This literature review provides an overview of the main lines of discussion and enquiry around social capital and adult learning and literacy. It was written as a background paper for "The Centre for Literacy's 2010 Summer Institute" on workplace literacy and essential skills (LES). The Institute focus was "what…

This report discusses the place of numeracy in adult education, examines conceptions of what numeracy and numeracy provision might include, and explores links between literacy and numeracy provision. Section A takes a critical look at how much attention is being paid to mathematics education in adult education/adult literacy programs and addresses…

Literacy should be viewed as a continuum of undereducation, stretching from those who cannot read and write at all at the low end to those who have less than a high school education at the high end. People at different points have different needs, which may differ greatly from those current literacy programs try to meet. The track record of…

A definition of illiteracy is the inability to read and compute at the standard needed by an adult within a chosen social context. While statistics may vary depending upon the study, women make up the majority of the illiterates nationally and internationally. Three factors that contribute to illiteracy among women are social acculturation and…

Sociocultural concerns have provided the framework for literacy expectations throughout the history of the United States, and have determined the extent to which national emphasis has been placed on adult literacy programs. Early literacy programs have been traced to the Reconstruction period following the Civil War. The next surge of interest in…

This monograph, one of four in a series, contains material on a particular aspect of literacy training. Developed from reports, papers, and case studies from the Regional Literacy Workshop (November 29-December 20, 1979) held in Udaipur, India, the monographs are suggested for use in training programs for literacy personnel as background…

The purposes of a study were to (1) obtain the perceptions of state directors of adult education on selected research topics; (2) identify national priorities that will have an impact on the adult education program; and (3) investigate adult education programs that could enhance the educational development of 52 million educationally disadvantaged…

This monograph, one of four in a series, contains material on a particular aspect of literacy training. Developed from reports, papers, and case studies from the Regional Literacy Workshop (November 29-December 20, 1979) held in Udaipur, India, the monographs are suggested for use in training programs for literacy personnel as background…

The human cognitive system may have a developmental property that makes acquisition of fluent reading skills difficult after a certain age. This problem may be seen to affect two different populations: participants in adult literacy programs who lacked access to schools as children and educated adults fluent in languages with non-Latin scripts.…

Media reports suggest widespread illiteracy among adults who may not be able to read, write, speak, or otherwise communicate competently enough to meet the demands of modern society. No consensus has been reached regarding a definition of illiteracy or supporting statistics. Estimates of adult illiteracy range form 0.5% to 50%, meaning that of the…

As a preliminary to developing criteria to meet quality control requirements of the National Literacy Act of 1991, a study examined federal and state development of measures of program quality and performance standards for programs funded under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education…

This monograph, one of four in a series, contains material on a particular aspect of literacy training. Developed from reports, papers, and case studies from the Regional Literacy Workshop (November 29-December 20, 1979) held in Udaipur, India, the monographs are suggested for use in training programs for literacy personnel as background…

Adult literacy programs could be improved by determining the learning styles and life-styles of individual students and incorporating the findings into the instructional program. Many researchers have looked at adult students' lives and suggested teaching methods based on the studies. Some suggest using an instrument for identifying adults'…

The globalization of business has influenced the development of customized, job-specific workplace literacy programs. Work-centered participatory literacy receives support from both business and labor and additional impetus from the National Literacy Act of 1991. The worker of the future will be a thinking and communicating problem solver. The…

This monograph, one of four in a series, contains materials on a particular aspect of literacy training. Developed from reports, papers, and case studies from the Regional Literacy Workshop (November 29-December 20, 1979) held in Udaipur, India, the monographs are suggested for use in training programs for literacy personnel as background…