designs. Part I addresses the basic skills problem in the…

Introduces the standardized safety sign system being established in the United States. Argues that these safety signs, symbols, and warnings may be a good place to begin a workplace literacy project for workers with limited reading skills. (SR)

Twenty-eight in-depth interviews were conducted with top executives in Philadelphia to discover issues and concerns about committing organizational resources over time to workplace literacy programs. Participants represented major organizations and institutions, both manufacturing and service. The executives reported that the manifestations of…

Research on adult literacy suggests that some formidable problems lie ahead as efforts continue toward ensuring that every adult in the United States is literate and possesses skills necessary for economic competitiveness and citizenship. Among the difficulties facing existing approaches are three interrelated issues. First, current programs serve…