Examines adults in postliteracy programs in Northern Tanzania, focusing on reading and writing abilities after five years of training; the role of radio, rural newspapers, and libraries in literacy; and adults' interest in postliteracy materials. Points to the continuing importance of the oral tradition and lack of adequate reading material as…

Reports on the first New York Literacy Vision Screening, which investigated whether illiterate adults enrolled in illiteracy programs might have undetected visual problems that were interfering with their quest for literacy. Finds a startling 66 percent with vision problems. (SR)

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)

The director of the Queens Borough Public Library (Jamaica, New York) examines the role of the public library in helping to prevent illiteracy and discusses innovative ways libraries can serve adult readers and learners, using the Queens model as an example. Includes a sidebar by Audrey Gorman "Toward a New Definition of Literacy." (AEF)

Women have been silenced through their exclusion from the dominant discourse of il/literacy. The construction of an illiterate population has been part of an "othering" process by the state and serves to create a national ideology of illiteracy that locates the blame for educational deficiencies in the individual, rather than in the structural…

This monograph compiles the comments of several reviewers into an annotated bibliography of materials for teaching reading (levels 1-3) to adults. A literature review format is used to present these comments, as found in published speeches, articles, and other materials, which describe the history of adult basic education and literacy education as…

The importance of considering social contexts--workplace, family, and community networks--in devising adult literacy programs has emerged over the past decade as the clear consensus of adult literacy research. Equally important have been the attempts by field researchers and federal policymakers to use these findings in setting up demonstration…

This paper reviews results of a questionnaire distributed to literacy workers in rural Alberta (Canada) to ascertain their views on rural literacy. The questionnaire was designed to identify: (1) distinctive features of the issue of adult illiteracy in rural areas; (2) the strengths of literacy efforts in rural Alberta; (3) the weaknesses of…

This paper describes the U.S. experience in providing vocational training to the low-literate. Chapter I presents an overview of the problem. It discusses the changing nature of work, the workplace, the worker, and vocational training itself. Chapter II describes the U.S. experience in the training of low-literates. The approaches, methods, and…

To properly assess the problem of adult literacy in the United States and to develop successful intervention programs, it is critical to view literacy not just as a technical proficiency but as a culturally shaped set of practices engaged in by individuals and groups, literate and illiterate. A successful literacy campaign must incorporate…

According to U.S. Census data, in rural Pennsylvania, 37% of adults did not complete higher school, and 21% did not go beyond 8th grade. As a consequence of present demographic and literacy trends, the proportion of the workforce with low levels of basic skills is growing. At the same time, a changing labor market is creating new jobs that demand…

The Susquehanna County Volunteer Literacy Council created an improvisational theater group of the Council's staff, students and volunteers to give public exposure to the problems of the functional illiterate. A volunteer company of players was gathered, and skits were developed. Through 29 performances, 3,402 people were made aware of the problems…

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…