The authors discuss voluntarism, citizen involvement, adult education, and why and how adult educators should train suitable volunteers for service in adult education. They offer guidelines for administrators of a voluntary operation. (MF)

Provides an interpretative review of the literature of conforming behavior with special attention to implications for adult education. Eight different research areas of conformity research are summarized, and five reasons for conformity and three different kinds of conforming behavior are identified and discussed. (SH)

A survey of 208 teacher aides in Ohio adult basic education (ABE) programs and interviews with 35 of the respondents were conducted to determine their basic job tasks, individual characteristics, and training needs. Results showed that aides' contributions to ABE programs are indeed significant. Four Modalitites of partnership between teachers and…

Discusses the ideas and educational philosophies of two radical leaders of adult basic education. Both were learner-centered and humanistic and both viewed adult basic education as a method of social reform. (DC)

The author suggests that illiterates are portrayed by the media as incompetents leading miserable lives and that this image is incorrect for the majority. He commends the 1987 Southam News series on literacy for not following this trend; he describes the series and how it has put adult literacy on the Canadian agenda. (CH)

The study was created of a typology of low-literate adults based on deterrents to participation in adult basic education. Deterrent information obtained from 160 low-literate adult students was used as the database for the research. Six types of low-literate adults were identified. The typology provides a basis for program development to meet the…

Presents three tenets from the research for adult literacy instruction: (1) improvement in one literacy skill should mirror improvement in others; (2) instructors should facilitate, not control, learning; and (3) students should be able to transfer classroom learning to their daily language encounters. Includes ideas for application. (CH)

Argues that the nature and the readability of instructional materials may be an unsuspected barrier to progress for adult illiterates who receive instruction from volunteer literacy organizations. Considers the reading series of several national organizations. (CH)

This examination of library involvement in adult literacy programs argues that public libraries had their roots in widespread concern for literacy in the 17th century and traces the development of such programs to the present. Changing definitions of literacy are summarized, and current issues in adult library services are discussed. (EM)

Describes a study designed to evaluate the relationship between performance on the TABE (Test of Adult Basic Education) Test and the GED (General Educational Development) Test. Analysis of the data shows that there was a significant correlation between all the subscores on the TABE and all the subscores on the GED. (CT)

This study developed an inventory that could be used to assess adult beginning readers' attitudes toward reading in the three attitudinal dimensions of beliefs, feelings, and behaviors and in five reading situations identified by a sample of adult beginning readers. Suggested uses for the inventory were generated. (Author/CH)

Interviews with adult basic education students revealed that (1) some program demands and conditions threaten them with fear of failure; (2) some adults want more autonomy than instructors want to give; and (3) the special needs of some students demand special learning conditions. (SK)

Findings from past research suggest that teachers in successful adult basic education/general educational development programs know how to adapt basic skills instruction to the concerns and ability levels of adult students. Results of an informal Mississippi survey illustrate that many teachers are unprepared to teach disadvantaged students basic…

Two hundred and fourteen adult basic education students in Connecticut were interviewed to determine the range and types of personal and institutional supports and countersupports available to students and to discover how the presence or absence of such supports enhanced or detracted from their participation in basic education classes. (CT)

The case study approach is used to determine more completely the impact of illegal entry into the United States on Mexican farm laborers and the results of their subsequent incarceration. Positive impacts include (1) learning English, (2) acquisition of interpersonal skills, and (3) technical skill development. (SA)