An ethnographic study of the "Literacy in the Community" project examined what ordinary people read and write in their everyday lives, how they make sense of literacy, and how it fits into the rest of their daily activities, focusing on literacy in the home. Subjects, 20 adults from Lancashire, England, between the ages of 20 and 30…

Newspapers can be inexpensive and useful tools in the literacy classroom, but newspapers written for native English speakers are not always appropriate for English-as-as-Second-Language (ESL) students. Adapting the newspaper to classroom instruction is a natural way to introduce students to cultural and linguistic concepts. The newspaper can be…

One general theory of knowledge supports a transactional perspective that defines literacy as relative and context-dependent. Exploration of this theory can begin by examining the relationship between metaphor and knowing, focusing on the underlying metaphorical nature of knowledge. If the constructionist, experiential, metaphoric account of…

Divided into four sections, this bibliography lists: (1) books in Creole or books about Haitian Creole; (2) books on adult literacy and Haitian adults; (3) books written in English and related to Haiti; and (4) children's and adolescents' books with Haitian themes or about Haiti. (KH)

Author presents the view that it is important that television is required to educate as well as inform and entertain. (Author/HB)

This discussion paper synthesizes the individual investigations of nonformal education activities in the following four groups of programs in Ethiopia: rural/traditional, urban/modern, literacy, and miscellaneous (programs which do not fit into other classifications). The synthesis of the investigations into a country-wide study was undertaken to…

The population dealt with in this report comprises educationally disadvantaged people 18 years of age or over, who have not completed eight years of formal schooling. These fall in the following categories: illiterate, semi-illiterate, unemployed, and underemployed. The summary of the work done by the Department of Adult Education of Florida State…

John R. Bormuth of the University of Chicago denies the truth of the popular notion of the decline in literacy in the United States. He criticizes tests of reading and writing skills and cites evidence of the increase in importance of literacy to the nation's economy. (BB)

The functional literacy movement has emphasized the ability to read job-related materials as a major occupational/functional skill. Various studies, by the Educational Testing Service and others, have supported the contention that the ability to read is a fundamental vocational skill in American society. (CH)

Parents of Chapter 1 reading students were invited to take part in a reading program using courseware for adult beginning readers. A group of 52 parents completed the program; on average they gained more than one year in reading level after 20 hours of instructional time. Impact on children and delivery models are discussed. (CH)

Claims that the preferred method for literacy education today is a technique of self-instruction by small groups of people voluntarily assembled, assisted by representatives of intermediary organizations as necessary, to further the ends of self-reliance and improved living conditions. (JK)

Traces the progress of a beginning adult reader along the literacy continuum shown by child readers. Provides suggestions for teaching reading and writing to beginners which build on a learner's personal experiences and knowledge of language. (ARH)