Comparison of Literacy Volunteers of America's participatory model of small group instruction with a Connecticut affiliate showed the national program emphasizes students' role in shaping the learning environment. The local program, based on Dewey's concept of growth as enhancement of experience through critical intelligence, focuses on…

Finds that the supportive environment of "women helping women" was the hallmark characteristic of a local Even Start family literacy program and that participants were not consciously thinking about family literacy but joined the program for themselves and gave no indication of seeing the connection between the adult literacy component…

Tells the story of one student's experience in an adult literacy class to reflect on whether teaching practices can foster changes in adult literacy learners that are transformational. Finds mixed answers. (SR)

At-risk adult literacy learners (n=20) were randomly assigned to a control group or one of three treatments: counselor-teacher team support, small-group instruction with students not at risk, or one-on-one tutoring. All in the treatment groups persisted longer than controls. The small group method was most effective for retaining students. (SK)

Interview data from over 90 workplace literacy instructors, trainees, and work supervisors were classified using a role and time model of learning transfer. The model clarified dimensions of transfer partnerships; roles of instructors, trainees, and supervisors; and barriers influencing transfer. (SK)

Describes development of CD-ROM and print materials designed for learners with low literacy levels. Explains the importance of group work, incorporation of different learning styles, and the benefits of flexible delivery. (SK)

State and national surveys of programs, literacy performance levels, and participants suggest that demand for literacy instruction should be estimated from current participation and not from assumptions about needs. Supply should be defined in terms of layers of service providers. (SK)

Describes the Upgrade2000 project, which developed a series of interactive television programs for use in the home, workplace and training environments, together with a supportive learning surround. Focuses on: emerging digital television technologies; the project's framework for structuring learning content; potential use for using digital…

Examined codeswitching to negotiate power or solidarity in adults' conversational exchanges and discusses ebonics as used by African Americans in urban adult basic education programs. Findings from 12 interviews and 20 videotapes show how adult learners use language to inform and interpret themselves in the world. (SLD)

Adults bring with them a wealth of literate experiences into adult education classrooms. And yet, they and the programs they enter often do not see such experiences as significant to their learning. This is surprising because it is often in the out-of-school experiences where the adults demonstrate the greatest sense of agency and ability with…

This article explores the ways in which prior experiences in formal learning contexts influence adult learners' views of their current context. Using interview data from five women participating in a General Educational Development program, this study suggests that these learners' constructions of previous learning contexts function as "screens"…

How do we teach and learn, knowing that adults are complex, connected individuals who want to change but also want to maintain continuity of the Self? (Contains 1 figure.)

In April, 2000, more than 1,100 participants from 164 countries gathered in Dakar, Senegal, for the World Education Forum sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Participants included teachers, prime ministers, policy makers, executives from non-governmental organizations, and heads of major…

The purpose of this study was to use a component of Everett Rogers' theory of diffusion of innovations to understand adult literacy instructors' perceptions of the consequences of adopting the Internet into their classrooms. This study provides information about the types of consequences they saw and their perceptions about the desirability,…

With the rise of education and training markets and the rhetoric of lifelong learning, individuals have been reconfigured as learner-consumers and vested with responsibilities as choosers of their own destinies and, by implication, agents of government economic policy. Against this backdrop, this paper reviews empirical research on adult choice in…