Though adult students have rich and varied backgrounds which enhance their reading, too often teaching methods have focused on the print on the page rather than the ideas presented. There is a range of strategies for teaching reading comprehension which is applicable to any material. (JOW)

This guidebook offers tips to those who guide people who want to learn to read and write. It is structured in three volumes, each accompanying a separate videotape. The three videotapes are 120 minutes, 90 minutes, and 120 minutes in length, respectively. The guidebook has four goals: (1) help those who guide learners to understand how the learner…

This 8-item test is intended to help adult basic education teachers obtain a quick assessment of the prereading skills that their beginning adult readers have already mastered. The individual items of the test are designed to assess the following: ability to write one's own name; left-to-right orientation; perceptual hearing; sound-letter and…

Intended to help adult education teachers and administrators select the type of adult literacy program that works best for their students, this digest surveys nine different programs and discusses the assessment methods used for each program. The programs examined are: (1) Time to Read; (2) Center for Literacy program; (3) Federal Prison System…

Discusses Kentucky's efforts to increase adult literacy through the New Books for New Readers program in which scholars were asked to write books emphasizing adult topics with a reading level of third to fifth grade. Describes the process through which the target audience is involved in the creation of books for the program. (KO)

This manual introduces the topic of family literacy programs in libraries and provides guidelines for libraries that are just getting started in family literacy programs as well as libraries that are further developing their existing programs. It is argued that illiteracy tends to be both intergenerational and cyclic, i.e., if a child's parents…

A team of professional adult literacy educators identified approximately 100 titles of picture books and young adult books appropriate for the adult learner. A collection of their ideas, titled Recommended Trade Books for Adult Literacy Programs: Annotated Bibliography with Teaching Suggestions, contained information on 93 titles, including lesson…

"A Feel for Books" is a book discussion series held for adult developing readers and their teachers and tutors. Students from various literacy programs serve as hosts for the five or six sessions held yearly, and project staff and tutors serve as facilitators. This resource book describes program activities and contains selected stories…

This handbook is designed to provide a comprehensive reference source about adult illiteracy for Michigan public librarians, whether or not they currently work with local literacy councils. Introductory material provides listings of members of the Michigan State Legislative Council and Library of Michigan Board of Trustees, and a listing of the…

The purpose of this document is to provide a step-by-step outline of the language experience approach. It first explains this technique for teaching both words and sentences to beginning readers. Steps are outlined first for teaching words, then for teaching sentences. What to do and what to say is suggested for each step. Teaching words includes…

Materials are provided on an adult right-to-read program for Collin County developed by the Allen Independent School District Community Education department. Narratives by the district coordinator, program director, and volunteer director set forth administrative considerations, general guidelines, information on evaluations and tutor training, a…

This compilation presents material related to a Library Literacy program, which was designed to collect, publish, and distribute the writing of new adult readers and whose target audience was students, teachers, tutors and librarians involved in library-based literacy programs in Massachusetts. The first part of the compilation presents the final…

Because reading is first and foremost a language comprehension process focusing on the visual form of spoken language, such teaching strategies as language experience and assisted reading have much to offer beginning readers. These techniques have been slow to become accepted by many adult literacy instructors; however, the two strategies,…

This report presents the steps and actions that public libraries may take to begin to meet the needs for literacy training in their individual communities. Outlined are three major approaches that libraries can consider when addressing the literacy needs of their communities: (1) initiating a literacy program; (2) cooperating with an existing…

This publication attempts to answer some common questions from adult basic education and General Educational Development teachers about the practice of using children's literature in the adult literacy classroom. Answers include the following: some books in the children's literature market are meant to be read and enjoyed by a wide diversity of…