A study examined the sources of motivation of adults participating in the adult literacy program at the Bob Steele Reading Center (BSRC) in Hartford, Connecticut. The "life cycle" approach used to explore motivation throughout the stages of the literacy learning process included brief case studies focusing on the importance of socioemotional climate in making and sustaining a commitment to a literacy program and more extensive case studies examining the process of becoming literate over 1 year or a longer period. Quantitative data regarding the BSRC's instructional log, student writing, and student interviews were incorporated into the case studies along with analyses of the content of literacy instruction, outcomes, goals, and the implications of psychology in understanding adult literacy motivation. The data collected reinforced the principle advanced by advocates of competency-based and participatory learning that education needs to be purposeful. The BSRC's success in motivating students was concluded to stem largely from its integrated educational vision that links learners' needs, interests, and aspirations within the realm of the personal, practical, and sociocultural through autobiographic, collaborative, and local community contexts. (Contains 74 references. Appended is an interview with a BSRC student.) (MN)