Reviews literature on U.S. Office of Education-sponsored Adult Performance Level project that cites among its accomplishments (1) a model for competency-based education, (2) creation of national awareness of illiteracy, and (3) individualized programs. Among its insufficiencies are absence of reliable measures of validity, value-laden curriculum,…

Describes right to read programs for illiterate and functionally illiterate adults in the state of Maine. (RB)

The concensus of opinions concerning current literacy programmes was that, in spite of the fact that communication skills (reading, writing, arithmetic) are sill viewed as important, there was an expressed need for subjects and educational materials and aids relevant to production in agriculture as well as in industry. (Author)

Specific suggestions on improving adult literacy programs, based on the author's observations in India. (SP)

Describes the objectives of, and methods used in, a course for near-illiterate young adults. (SP)

In an address to the fifth General Assembly of the Asian Broadcasting Union, the director of UNESCO's Department of Mass Communication explains "how Unesco reached its present position on literacy, launched its current Experimental Programme, and decided to use the title Functional Literacy." (Author/LS)

Discusses the current state of literacy and suggests that there is a renaissance of interest in the teaching of rhetoric and composition. (AEA)

The director of the National Institute of Adult Education describes some of the British strategies for bridging the gap between the acquisition of basic skills and their application to patterns of lifelong education. (SK)

Describes a study that investigated the literacy demands required by the task of text editing a manuscript on a computer terminal. (MKM)

Contends that the basic reason for functional illiteracy is that as children, individuals did not develop the ability to meet the challenges required for reading and writing and that children can develop the ability to meet these challenges by having parents read to them at an early age. (FL)

Addresses three questions: (1) what individual paths lead selected nonmainstream writers from the "Tenderloin" inner-city area of San Francisco to their craft; (2) how the contexts and relationships with the community support the growth of written expression; and (3) how this support affects individual and community growth. (MG)

One hundred sixty adult basic education students functioning at or below the sixth-grade level rated the extent to which they needed to learn 20 functional tasks. Factor analysis suggested three broad categories: everyday reading and writing, math and measurement, and special literacy tasks. Cluster analysis identified distinct subgroups based on…

Observes the language and the literacy behaviors in evidence at a shopping center food court. Muses on the "functional literacy" of the writer's immigrant mother-in-law. Discusses the range and extent of the literacies possessed by an elementary school student who, at the start of the school year, did not consider himself to be either a…

There should not be a split between literacy of function (ability to deal with institutional procedures) and literacy of voice (expression of knowledge and experience). Acquiring functional literacy often involves voicing experience as well as questioning institutional power. Teachers and students should collaborate in bridging the gap. (SK)

Calls into question whether the role of literacy and the function of schooling is to accommodate economic, social, and political structures. Examines multiple viewpoints of literacy and the difficulty of constructing a concept of literacy appropriate for diverse persons and changing circumstances. (SK)