This paper presents the preliminary results of a short-term longitudinal study of the impact of literacy instruction on the lives of 76 adults enrolled in a literacy program at the Center for Literacy in Philadelphia. It begins with an extensive review of literature on literacy, adult literacy and adult literacy assessment. It describes the…

When it was discovered that fewer than 75 residents in urban subsidized housing communities were enrolled in the adult programs at Pensacola Junior College, it was decided to develop an outreach program to extend the college's services to 650 illiterate, indigent, and unemployed adults in these communities. The program was operated out of mobile…

In 1983 the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs received a grant to increase Indian participation in Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs at community colleges in Hoke, Scotland, Halifax, and Warren counties. There were 135 Indian adults recruited in the 4 counties--68% female and 32% male. Ages ranged from 18 and younger (6%) to over 60…

This issue of the "Courier" contains several articles on the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working for social justice and development for people in Third World countries. The following articles appear: "Sharing One Earth" (Nighat Said Khan, Kamla Bhasin); "Beware of the Gongo--Regulating NGOs in India: New…

The adult English literacy program at the Phanat Nikhom Refugee Camp has developed techniques for actively engaging the sometimes reluctant students in the skill development process leading to literacy. A literacy warm-up chart used daily for five minutes develops the prereading skills of sequencing and left-to-right eye coordination; a variety of…

This guide was developed to assist volunteers in tutoring adult readers who read below the ninth-grade level. The following topics are discussed in the guide in either narrative or question-and-answer format: getting started as a tutor, who are the clients, getting acquainted, tutoring procedures, and teaching decoding skills. Procedures for…

This guide is intended to acquaint literacy tutors with the techniques of tutoring small groups of learners enrolled in a basic reading program. The first chapter compares one-on-one and small group instruction. Chapter 2 covers the following aspects of organizing a group: interviewing; adding people to established groups; and confirming the first…

This test is intended to assist teachers and volunteer tutors working with adult beginning readers in assessing students' reading needs when beginning a reading program and determining their progress after receiving reading instruction. The three-part pretest and three-part posttest each include sections to assess students' sight vocabularies and…

It has been estimated that about 10 percent of the total United States population, some 23 million American adults, are functionally illiterate. About 100,000 of these persons live in the Milwaukee area and could be assisted by extension programs such as those conducted by Milwaukee Area Technical College. One of the major reasons for the…

Ethnography is a research methodology that belongs to a genre of research called by various names, including educational anthropology, participant observation, case study, field study, and naturalistic inquiry. Ethnography was used as the research methodology for a nine-month study of adult beginning readers in Virginia. The research design was a…

First presented as papers in a symposium on literacy conducted at the University of Alabama, essays in this volume explore three areas of human literacy--law, linguistics, and the English language; testing; and literacy's relation with culture and human consciousness. Following an introduction examining literacy as a human problem, the following…

The marked decline in international interest in promoting adult literacy that has occurred over the last decade has had serious consequences for literacy education in third world countries. In general, planning and implementation of literacy instruction in these areas has neither improved nor adapted itself to changing circumstances. While the…

These proceedings contain 31 presentations from a conference on the role and practice of education in prisons. The three papers in part 1, Setting the Stage, examine the roles of education and prisons in society from historical and philosophical viewpoints. Panel presentations in part 2, Developing an Educational Model, offer three perspectives on…

Via an LSCA (Library Services and Construction Act) Title VI Library Literacy grant for fiscal year 1986, the Dixon (Illinois) Public Library expanded its involvement in the literacy effort. Additional rooms were made available for tutoring, materials and equipment for literacy students and books and equipment for literacy tutors were provided,…

A study was initiated to investigate the current status of technology initiatives in terms of their impact on six adult education centers in Massachusetts. It was designed to provide new insights into the educational effects of computer instruction upon adult basic education students. A second effort focused on the presentation of a model of…