Accountability plays a key role in the field of adult literacy. Indeed, practitioners often juggle multiple accountabilities--to funders, taxpayers, learners, boards of directors, the community, and their profession. These may be in tension with each other, as when teachers' accountability to learners conflicts with their accountability to deliver…

This qualitative study surveyed university professors of literacy education to explore "how" and "if" they modeled differentiated instruction in their own college classrooms. A survey in questionnaire format on "how" and "if" University Reading Professors differentiate instruction was sent to a purposeful…

This study examines the relationship between TABE-R performance and performance on selected, more focused reading component tests after 42 hours of adult education classroom instruction. Specifically, measures of expressive vocabulary, reading fluency, sight word reading, and decoding were administered to 98 participants along with the TABE-R.…

This article argues for the differentiation according to timescales of aspects of writer identity. It presents a framework for investigating the discoursal construction of writer identity that develops the categories proposed by Ivanic in two ways. First, it distinguishes aspects of writer identity according to the timescales over which they…

Literacy is the foundation of lifelong learning and a crucial element in the universally recognised right to education. However, illiteracy continues to exist as a global challenge, and many individuals still lack the basic literacy skills that are needed to engage in further learning opportunities and for the economic and social development of…

This paper will review the article entitled, "Shopping {For} Power: How Adult Literacy Learners Negotiate" [EJ756994] by authors Julie L. Ozanne, Natalie Ross Adkins, and Jennifer A. Sandlin. The authors argue that functional literacy in the United States is an important issue and needs to play a larger role in adult literacy programs.…

"Preparing for Work," developed by Equipped for the Future at the Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee, is a skills-based course designed for implementation in organizations and agencies involved in preparing their clients and students for entry level work. Each of the instructional modules that comprise the…

This article examines the conflicts and challenges that student leaders in adult basic education and literacy programs experience in balancing their leadership responsibilities with academic endeavours. Based upon a case study of an adult basic education student leadership council in New York City, the article shows that leadership activities can…

This study reports the results of a needs analysis of literacy programs for a library system serving three rural and suburban counties. It examines the computing skills and needs of literacy tutors as well as native-speaking and English language learner (ELL) literacy tutees enrolled in the programs. Paper surveys were mailed to tutors, who were…

How can teachers be helped, at relatively little expense, to improve their professional practice? This problem was addressed in "Improving Formative Assessment in Vocational Education and Adult Literacy, Language and Numeracy Programmes"--the IFA project. Adopting a specific problem-based methodology as part of an action research…

This article reports the results from a randomized control field trial that investigated the impact of an enhanced decoding and spelling curriculum on the development of adult basic education (ABE) learners' reading skills. Sixteen ABE programs that offered class-based instruction to Low-Intermediate-level learners were randomly assigned to either…

We statistically examined the oral reading fluency of 295 adults with low literacy by analyzing total words read per minute and word error rates. We identified four fluency-ability groupings based on standardized assessments of reading-related skills (phonemic awareness, word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension, and general ability). Our…

Each month, the Literacy Information and Communication System ("LINCS") will feature one of the three LINCS Resource Collections--Basic Skills, Program Management, and Workforce Competitiveness--and introduce research-based resources that practitioners can use in their adult and family literacy programs and classrooms. This edition features the…

This literature review provides an overview of the main lines of discussion and enquiry around social capital and adult learning and literacy. It was written as a background paper for "The Centre for Literacy's 2010 Summer Institute" on workplace literacy and essential skills (LES). The Institute focus was "what…

This article discusses the relationship between persistence in adult literacy and numeracy programs, changes in the participants' attitudes to engaging in learning and pedagogic practices using data from eight Scottish literacy education organizations. It argues that literacy learning can act as a resource that enables vulnerable adults to change…