In 1981, some 12,500 British 23-year-olds were interviewed in a survey carried out by the National Children's Bureau as part of an ongoing longitudinal study. A small part of each interview dealt with the respondent's experience of literacy and numeracy problems. Results demonstrated that a substantial number of the young adults had experienced…

The Center for Adult Education at Miami-Dade Community College (Florida) conducted a project to design a training program for adult basic education (ABE) instructors focusing on the specific skills and generic competencies that were associated with instructor success. The best source of information about the elements that constituted a successful…

The purpose of this document is to provide a step-by-step outline of the language experience approach. It first explains this technique for teaching both words and sentences to beginning readers. Steps are outlined first for teaching words, then for teaching sentences. What to do and what to say is suggested for each step. Teaching words includes…

Memorization and recitation of dialogues are an important part of English as a second language (ESL) courses. However, if the goal of using dialogues is to promote free conversation, the practice of reciting dialogues must entail more than the rote memorization of another's thoughts. Therefore, the talk-and-listen method is a good technique for…

This bilingual booklet is intended to help Vietnamese refugees learn basic energy conservation skills. Included in the booklet are Vietnamese and English translations of basic energy conservation practices related to the following areas: heating, cooling, cooking, using refrigerators and freezers, lighting, water heating, doing laundry, pursuing…

This statement of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, focuses on the approaches that provincial ministers have taken to address the problem of adult illiteracy. First, it sets out concisely the nature and extent of functional illiteracy in Canada. Second, it describes a sample of the initiatives already under way to create effective…

This article highlights lessons from the experience of running a workshop that provides basic education. It focuses on the workshop that has been run for four years at Wakefield District College in England to support individuals from the community or students in college courses who need help with basic skills. The flexibility allowed by the…

This final report of the Literacy Education for the Elderly Project (LEEP) provides a description and the results of the project designed to target literacy education to the older adult. The strategy of the two-year program, established in 27 sites nationwide, was to: (1) link the local level aging services network with the volunteer adult…

This report provides materials from the second meeting of the International Task Force on Literacy (ITFL), which focused on specific goals and targets for nongovernmental organization (NGO) mobilization for 1990, International Literacy Year (ILY). Section 2 discusses issues that emerged as central to work in literacy, including literacy,…

This description and discussion of literacy activities and issues in Canada begins with an attempt to draw together various aspects of the historical developments on literacy and current definitions and attempts at measurement. Literacy's link with adult basic education is also studied. Elements of the global situation are highlighted, and some…

Materials are provided on an adult right-to-read program for Collin County developed by the Allen Independent School District Community Education department. Narratives by the district coordinator, program director, and volunteer director set forth administrative considerations, general guidelines, information on evaluations and tutor training, a…

In February 1977, computer assisted instruction (CAI) was introducted to the Great Neck Adult Learning Centers (GNALC) to promote greater cognitive and affective growth of educationally disadvantaged adults. The project expanded to include not only adult basic education (ABE) students studying in the learning laboratory, but also ABE students…

This two-volume report summarizes the main findings of a study for the Commission of the European Communities which explored the principal issues involved in the use of mass media and distance education methods for adult basic education in an European context. Volume I introduces and defines the nature of adult basic education, describes the…

This article suggests the following ways of making material easier for adults to read: using layout and print size to make meaning clear; making audio recordings and simplified versions of printed matter; and increasing the relevance of the content to the reader. Intended for teachers of adults in reading programs, the study also contains a…

A study was conducted in Iowa to determine why adults eligible for adult basic education (ABE) frequently fail to participate. The study was conducted on a representative sample of 129 persons who had not completed high school, were aged 18 or older, and had not attended ABE classes, through open-ended questions refined into telephone interview…