Reading teachers, who are often drafted as English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instructors, need to redefine their approach to reading instruction. In the ESL curriculum reading is often secondary, and the teacher must take into account such considerations as ESL students' culture and literacy level in their native languages. (SK)

Presents 10 strategies designed to assist adult disabled readers to move from decoding and word calling to active meaning making. (FL)

Making adults aware that they regularly pick out main ideas in their everyday lives makes it easier for them to do it in reading. (DD)

This document offers "reciprocal questioning" as a technique that promotes active learning and that is a practical and powerful way to help students improve their reading comprehension. First, the technique is described in detail. Steps include selection of four to five paragraphs of text; preparation of 10-12 questions over the material,…

Discusses open entrance/open exit programs designed to prevent attirtion in adult reading programs for students who have not completed high school. Offers suggestions for encouraging success within such programs. (FL)

This paper briefly describes a project designed to provide for assessment, materials, and instruction for adult rural Oregon students reading at less than a fifth grade level. An overview is provided of the resulting curriculum guide, "C.A.R.E.-Challenging Adults to Read Effectively," which was intended for teachers, tutors, or paraprofessionals…

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…

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…

The reading instructor working with adult "beginners" needs to have an open mind, be willing to be imaginative and adventurous, and think positively. The basic approach requires the instructor to build beginners' confidence; encourage beginners to participate fully, think for themselves, and learn to learn; involve beginners in planning; and…

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…

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 manual provides reading materials and exercises to teach reading and corollary academic skills. It also exemplifies a method of creating learner-centered materials relevant to the adult student. Teacher materials found at the beginning of the manual include a curriculum guide for obtaining oral histories; the guide is an effective vehicle for…

Provides information on how to use newspaper comic strips with reluctant, older disabled readers because the visual nature of the comics helps reading comprehension. Activity types include: (1) categorizing; (2) finding main ideas; (3) comparing; (4) determining cause-effect relationships; and (5) predicting outcomes. (SKC)

This publication is a tutor's guide to teaching basic literacy using The Fresno Bee, a California newspaper, as the primary "textbook." The course is aimed at English-speaking adults and is designed to teach reading in an interesting and entertaining way that promotes self-motivated study, both in the classroom and at home. The guide is…