Library-based adult literacy programs rely on volunteers to provide tutoring services to adult learners. A high percentage of volunteer tutors are matched with a reading-disabled adult literacy learner. Although all tutors are required to complete preservice tutor training, there is a limited amount of research that documents whether they utilize…

This newsletter, published five times a year, features articles on issues of concern to adult, family, and youth literacy practitioners, as well as recommended resources, announcements, and teaching strategies. (1) Creating a 21st Century Adult Literacy System (Martin C. Finsterbusch); (2) What Research Can Tell Us (Stephen Reder); (3) Skills the…

This article elaborates the concept of educational projects, a term that signifies consistent constellations of institutions, financial resources, social actors, ideologies, theories of knowledge and attendant pedagogies that shape local cultural practices of schooling. The article demonstrates the utility of the concept of educational projects…

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the impact of a word study literacy approach on the spelling ability and self-efficacy of adults in a county jail. Forty-four inmates participated in the word study intervention that provided them with hands-on learning. The word study intervention was conducted in four separate sessions (September,…

The three case studies featured in this publication need to be viewed in conjunction with the recent National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) report: "A New Social Capital Paradigm for Adult Literacy: Partnerships, Policy and Pedagogy" (Balatti, Black & Falk 2009). The case studies form an important research phase of…

This study addresses the primary question, "What instructional approaches typify adult literacy education in the United States?" as well as several secondary questions. To address the primary question, a survey was developed and responses were received from 598 adult literacy teachers in 12 states. When the data were subjected to factor analysis,…

Research and development on formative assessment has paid little attention to part-time adult basic education in informal community-based settings. A three-year project funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the National Research Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy, and the Quality Improvement Agency addresses that gap in vocational and…

The author conducted a qualitative research study (Larrotta, 2005) and collected data on the use of inquiry cycles as a pedagogic activity to provide students with opportunities to develop ESL (English as a second language) literacy. The purpose of this paper is to share the author's findings on implementing inquiry cycles in an ESL literacy class…

"Classroom Management Strategies to Address the Needs of Sudanese Refugee Learners" (ED499673) examined the extent to which English language, literacy and numeracy teachers used classroom management strategies to meet the needs of adult Sudanese refugee learners. The researchers found that while teachers met the needs of these learners…

Catalyst, a quarterly newsletter from the Institute's Communications Office, contains news, information, and features about the programs and services of the National Institute for Literacy. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Spanish-Language Publication for Parents of Young Readers Among the Institute's New Titles; (2) Director's…

The learning difficulties of 23 adults were investigated in order to determine ways to better serve their literacy needs. These adults were all living in poverty, had less than eighth-grade literacy levels, and had failed to graduate from high school. The participants' records were examined and structured interviews were conducted with them; also,…

The 11th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2018) is held under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society at the Templeton Landing in Buffalo, New York. This year's EDM conference was highly competitive, with 145 long and short paper submissions. Of these, 23 were accepted as full papers and 37…

Critical practice in adult literacy education offers many interesting and important challenges, including creating a situation in which learners and instructors can communicate across their differences.

Posits that adult education programing must change functionally if it is to be effective. There is an over-emphasis on textbook teaching which impedes adult education. (JOW)

Demonstrates how Gibb's principles of learning have influenced case study outcomes from a holistic perspective. Presents abstracts of strengths, weaknesses, and instructional strategies from 15 case studies and compiles the information to present an instructor/learner situation. Principles of the holistic approach to teaching adult literacy are…