Investigates the use of closed captioned television to improve the sight vocabulary of adults receiving literacy instruction. Finds that students' sight vocabulary increased significantly and that student attitudes to closed captioned television were extremely positive. (RS)

Includes "Maintaining and Monitoring Quality for Women Learners in Higher Education" (Rivis); "Women, Quality and Further Education" (Moss); "Quality Issues in Informal Women's Education in the Voluntary Sector" (Scarlett, Winner); "Women in Adult Basic Education" (Thompson); "Investors in People"…

In sub-Saharan Africa, aggregate data show that female literacy is associated with higher agricultural productivity and is more strongly correlated than GNP with mortality and immunization rates of young children. A case study of Gambia confirms these relationships, with high female illiteracy apparently impeding both human and economic…

This study of the effectiveness of the Project Success Summer Program found that the eight-week program improved dyslexic adults' (n=63) reading and spelling scores in five areas. Results indicated that training in phonological skills improved decoding skills and that passage reading rates and individual word reading rates best predicted…

Discusses efforts to achieve higher rates of adult literacy and pedagogical approaches to learning to read. Describes definitions of literacy, school standards, and possible reasons for high rates of adult illiteracy. Discusses teaching methods, particularly the Nellie Thomas method, which has had success in prison literacy programs. (JB)

Tennessee's one-room, drop-in school (ORDIS) concept provides educational opportunities in housing projects with high concentrations of poverty and illiteracy. In cooperation with residents' associations, ORDIS offers services for preschoolers to the elderly, including adult basic education, English as a Second Language, literacy tutoring, and…

Describes a study that used a computer survey to investigate the relationship between computer attitudes and the selected variables of age, gender, and computer knowledge among adult basic education students in Texas. Hypotheses tested are explained, comparisons are made with a national sample, and recommendations for further studies are…

Examines literacy education for women in postrevolutionary Iran and whether it empowers women. Discusses seemingly contradictory roles demanded of Muslim women (traditional wife and mother plus social and political supporter of revolutionary ideology) and the role of literacy education in linking women to the sociopolitical network. Analyzes…

Utilization of practices and principles of adult education is examined in two programs offered at one Canadian federal institution using a qualitative strategy (N=22 students, 4 teachers). Findings are presented in tables; differences between the needs of adult prison populations and the normative adult-education population are discussed. (EMK)

Summarizes the legislation upon which the current welfare-to-work transition is based and describes characteristics of the former welfare population. Discusses current program emphases and presents directions for future program development including academic programs, situated cognition programs, integrated literacy/occupational skills programs,…

Reports that the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was administered to 20 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1998. IALS identified a very large proportion of adults with very low levels of literacy, most of whom did not see literacy as being crucial to their well being. (Contains 12…

Evaluates the International Adult Literacy Survey (as reported in OECD 1997) from a New Literacy Studies perspective. Criticism of the survey includes charges that: it provides only a partial picture of literacy; culture is treated as bias; and the test items do not represent the real-life items as claimed. Contains 30 references. (PGS)

Examines underlying epistemological and theoretical assumptions of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). Concludes that IALS is primarily geared toward enhancing labor-market competencies but should instead make learners co-responsible actors of their own learning process and participants in a democratic debate defining the kind of…

The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) has serious limitations. Interpretation of data often manifests an ethnocentric Western attitude, ranking handling of data-based information higher than experiential and contextualized information, and ignoring how people solve problems in their life context. Proposes an alternative model, called…

Points out the difficulties of defining and operationalizing literacy and literacy development across communities with diverse socioeconomic profiles. Proposes consideration of diverse socioeconomic patterns and level of community (in addition to macro-level of nation-state and the micro-level of individual) to analyze matters relating to literacy…