Addresses the literacy problem on American labor pool training, and suggests ways to combat the problem. These include: evaluating written/spoken materials for literacy levels, screening prospective employees through reading comprehension tests, and expanding the role of experimental learning (both simulation and reality training). (Author/JEG)

Discusses some areas which require the immediate attention of research in adult education, including policymaking and program planning, teaching methods, training needs of staff, evaluation, attitudes, motivation, production of teaching material, administration and organization, adult literacy, and functional literacy. (TA)

From interviews with 18 low-literate prisoners, the following observations were made: few could function effectively without assistance, which was most likely to come from fellow prisoners; functioning depended on type and importance of literacy tasks to the individual and individual abilities and characteristics. The complexity within this small…

There is a marked shift of emphasis from the traditional 3-R's concept of literacy to the new 3-F's Program of functional literacy, food production, and family planning. These experiences evidently establish that "built-in" motivation (economic, social, cultural, or religious) is perhaps the only answer to any literacy training program.…

In the last decade many people have questioned the long-range effectiveness of literacy education in America. The response to this discussion about the "literacy crisis" has been the growth of three commonly held generalizations: (1) that in previous eras, Americans enjoyed remarkable levels of literacy; (2) that the role of print has been…

This document, written in the first person, describes the history and feelings of a woman who was functionally illiterate as an adult but who, having learned to read, is now a student at Rancho Santiago Community College District in Orange, California. This "open letter" urges teachers to support and encourage students with similar problems,…

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…

The implementation of Indian adult education programs will depend upon the establishment of adequate staffing and training requirements and ensuring that identification, recruitment, and training is adequate for the needs. (Author/AG)

In reviewing the Army Continuing Education System in 1979, the Assistant Secretary of the Army found a basic skills program based on traditional academic level goals was inadequate to meet the Army's requirement to provide functional, job-related basic skill education. Combining the shrinking manpower pool and projected basic skill deficiencies of…

This report contains the proceedings of the International Literacy Day Conference held in Washington, D.C., on September 8, 1978. It contains a program of conference events, an executive summary, a message from the vice president of the United States, and the text of the proceedings. The proceedings include introductory remarks by Edwin Newman; a…

The Reader Development Program (RDP) of the Free Library of Philadelphia was begun in 1966 with funds from Title I of the Library Services and Construction Act. The program was created in order to develop a demonstration reading program to reach and help the culturally disadvantaged. The RDP involves three approaches in providing library service…

This paper is a first approach to the problems raised by the concept of experimentation in the field of functional literacy. It is divided into three main sections: (1) necessity, limits, and means of experimentation; (2) methods and fields of experimentation; and (3) the fields of experimentation. Hypotheses examined include: (1) The cultural…

The purposes of the present study are: (1) to examine the nature of the modernization process among peasants in one less developed country, Colombia, and (2) to determine the cross-cultural validity of these findings in other of the less developed nations. Peasants are important subjects of study by social scientists because they constitute a…

In order to assess various reading and writing abilities of adults, for comparison with corresponding abilities of pupils in grades 7 through 12, and to investigate the extent to which adults' reading and writing abilities can be regarded as satisfactory, answers to a series of tests and questionnaire data were obtained from random samples of…