When floodwater swept through the McVities biscuit factory in Carlisle in January 2005 few were confident that it would reopen. The factory, in the Caldewgate area of the city, was one of the first casualties of the flood, as water, nine feet deep in places, coursed trough the food preparation areas, destroying equipment and covering everything in…

This study addresses the primary question, "What instructional approaches typify adult literacy education in the United States?" as well as several secondary questions. To address the primary question, a survey was developed and responses were received from 598 adult literacy teachers in 12 states. When the data were subjected to factor analysis,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate adult literacy education learners' self-esteem and to examine the relationship between self-esteem and measures of achievement in reading and math. The rationale for the present study stemmed from the lack of research into adult literacy students' self-esteem levels. More than 200 learners enrolled in…

This article examines the relationship between shame, literacy and social relations by analyzing shame narratives told to the author by youth and adult literacy students during a 24-month ethnographic research project conducted in two Brazilian cities. Employing Bourdieu's theoretical framework and literature from the anthropology of emotions, the…

It may be good to remind ourselves that ICAE was created in 1973 as an international non-governmental organisation in the context of CONFINTEA III which was held in Tokyo in 1972. Ever since it has grown as a global network. The ICAE Executive took the initiative to start a process to prepare for CONFINTEA VI in Brazil via a virtual seminar to…

In 2009 Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system, in common with so many other areas of public policy and the economy, was preoccupied by the effects of the global economic downturn and, like other sectors, sought to reposition itself to deal with the economic fallout, while anticipating its role in the recovery. Yet, as…

There is a highly compelling case for using technology on a large scale to increase access to and improve America's adult education and workforce skills enterprise. By the reckoning of the National Commission on Adult Literacy and others, the nation must reach many more millions of adults with effective college- and job-readiness skills programs…

An ethnographic study examined illiterates and their understanding of literacy. The theoretical background of the study is based on the thesis of "contemporary orality": that India is a fundamentally oral culture that retains all the characteristics of primary orality (Walter Ong's term) through the use of speech as the dominant medium…

Research conducted by the Canadian Institute for Adult Education revealed an alarming degree of illiteracy among francophone adults living in Canada. In the province of Alberta the illiteracy rate was dramatic, with estimates of up to 10,000 adults who were francophone by birth and yet illiterate in French. This report describes the underlying…

This document consists of the four issues of the "ILY Newsletter" issued during 1990. The January/February issue, "The Book Voyage," reports on the International Literacy Year (ILY) project in which a series of books travels around the world and people who have recently learned to read and write express messages in the books,…

This is a congressional hearing on the topic of adult education and proposed amendments to Public Law 97-377, the Adult Education Act. Testimony includes statements from individuals representing the United States Department of Education; director of adult education, Sheehan High School, Wallingford, Connecticut; American Association for Adult and…

Journal is available from the National Institute of Adult Education, 35 Queen Anne Street, London, WIM OBL.

The article examines the effect of international awards and measures of recognition of performance in literacy on literacy program improvement and expansion. (AG)

This research investigates the amount of metalinguistic knowledge one can assume when teaching an adult to read. In addition, it questions the source of this awareness and whether it relates to general cognitive development, to schooling, or specifically to the act of learning to read. The subjects were sixty monolingual adults enrolled in a…

This volume is the report of the proceedings of a seminar on adult education held in Tehran, Iran. The twelve papers included discuss such topics as adult literacy programs in Iran, literacy in Turkey, adult literacy problems and programs of Pakistan, the purpose of literacy training, defining literacy, planning literacy training programs,…