This study explores the effectiveness of social practice approach by integrating social practices along with modern teaching strategies, and teacher training to address the challenge of low academic achievement among adult learners in basic literacy programs. For a 4-month experiment, two of a metropolitan city's fourteen adult literacy centres…

In the final article of the forum, the field of adult basic education has mounted a strong response to COVID-19's disruption of classes and educational practices. As educators begin to think about the long-term consequences of this disruption, it might be useful to consider the ways that these changes and innovations could be built upon. In the…

Straddling conventional education system boundaries between adult learners and children, and between employment-related and social benefits, family literacy programmes are not well recognised or supported in New Zealand's policy and funding environment. In this article, I reflect on my personal experience of redesigning the Whanau Ara Mua…

After many previous failed attempts to reach illiterate adults, the award-winning South African "Kha Ri Gude" mass literacy campaign, launched in 2008, undertook to ensure that learners seized the opportunity to learn--for many adults, this was a "last chance". Written from an insider perspective by the campaign's founding…

The promotion of adult functional literacy programs per se, neither creates the necessary motivation for learning, nor enhances the participation of adult learners in work-oriented or socio-cultural functional literacy programs. The task in learning-teaching transaction is to create the enabling environment for harnessing and enhancing…

Action Learning can be effectively used in both large and small businesses and organizations by employees, stakeholders, or volunteers through this "learning by doing" approach to evaluate an issue or issues of importance to the organization. First developed in the 1940s, Action Learning has increasingly been used as a method to explore questions…

Contains an analysis of prevailing practices in adult literacy volunteer programs. Considers selected research, literature, and programs, mostly from the context of the burgeoning emphasis on literacy voluntarism in the United States. Neglected questions of policy and practice are raised. (Author/CH)

Presents 10 tips for effective adult literacy programs, which were culled from presentations at the 1988 annual conference of American adult education directors. States that the key to success is having a sense of mission--nurturing a team spirit among the literacy program's staff and students. (RS)

Describes the Chinese effort to eliminate adult illiteracy. The author discusses purposes of adult education, history of adult literacy education, adult illiteracy statistics, the design of literacy education, curriculum construction, teaching methods, evaluation of the literacy education process, impact of literacy education, and implications of…

The "Work First" environment demands the following tasks of literacy practitioners: designing programs for clients' specific needs; fostering collaborative relationships with agencies and employers; focusing on comprehensive outcomes; planning holistic curricula integrated with work, family, and community contexts; and providing continuous staff…

This article describes how the practitioners in one small adult literacy program selected particular research findings upon which to establish a core of instructional tenets. It discusses the teacher's need for such a core, useful research, and principles for adult literacy instruction. (CT)

This article describes the implementation of an extensive reading (ER) program with 43 first language (L1) and second language (L2) adult literacy students. Among them, 16% were nonnative speakers of English. The main principles considered in the design of the program were (a) purpose of reading, (b) reading tactics, (c) material used, and (d) …

Describes the evolution and success of Scotland's Adult Basic Education (ABE) program, staffed with paid and volunteer tutors in literacy, numeracy, social, and other skills. Illustrates regional differences in ABE skill offerings, students, and staffs with examples from various areas. Stresses the underlying adaptability of ABE to student needs.…

In 2002-03, a qualitative case study explored the perspectives of 70 stakeholders connected to two community-based adult literacy programs in Manitoba, Canada. Four themes emerged from within-case and cross-case analyses of the data: program design, human relations, community context, and financial support. Instructor-learner and learner-learner…

Research on adult literacy suggests that some formidable problems lie ahead as efforts continue toward ensuring that every adult in the United States is literate and possesses skills necessary for economic competitiveness and citizenship. Among the difficulties facing existing approaches are three interrelated issues. First, current programs serve…