The Adult Education--Basic Grants to States program authorized under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998 (AEFLA), enacted as Title II of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) (P.L. 105-220), is the major source of federal support for adult basic education and literacy education programs. When AEFLA was authorized in 1998,…

The present study examined data from a large, nationally representative sample--the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NCES, 2007)--to examine how computer use and Internet-based literacy practices (use of e-mail, searching for information on the Internet, and Internet chatting) were related to prose, document, and quantitative literacy…

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) assessed the English literacy skills of a nationally representative sample of more than 19,000 U.S. adults (age 16 and older) residing in households and correctional institutions. NAAL is the first national assessment of adult literacy since the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). The…

Governments and other stakeholders have become increasingly interested in assessing the skills of their adult populations for the purposes of monitoring how well prepared they are for the challenges of the new information world. The current paper provides an overview of the conceptual framework developed for the assessment of problem solving in…

Scholars of adult basic literacy curricular materials have argued that the skill-based, deficit-oriented approach of many such materials denies the interests and motivations of adult learners. Exploring why these kinds of curricular materials are prevalent in adult basic literacy education, this article focuses on the case of ProLiteracy, a…

The volume addresses the ways that the field of adult basic education has already been impacted by changes in technology and what needs to happen for learners and teachers to take full advantage of newly developing resources. The analysis is organized around three main themes: Learning, Teaching, and Organizing. Each section reviews relevant…

The focus of this article is on adult literacy in adult basic education (ABE) programs with special emphasis on English as a Second Language (ESL) students. The article intends to highlight several relevant points in ABE ESL literacy instruction. It focuses on (a) the nature of adult learning, (b) the structure of ABE programs, (c) who the…

The National Adult Literacy Survey, conducted by the U.S. Department of Education in 1992 and 2003, included federal and state prisoners. One finding of the 2003 survey was that prisoners with a GED scored higher in reading skills than persons in the general population with the equivalent education. In an attempt to explain that unexpected…

In the 21st century, the rapid pace and complexity of economic, technological and cultural changes require women and men to adapt and re-adapt throughout their lives--all the more so in the context of globalisation. In this era of the knowledge society--where production structure is shifting towards greater knowledge use and away from reliance on…

Since 2001 the Scottish Government has invested 65 million British pounds in helping adults improve their literacies, routing the money through local authorities to learning partnerships charged with developing local adult literacy action plans. For 2002-2003, the first year of the new funding, the Scottish Government set the Highland Adult…

Literacy has been a priority for the leaders of India since before Independence. Since the independence of the country in 1947, eradication of illiteracy has been a major concern of the national Government. The nation's constitution includes specific articles and amendments to guarantee the advancement of education. During the country's first Five…

The aim of this paper is to provide a brief critical analysis of the adult literacy curriculum as one element of the Skills for Life Strategy and to consider how it has been used to legitimise a dominant adult literacy policy based on economic and political rationales. The term critical has many meanings. Here it is used to explore how the adult…

This article reviews the research literature on political impacts linked to adult literacy. Despite the enormous importance of literacy, few studies exist on their interconnection. The majority of quantitative studies indicate higher levels of political participation by former adult literacy program participants compared to their non-participant…

This qualitative research study explores key challenges and literacy needs of adults from war-affected backgrounds. Poverty, stress and anxiety, years of formal education, and lack of English language proficiency were cited by the adult learners as barriers to fulfilling their potential. This study also presents perspectives of teachers who have…

Library-based adult literacy programs rely on volunteers to provide tutoring services to adult learners. A high percentage of volunteer tutors are matched with a reading-disabled adult literacy learner. Although all tutors are required to complete preservice tutor training, there is a limited amount of research that documents whether they utilize…