Illiteracy is a serious problem in the United States, and Hispanics have substantially higher rates of illiteracy than any other major population group: by the traditional measure of literacy, the completion of five years of schooling, 11.9 percent of Hispanics 25 years and older could be considered illiterate, compared to 1.8 percent of the…

Semantic mapping, which involves the application of vocabulary meanings, increases cognitive processing, and develops the cognitive structure, is recommended for use with literacy students in adult learning centers. Semantic mapping can be used as a prereading or prewriting stimulus, or as a postreading check of comprehension. Also, developing…

These 10 modules provide job search training for adults and youths. The activities can be modified for nonreaders, those with limited academic skills, unemployed professionals, persons with limited work experience, potential dropouts and other unemployed youth, older job seekers, and persons with mental handicaps. Introductory materials are…

Although Michigan has one of the best trained work forces in the nation, the skill gap between what the marketplace needs and what its workers can offer is continuing to widen. Michigan must develop an adult training and education system that is customer driven and customer sensitive, emphasizes shared responsibility of stakeholders, empowers…

The Volunteers for Refugee Self-Sufficiency (V-FoRSS) uses volunteers to meet the self-sufficiency needs of the refugee community in Phoenix, Arizona. The majority of the volunteers with V-FoRSS are home outreach tutors who provide English as a second language (ESL) and social adjustment skills instruction to adult Indochinese refugees. Classes…

Countless reports have appeared during the past decade documenting the United States' failure to educate its citizens. These studies indicate that 27 million adult Americans have left school either unable to read and write, or unable to read sufficiently well to understand the most basic newspaper articles or official forms. These problems have…

This project was undertaken by a public library to assess and address the continuing literacy needs of the local county's population. Comparison of the results of pre- and post-grant surveys conducted to determine the level of the residents' awareness of the problems of illiteracy showed an increase from 60% to 81% in the number who knew about the…

This guide, written in narrative format by several adult English as a second language (ESL) experts, presents an overview of ESL instruction. The manual is organized in six sections. The first section, an introduction to ESL, contains definitions, describes adult ESL students, and provides tips for new ESL teachers. The second section sketches a…

This report expands upon a policy resolution passed unanimously at the 53rd Annual Conference of Mayors in 1985. The first part of the report, a policy statement, points out the magnitude of the adult illiteracy problem and of some of the issues involved, and briefly indicates how various segments of society can contribute to a solution. The…

This guidebook is intended to aid adult basic education teachers in the selection of audiovisual resources designed to teach living skills to low-functioning adults. The first section describes effective use of audiovisuals, preparation of a lesson incorporating audiovisuals, and lesson plan uses of media. Two audiovisual evaluation forms are…

Profiles are provided for the outstanding adult basic education (ABE) program in each of 10 regions. Each profile provides a brief background; discusses the program's focus(es); describes program activities, operation, and components; presents some figures on the population served; and provides the name, address, and telephone number of a contact…

Project WE CARE (Workers' Education and Community Awareness of Resources for Education), in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, developed, implemented, and documented the process of implementing adult basic education program linkage/outreach with business, industry, and human service organizations. The project emphasis was on educating human service…

This monograph presents what illiterate and formerly illiterate adults have said regarding what it is like to be unable to read in a world that presumes everyone is literate, and of experiences they have had while acquiring the ability to read and write. In later chapters the authors, who were involved in the Vermont Adult Basic Education (ABE)…

The present research was a field experiment exploring the relationship of literacy to certain modernization variables. Data were collected in five rural communities in Minas Gerais, Brazil, in July 1966. The communities were matched as closely as possible on population, literacy rate, distance to an urban center, community institutional…

Intended for designers of culture-oriented visual materials for use in functional literacy and development communication in different cultures and countries, this manual is one in a series of training monographs on literacy in development. The three chapter titles are: "Understanding Visual Literacy,""Acquiring Visual…