Through a federal grant, Salt Lake Community College (Utah), in conjunction with two area industries, implemented a workplace literacy project to serve 225 employees. The training included work-related curriculum and instruction in reading, English as a Second Language, oral communication skills, written communication skills, mathematics, and…

Although a large number of adults in the United States are assumed to need literacy training, little agreement exists on that number. Adults who attend literacy instruction are assumed to acquire the skills, but little is known about program effectiveness. Another assumption is that adults should define their goals, but this does not ensure that…

Poor preparation of adult literacy educators is often blamed for the failure of adult literacy students. Four critical issues related to developing the adult literacy professional work force are as follows: how literacy is learned in adulthood; how practitioners learn and improve their practice; how new knowledge is generated in and for the field;…

Inquiry-based staff development is a promising direction for rethinking practice and research and for generating knowledge from a field-based perspective for adult literacy. Rethinking staff development entails investigating a number of current assumptions: the nature and function of literacy learning in adulthood; adult literacy practitioners as…

An evaluation of an 18-month workplace education program at 2 health care sites in Cambridge, Massachusetts, showed that the curriculum designed could be adapted for other workplace education programs. The workplace education program was designed to help improve the language skills of employees at Neville Manor and at the Cambridge Hospital. Of 35…

SHELCOM, an adult education project in homeless shelters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, investigated the effects of using computer technology on participants' writing and communication skills. The project consisted of 2-hour workshops, twice weekly, complemented by online support and instruction. Learners paired across the city worked on creating…

This packet contains an instructor guide and student workbook detailing 32 activities that hospital workers can use in a classroom setting to improve their vocabulary and spelling skills. The activities encompass the following: (1) different ways to look up words to spell them correctly; (2) pronunciation of words used around the workplace; (3)…

This packet contains four products of a workplace literacy course on numbers and charts for hospital workers. The instructor's manual contains an answer key for the student activities, and a pre- and post-evaluation, along with a syllabus for the 13-week course that provides information on instructional goal, course description, objectives,…

A manual designed to help English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students make the transition to adult basic education (ABE) courses is presented. It is intended to help teachers understand the problems encountered by ESL transitional students, prepare specific lessons, and adopt successful teaching techniques. The competency-based curriculum targets…

This learning module develops basic reading strategies of previewing new information, integrating knowledge, and recalling information in an organized way that may be applied to everyday life or work-specific settings. Vocabulary building and comprehensive recall techniques for a print-rich workplace setting are also emphasized. The module…

This learning module focuses on reading for specific kinds of workplace information, interpreting that information, and summarizing main ideas. Identification of relevant details, facts, and specifications is explored, especially in reference to reading and interpreting technical materials or business correspondence. The module includes units for…

This document contains an annotated list of 95 resources about and/or for use in adult and family literacy programs. The list includes a wide variety of publications, including background reading materials, parent and teacher guides, program descriptions, reports of research projects, discussions/analysis of government policy, assessment…

This Teaching Adult Learners Kit (TALKit) is an inservice "cafeteria" that offers many choices to the workshop planner/facilitator. The core of the kit is a series of structured workshop activities designed to help teachers build a teaching foundation--a working philosophy for adult education. Activities focus on three areas: the philosophy of…

A great deal of attention has been focused on adult literacy by policy makers, employers, unions, and state and federal government. An increasing body of work is challenging conventional assumptions and values related to literacy. The National Literacy Act of 1991 has the potential to develop an essential long-term infrastructure. Some basic…

An Israeli study determined what happens when persons with low-literacy levels read news accounts that presuppose general knowledge that the writer expects them to have, but that they may not necessarily possess. The study sample consisted of about 600 students, mostly women, in 30 literacy centers throughout the country. In each class, adult…