This book is intended to broaden awareness of the instructional innovations and adaptations taking place in college and university writing classes designed specifically for working adults. Through case studies of five established writing programs for adults, the book provides a historical context for today's college-credit writing programs for working adults. It illustrates a range of accommodations to the needs of adult students and explores how writing programs for adults are influenced by institutional contexts, faculty ideologies, and other factors. The book advocates innovative teaching ideas and further research on teaching writing to adults. Its three parts include seven chapters. Part One contains the history of workers' education from 1820 to 1970; Part Two describes the following five contemporary corporate or union programs of workplace education: (1) teaching critical analysis through the liberal arts at Alfred North Whitehead College; (2) teaching academic discourse at Empire State College; (3) critical literacy in action at Queens College Worker Education Program; (4) expressionistic and critical pedagogy at Swingshift College at Indiana University Northwest, and (5) teaching on "turns" in Youngstown State University's writing courses. Seven appendixes provide lesson plans from the writing programs. The book contains 214 references. (KC)