This dissertation focuses on adult emergent literacy learning of English, which is underexplored relative to children's literacy learning and fully literate L2 learners of English. Although research has pointed to the fact that "adults often arrive [to literacy programs] with prior experiences of authentic reading and writing" (Lytle, 1990, p. 110), little investigation has been done on the particulars of how learning happens for adults within literacy learning sessions. In collecting naturalistic data of actual tutoring sessions, this dissertation addresses these theoretical and methodological gaps. Three aspects of adult emergent literacy are considered in the following chapters: a case study of a monolingual English adult learner, an analysis of oral reading errors by both L2 and L1 learners, and a continuation of the consideration of oracy with regards to tutor-learner interaction. This dissertation emphasizes that structural understandings of reading fit into the overall matrix of reading development as just one component of a holistic understanding of adult reading ability within a sociocognitive framework (Atkinson et al., 2007; Gee, 2001), alongside tutor-learner-affordance alignment (Atkinson et al.) and sociocultural factors (Gee). Yet it also underlines the importance of considerations of structural linguistic concerns, particularly oral language/phonetics/phonology, when discussing adult emergent reading as a whole. Concerns related to sound must necessarily be represented in a truly global picture of reading ability, as both materials for adult emergent readers and tutors/learners themselves are revealed to be deeply invested in oracy in literacy. I conclude with a discussion of implications of the findings on tutor training. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]