Focusing on what is being done to help adult nonreaders or poor readers, this publication offers suggestions for ways educators might keep informed about literacy efforts and teaching techniques. It contains reports on current efforts by governmental and private agencies to eliminate adult illiteracy, successful features of various literacy…

The whole language approach was used with a "well" or successful adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) group. Literature was chosen as a curriculum for which group work could be devised that was geared to all levels of students. The book used was "Choices" by George Ella Lyon, a book of short stories written by characters who live in a small…

Consisting of testimony and prepared materials presented to a joint session of House and Senate subcommittees, this report deals with the problem of illiteracy in the United States. The report contains statements from Richard C. Anderson, director of the Center for the Study of Reading; Samuel L. Banks, president of the Association for the Study…

This book is a personal history of adult literacy as seen through the eyes of a student. The document assesses and evaluates styles of teaching and the student's role through the years 1969-1986 in England. The focus is on developing a new approach to literacy work, based on the principle of student-centered learning. In this method, the adult…

The fourth of eight related documents, this booklet is part of a series of papers presented at the 1978 National Right to Read Conference examining issues and problems in literacy. In an examination of the role of private business in efforts to increase literacy, each of the three papers in this booklet discusses a specific program sponsored and…

Two teachers from very diverse backgrounds combined their resources in the College of Public and Community Service at the University of Massachusetts to set up an adult literacy program. Based on the assumptions that instruction should be based on the needs of the learners, that reading is a cognitive rather than a mechanical process, and that…

This booklet was developed to offer practical advice to those in charge of, or attempting to develop, a small literacy program. The guide is organized in nine narrative sections that provide information on the following topics: beginning a literacy program, assessing the need, program structure, building a program, financing a program,…

The Harvard Adult Literacy Initiative was established in the Harvard University School of Education through the university's Reading Laboratory in 1987. Basic goals of the initiative are to: provide professional training and find effective procedures for training teachers and administrators in the field of adult literacy; conduct research; develop…

Intended for use by literacy workers, teacher trainers, and program developers and directors, this annotated bibliography brings together the most current writings about adult literacy education available in journals, books, and ERIC documents. The entries are arranged into five sections: (1) the state of adult literacy, both in the United States…

Computer specialists developed a computer-assisted instructional (CAI) literacy development program for career oriented youths, the goals of which were: 1) to enable illiterate and semiliterate youths (ages 14-21) to read at the 8th grade level in the area of their vocational choice; 2) to offer them job-oriented reading materials to assist in…

This practitioner's guide was developed for instructors in schools and business and industry who need to gather materials and design, develop, and implement job-specific basic skills programs. It provides a practical model for establishing cost-effective basic skills and literacy programs. It also provides practical advice about how to use the…

Based on the experiences of a literacy center in Texas, this handbook is intended to assist adult educators in developing a similar program in their community. The purpose of the literacy referral system is to provide educationally and economically disadvantaged adults with an individualized educational and employment plan based on an assessment…

Evaluation studies conducted in 1978 at three sites yielded encouraging results regarding the ability of the Basic Skills Learning System (BSLS) to achieve the goals of adult basic education and demonstrated that effective curriculum models utilizing well-designed instructional paradigms can offer high quality instruction in the basic skills when…

This five-chapter guide for coordinators of community-based literacy groups working with prisoners is illustrated with prisoners' drawings. The first chapter examines issues affecting learning behind bars. Topics covered include similarities to and differences from other programs, respecting the learner's culture, links between poverty and…

The participatory rural appraisal (PRA) technique was used with 1,550 women and 420 men in more than 100 villages in Uganda, El Salvador, and Bangladesh over a 2-year period to develop and pilot test an approach to literacy education called REFLECT (Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques). The REFLECT approach, which…