Describes a developmental writing course taught in prison. Describes how the teaching styles took into account the presumed learning preferences of the African Americans in this group of inmates and resulted in a boost of both their self-confidence and the level of their writing. (SR)

Describes how a language experience approach was used in a workplace literacy program for adult immigrant railroad workers in Australia. Describes how the workshop built on participants' developed oral skills and life experience to create texts that were relevant, interesting, and comprehensible to these learners. (SR)

Examines the effects on six children's literacy play and intellectual development of coaching their teenage mothers to use selected cues in playful literacy explorations. Finds increases in the use of interfactional cues following intervention, with scores declining to different degrees during transfer and maintenance phases. Finds that children's…

Health care workers in New York City hospitals shaped their workplace basic education program in a number of ways: the union helped design the program; participants served on advisory committees and as student delegates; they evaluated the program; and students developed individualized education plans that were used to set the learning agenda.…

Describes problems encountered by a British basic skills accreditation initiative and teacher certification program, both of which used competency-based assessment. (SK)

Areas of concern for matching adult readers and programs are theoretical orientation (meaning based, code based, or interactive); programing factors (reading assessment, goal formation, affective factors, negative schooling attitudes, student interests, reading interpretations); and methodologies (phonics, whole word, neuro-impress, repeated…

Diverse funding sources used by Literacy Volunteers of America include revenue from publishing, foundations, corporations, cause-related marketing, federated campaigns such as United Way, and long-term relationships with individual donors. (SK)

Interviews with 20 adults who chose not to participate in literacy programs revealed that they valued education and learning but considered "school" unacceptable. Reasons were categorized as ideological/cultural, personal/emotive, or age-related resistance. (SK)

A review of 12 studies comparing computer-assisted (CAI) and traditional instruction in adult basic and secondary education (ABSE) found that, in 10 of 12, CAI results were at least as good as traditional and CAI also aided retention, self-confidence, privacy, feedback, and faster learning. CAI's place in ABSE is confirmed, but it is not a miracle…

Five authors relate principles of learning to learn to adult education: "Self-Esteem" (Krupp); "Labor Education" (Nesbit); "Telecommunications Courses and the Distant Learner" (Takemoto); "Learning Techniques" (Rosenthal); and "ABE: Taking Control" (Spring). (SK)

A number of surveys conducted in Wyoming and discussions with 16 adult basic education students determined barriers to and motivation for participation. Results indicate the need for more positive publicity emphasizing socially acceptable reasons for attending; recruitment through support groups; attention to such barriers as child care, funding,…

Relates how the publication of a book (written in Kikongo, an African native language) designed to raise peasants' awareness in Lower Zaire about desertification and other serious environmental issues had dramatic and surprising implications not only for the environment, but also regarding peasant literacy and the power of reading. (SR)

Discusses the technology for displaying closed captions on television, explains recent legislation that requires built-in caption decoders, and discusses the educational potential of captioned television and video for special education classrooms, beginning readers, English-as-a-Second-Language students, remedial readers, and adults engaged in…

Describes literacy education in Flanders, Belgium, for adolescents and adults. Discusses education policy, courses, materials, and students and teachers. (SR)

Among 31 completers of a workplace literacy program and 37 dropouts, those who belonged to in-class cliques were more likely to remain in class than the more socially isolated. Dropouts networked in the workplace with others of similar educational levels; finishers networked with workers of higher educational levels. (SK)