The purposes of this study were to determine the proportion of Atlanta public high school 11th and 12th grade students classified as functionally literate, marginally literate, or illiterate and to determine the significant predictors of students' performance level. A total of 430 students in randomly selected classes were administered the…

This package of instructional materials is designed to aid adults in prison to perform the functional skill of applying for a job. A teacher's guide outlines 14 hours of instruction. Other materials consist of vocabulary flash cards, a student's work sheet and answer sheet, discussion ideas and activities, a sample job application, and brochures…

In presenting the work of participants before and during the Symposium, the report begins with an introduction giving an overall view of concepts, projects, and problems of functional literacy with reference to other sections of the report. The keynote lecture deals with functional literacy in the context of adult education--results and innovative…

A pilot project will be established in the city of Amman, Jordan, and its outskirts. Guidelines include: (1) Project activities should be centered around functional literacy; (2) Efforts should be directed to persons engaged in productive activity; (3) The curriculum should be oriented towards the specific work in which the worker is engaged; (4)…

Some fundamental characteristics and trends of the approach to teaching employed in functional literacy projects for adults are described, and avenues for study and research are suggested. The Experimental World Literacy Programme educational activities show two major methodological trends: an "ecological" trend and an "industrial" trend. The…

The concept of functional literacy might be considered to have its ceremonial initiation at the World Conference of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy in Tehran, Iran, in 1965. At that conference important implications emerged for program development, methodology of teaching, and program content. An effort is made in this…

Over twenty years of attempts to provide instruction in adult literacy skills have accomplished very little in the country of Ethiopia. (MKM)

Describes functional literacy for those interested in office-based occupations. Components of office literacy include computer and cultural literacy, as well as reading skills. Offers six propositions that have implications for office literacy curriculum development. (CH)

Describes the "Walking Teachers" program in Thailand, developed to bring functional literacy to all adults in the community where they live. The walking teachers have three functions: (1) teaching adult functional literacy, (2) overseeing nonformal educational activities, and (3) coordinating rural development activities in general. (CH)

The study evaluated the readability of warning labels on potentially hazardous substances sold in a grocery store. Findings indicated the reading level of half the key words ranged from 4th grade to 10th grade and that many words seldom taught to the moderately or severely retarded appeared frequently and others commonly taught appeared rarely.…

Describes the efforts of an inner-city elementary school teacher to create a functionally literate environment in the classroom by linking written language to classroom routines, giving children many opportunities to write and receive written communication, and encouraging group learning. Explains the teacher's role in creating a print-rich…

This study developed an inventory that could be used to assess adult beginning readers' attitudes toward reading in the three attitudinal dimensions of beliefs, feelings, and behaviors and in five reading situations identified by a sample of adult beginning readers. Suggested uses for the inventory were generated. (Author/CH)

Describes a functional education program, financed by UNICEF and developed in India, which offers meaningful solutions to the daily life problems of students in third world nations. Presents learning activities related to self-employment which include functional literacy skill development as a byproduct. (NEC)

This article examines the incidence of academic deficiency and functional illiteracy among offenders in a postsecondary prison education program. A descriptive analysis was conducted using aptitude test scores on reading, math, and language from 488 students in a medium security prison in Ohio. Results are presented and analyzed. (CT)

Argues that the obligatory nature of functional literacy does not deprive the individual freedom of thought and opinion, and that voluntarism in basic adult education in the United States has greatly contributed to putting the nation at risk and to keeping it a nation at risk. (HOD)