This guide is intended to assist teachers and volunteer tutors who are teaching adults and teenagers to read. The nature and extent of the adult illiteracy problem and the process of learning to read are discussed in the first chapter. The characteristics that are desirable in basic reading tutors and those that are encountered in adult learners are described in the next two chapters; assessment and goal setting are examined next, and the fifth chapter deals with the following instructional approaches and techniques: language experience stories, sight words and context clues, phonics (consonants), and word patterns. Comprehension and thinking skills are the subject of the sixth chapter. Chapter 7 is devoted to instructional materials and learning activities, and Chapter 8 covers goal analysis and lesson planning. Materials that should be brought to a lesson, methods of identifying appropriate material, ways of incorporating handwriting into lessons, steps in developing lesson plans, and appropriate behavior for tutors are discussed in the next chapter. A series of sample beginning- and intermediate-level lesson plans is also included. Appendixes include guidelines for evaluating tutor competency (complete with illustrative case studies), a list of the 300 most frequently used words, basic and survival word lists for adults, useful words for filling out forms, signs in capitals, a glossary, suggested key words, vocabulary building/syllabication guidelines, word patterns, guidelines for evaluating adult basic education reading material, a checklist of students' word attack skills, and lesson plan forms. (MN)