This issue of the biannual "Syracuse University Library Associate Courier" is devoted to covering the world famous collections of adult and continuing education materials held by the Syracuse University Library. It contains five articles: "Laubach in India: 1935-1970" (S. Y. Shah) describes missionary and founder of Laubach…

The CHALLENGES Literacy Project, a 2-year government-funded demonstration project, supported volunteer tutor programs to meet the literacy needs of adults with developmental disabilities in Alberta, Canada. Of the 20 students in the program, most were female; most were aged 20-29; 3 spoke English as a Second Language; 12 lived with family; 18 were…

An annotated listing of literacy materials from Saskatchewan includes items for use by new readers, tutors, and instructors. The annotations summarize the content and give the reading level of materials suitable for new readers. The bibliography consists of two sections. One covers Saskatchewan-produced titles and includes availability…

A project in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, investigated whether the use of computers along with Laubach literacy materials could significantly raise the reading level of adults presently reading at the 0-4 grade levels. Adults in a control and an experimental group (15 in each) worked one-on-one with volunteer tutors using the "Laubach Way to…

A reading immersion program was conducted for 23 Memphis Defense Logistics Agency employees using the Navy Reading Improvement Program. Participants ranged in age from 30-71 and in schooling from 7 years of formal education to some college. Pretesting with the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests yielded scores ranging from 3.0 to 7.4 with a mean…

An estimated 850,000 Canadian adults lack basic literacy skills. An examination of the profile and achievements of the students enrolled in the literacy education program at the Alberta Vocational Centre in Edmonton indicates that like the many other types in the broad range of adult literacy programs, the highly structured nature of the Edmonton…

Intended primarily to serve as a catalyst for further discussion, this report presents recommendations for the development of graduate level emphases in adult reading/literacy and postsecondary reading/learning (initially at the doctoral level and later at the master's level) that function within the mission of the graduate program offered by the…

For almost half a century the United States military services have incorporated formal literacy programs into job training for those enlistees who are less than fully qualified. Over the years, several successful job-specific reading programs have evolved. In 1975, the Army began the Functional Literacy (FLIT) Program, a program based on a…

This document consists of informative material on and a copy of a newspaper for adults who are learning to read. The newspaper is designed to help new readers develop reading skills, while providing interesting and relevant information with an adult focus. Local, national, and international news stories as well as information about health, safety,…

This digest about issues currently being debated in the adult literacy field examines the appropriate goals and objectives for adult literacy education, professionalization of the field, and literacy program evaluation. The first section reflects the disagreement between those who believe the purpose of literacy education should be to support…

Designed to provide a comprehensive literacy reference for public libraries, this handbook presents a glossary of terms, background information on functional literacy, and brief reviews of 14 additional topics: (1) literacy statistics; (2) adult performance levels; (3) the problem of adult education; (4) illiteracy generates itself; (5) about…

The Kansas Volunteer Tutor Utilization (KV-TUTOR) project was undertaken to explore some of the possibilities of using volunteer tutors in adult basic education (ABE) programs. A volunteer structure was developed at 16 local ABE programs throughout the state. KV-TUTOR actively promoted these volunteer systems by contacting (through letters, phone…

A study was conducted to determine if visualization could be used as an organizational tool to help adult education students improve their reading comprehension by helping them to see the structure of what they are reading in a sort of verbal picture of organized ideas. Following a review of research, which identified five areas in which…

Three studies were conducted to determine the validity of the idea that adult literacy students have greater reading potential (and thus can learn in much shorter periods of time) than school children who score at comparable levels to the adults on standardized reading tests, and that adults are more efficient learners than such children. The…

A case study is described in which an application of Goodman's Psycholinguistic Guessing Game model of reading was attempted with an elderly illiterate woman. Instructional materials were devised consistent with the theory of the game, and a tutorial was conducted. Researcher observations were recorded with respect to the subject's…