Explores the nature of illiteracy for adults who have made no or minimal progress in learning to read or write. Finds further support for using the whole language approach and the language experience approach for adult beginning readers. (RS)

Describes and analyzes how an Urban Appalachian woman who could not read or write progressed to functional levels when instruction involved her in reading her own language. Argues that educators who failed to acknowledge her language as an integral aspect of her as a learner may have denied her previous access to literacy. (SR)