Lesotho's educational system and development are largely influenced by missionaries and colonisers who taught the three 'Rs' (reading, writing and numeracy skills) to the Basotho. Most of those enlightened Basotho were to carry on the duties of either educating others or as missionary workers. Some became clerks, interpreters, police officers,…

This article describes an unconventional method to teach un-contracted braille reading and writing skills to students who are blind and have additional disabilities. It includes a keyboarding curriculum that focuses on the whole language approach to literacy. A special feature is the keyboard that is adapted with braille symbols. Un-contracted…

Growing scientific literature provides a perspective of literacy that is at variance with traditional points of view, which see literacy as a unitary, dichotomous, psychological capability that is learned with the appropriate educational opportunity. However, an individual is not easily categorized as literate or illiterate. While the goal is to…

Intended for administrators, curriculum directors, teachers, school board members, and representatives of local industry in Michigan, this module was designed to create awareness of the disparity between the demands of the workplace and literacy instruction in the schools, and to encourage school districts to develop new indices for assessing the…

An analysis is provided of the belief that theories developed about literacy within different academic disciplines and development campaigns have been built around contradictory assumptions. The conclusion is made that research is needed in order to make literacy instruction more functional in adult literacy programs. (109 references) (GLR)

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)

Relates Victorian attitudes toward education by a forgotten 19th century liberal educator concerned with proper moral education. Concludes that uses and development of basic literacy are severely bound by individual and social contexts and that basic literacy does not, in itself, wield a magical transforming power for learning and life. (TRS)

Describes a basic literacy program developed by the Spanish Women's Institute to lower the number of illiterate women in Spain and encourage women lacking basic educational skills to participate in the existing educational system. Explains the program's "New Approach" teaching materials, which teach women to read and write while…

This paper summarises findings and lessons from a recently conducted evaluation of an adult functional literacy program in Ghana. The study attempted to assess learners' literacy and numeracy skills, and ascertain participants' knowledge and skills in various development aspects as well as their impact. The literacy and numeracy skills assessment…

This book is intended to help adult literacy tutors look at the variety of reading tasks in the adult world and see what use they can make of them with their students. In Chapter 1, the tutor looks in depth at all the reading and writing tasks adults do. The message and medium aspects of literacy are introduced. Chapter 2 presents an overview of…

The purpose of this booklet is to show the role and importance of work-oriented literacy for development, that it is a way of training to adapt techno-vocational and socioeconomic requirements of development. Work-oriented literacy is geared to the felt needs and interests of selected vocational groups--farmers, factory workers, small traders,…

This set of learning modules was developed during a project to deliver workplace literacy instruction to individuals employed in the more than 50 businesses related to the activities of the Port of Baltimore. It is intended to accomplish the following objectives: familiarize students with components of clear and direct sentences; give students…

Describes experiences in teaching adults to read and discusses the following needs of illiterate adult students: a program containing adult materials and a low student/teacher ratio, teachers skilled in teaching basic skills who are knowledgeable about a variety of teaching methodologies, and a way to find and bring them into the classroom. (EL)

This document explains the Pittsburgh Literacy Initiative (PLI), what role it plays in workplace literacy, what mechanisms it has used, and what has been learned. Section 1 lists the five aspects of the initiative's mission: clearinghouse, screening center, program development, data collection, and literacy promotion. Section 2 describes the…

The study described in this book was designed to create an overall picture of the type of student found at a school for educationally substandard army recruits in England, to establish the causes of the student's educational backwardness and relate these to linguistic performance, and to compare the effectiveness of the approaches and methods used…