Suggestions are offered for incorporating George Herbert Mead's ideas on the structure of literacy instruction, the use of volunteer tutors, student assessments, and instructional activities. (JOW)

Passive learners rarely play a role in their own education, but follow whatever their teachers decide is best for them. Active learners are self-motivated, independent people who take responsibility for themselves. (JOW)

Assesses the relationship between literacy abilities and on-the-job performance of electronics technicians from three employment levels (training, experienced, and supervisory). Finds no significant correlation between reading ability and job performance but finds that metacognitive aspects of literacy consistently and significantly correlated to…

The Family Environment Scale was completed by 75 male and 83 female adult literacy participants. Those who considered their learning experience very successful were more likely to be from families that were united and cohesive, appreciated and valued intellectual and cultural activities, had concrete moral values, and exhibited less conflict and…

Describes a classroom-based project that examines whether three deaf adults enrolled in an adult literacy program could use American Sign Language to access English and improve their literacy skills. The project focused on their first attempt at reading and discussing a novel. Describes a three-step process that guided the learners toward…

Provides reflections on the work of four writing teachers in a neighborhood adult literacy center to understand better the potential "violence" of literacy learning, to reassess assumptions of expressivist pedagogy, and to turn to M. Bakhtin and M. Foucault as interpretive frames for theorizing adult literacy learning. Proposes…

Describes efforts and difficulties encountered by health care professionals who attempted to develop a Spanish-language word recognition test as a quick screening for patients' literacy levels, an effort which was ultimately unsuccessful. Notes that the close phoneme-grapheme correspondence of the spelling system means oral reading may not reflect…

Describes attitudes about adult literacy and the former East Germany. Presents results of a survey of adult education institutions regarding literacy courses and basic education courses and the demand for further education in the field of basic education for adults. (SR)

Discusses how adults in the Brooklyn Public Library Adult Literacy Program use writing (particularly poetry) to deepen their knowledge of spatial reasoning, fractions, and percentages. (RS)

Based on a 1989 research project on the outcomes of adult literacy programs, this paper reports findings in five categories: socioeconomic, personal, social, cognitive, and enactive. The research raises questions about what literacy progress means to adult students and their teachers. (Contains nine references.) (LB)

A case is described that tested the relevance of Freire's "liberationist pedagogy." One student's improved language skills resulted in changing smoking arrangements at the local bingo hall and in gaining personal social and political skills in the process. (Contains two references.) (LB)

Looks at a literature-based approach to reading instruction and the whole-language approach to teaching adult literacy. Describes the instructional procedure used in a workplace literacy program serving employees of the Ohio State University hospital staff. (JOW)

Resistance theory was used as a framework in analyzing 10 works of fiction containing a character who resisted traditional schooling and embraced an alternative lifestyle. The results applied to nonparticipants in adult basic education show that resisters reject the hegemony of values of traditional programs. (JOW)

The functional approach to workplace literacy does not address a number of critical issues: aims and purposes, nature of stakeholders, worker participation in program planning, basis for distributing limited funds, consistency of state and federal guidelines, and congruence between program emphases and industry/worker needs. A more worker-centered…

A mathematical/graphics schema used to analyze statistical data from an adult literacy initiative identifies gaps attributable to an implicit strategy of containment that differs from the intent of Lau v Nichols in elementary-secondary education. A moral equivalent of Lau is needed to achieve equity in linguistic diversity in adult literacy.…