This booklet is intended to help new adult literacy practitioners in Australia explore the possible meanings of the term "literacy." The booklet begins with the question, What is literacy? The next (and largest) section of the booklet considers various metaphors of literacy. A table detailing some ways of talking about literacy is…

Based on a research project that sought to train instructors to conduct action research in a real-life context, this handbook was created to help literacy instructors to use action research in workplace education programs. The handbook is organized in three parts. The first part describes action research as a type of practice-based research. It…

This paper, which is intended to assist adult literacy practitioners interested in conducting research about their programs, discusses the four stages of the action research process: identifying questions to guide the research, collecting information to answer the questions, analyzing the information collected, and sharing the results with others.…

While literature has often been ignored in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) curriculum, there are good reasons for including it at all educational levels of ESL instruction. There are universal reasons for exploring literature, including the pleasure and escape it provides. In addition, ESL experts have found that literature encapsulates…

Weaving learners' everyday stories with those of other teachers, volunteers, and students, this book shares strategies and experiences designed to empower adult learners in alternative literacy programs. Strategies in the book came from educators in such diverse settings as college developmental reading and writing, learning disabilities, adult…

This book, developed for adult educators who teach or tutor reading in General Educational Development (GED) classrooms and for teacher trainers, contains 18 fact sheets on learning and thinking, each about 10 pages long. The following fact sheets are included: (1) Literature Is Not Science; (2) Making Connections; (3) Mental Models; (4) Thinking…

The Adult Multiple Intelligences (AMI) Study investigated how multiple intelligences (MI) theory can support instruction and assessment in adult literacy education across different adult learning contexts. Two interwoven qualitative research projects focused on applying MI theory in practice. One involved 10 teacher-conducted and AMI…

This module is the fourth of five integrated professional development modules for adult literacy and basic education (ALBE) personnel. This module is in the form of a 6-hour workshop, the purposes of which are to develop further the practitioners' knowledge of the theoretical basis of teaching literacy in ALBE programs, to provide a supportive…

The effectiveness of the National Center for Study Adult Learning Literacy's (NCSALL's) Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network was examined by reviewing how, from 1997 to 2001, adult basic education teachers from 14 states served as liaisons between practitioners in their states and the NCSALL by engaging in the following activities:…

This booklet, which is written for adult literacy practitioners in Australia, argues that adult literacy practitioners working as trainers and assessors must become familiar with the tasks and texts used by competent workers in particular occupations and industries, and must understand how those tasks and texts fit within the broader social…

The Adult Multiple Intelligences Study was the first systematic effort related to multiple intelligences (MI) theory in adult literacy education. The study's findings regarding MI theory served as the foundation for a study of MI theory's implications for adult literacy practice, policy, and research. The study was conducted across 10 different…

This book examines the basic principles of the cognitive psychology of literacy and explains how insights gained from that theory can inform and improve reading, spelling, and writing instruction aimed at adults. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's eight chapters: the principles of cognitive psychology (the nervous system,…

This book, based on the work of a teacher and community development expert with many years of teaching adult education in numerous developing countries all over the world, provides a process for teaching and learning with adults. The book is illustrated with stories from the author's experience and examples that show how to begin, set up, carry…

"Adventures in Assessment" is an annual journal of the system for Adult Basic Education Support (SABES), a comprehensive training and technical assistance initiative for adult literacy educators and programs. SABES accomplishes this goal through staff and program development workshops, consultation, mini-courses, mentoring, peer…

An analysis was conducted of the results of a formative evaluation of the LiteracyLink "Workplace Essential Skills" (WES) learning system conducted in the fall of 1998. (The WES learning system is a multimedia learning system integrating text, sound, graphics, animation, video, and images in a computer system and includes a videotape series, a…