This article explores the quality of life of adults with poor literacy capabilities (reading, writing and numeracy) in western Rwanda. A concurrent mixed methods research design was used. Data was collected from respondents aged 18 years and over through a survey and focus group discussions. Quantitative results from linear regression analysis…

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) of visual items is a powerful predictor of reading skills. However, the direction and locus of the association between RAN and reading is still largely unclear. Here, we investigated whether literacy acquisition directly bolsters RAN efficiency for objects, adopting a strong methodological design, by testing three…

The purpose of this case series was to explore whether adults who did not have the opportunity to acquire reading skills during childhood are able to do so rapidly if trained with an adequate literacy program. After 14 weeks of training with a new, optimized, literacy course based on cognitive research, six out of eight participants became able to…

In the most recent assessment by the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), approximately 19% of adults in the United States scored at or below Level 1 in literacy (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2019a). Adults who performed at Level 1 were only able to identify one key piece of information from…

To learn to read, the brain must repurpose neural systems for oral language and visual processing to mediate written language. We begin with a description of computational models for how alphabetic written language is processed. Next, we explain the roles of a dorsal sublexical system in the brain that relates print and speech, a ventral lexical…

Using the data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), this Data Point summarizes the number of U.S. adults with low levels of English literacy and describes how they differ by nativity status and race/ethnicity. PIAAC is a large-scale international study of working-age adults (ages 16-65) that assesses…

This study investigated whether the phonological representation of a word is modulated by its orthographic representation in case of a mismatch between the two representations. Such a mismatch is found in Persian, where short vowels are represented phonemically but not orthographically. Persian adult literates, Persian adult illiterates, and…

Prisons across the United States of America are faced with finding ways to reduce illiteracy rates across adult education. One strategy is to offer reading programs that are based on the science of reading. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine if adults in treatment groups across five midwestern correctional institutions who received a…

We evaluated neuro-functional changes associated with late acquisition of reading in an illiterate adult who underwent 20 longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans during 2 years, while the participant progressed from complete illiteracy to a modest level of alphabetical decoding. Initially, the participant did not activate…

This paper presents an innovative and effective approach for conducting surveys with preliterate adults in a context of limited infrastructure in post conflict Burundi, Africa. We conducted surveys with parents/carers of children with a disability and community members, as a component of mixed methods research with children and adults to provide…

To clarify the link between anomalous letter processing and developmental dyslexia, we examined the impact of surrounding contours on letter vs. pseudo-letter processing by three groups of children--phonological dyslexics and two controls, one matched for chronological age, the other for reading level--and three groups of adults differing by…

The acquisition of reading has an extensive impact on the developing brain and leads to enhanced abilities in phonological processing and visual letter perception. Could this expertise also extend to early visual abilities outside the reading domain? Here we studied the performance of illiterate, ex-illiterate and literate adults closely matched…

Homelessness is a problem that has correlating social, psychological, and health problems. The pathways that lead to homelessness are plentiful and varied, as are the risk factors that are associated with chronic homelessness. Much of the research that has been completed with homeless individuals has focused on substance use or psychological…

Through this international cross-case analysis of ethnographic literacy practices data, we investigated two questions: (1) In what literacy practices do adults with limited or no schooling engage for personal fulfillment? and (2) What do these practices reveal about the nature of literacy for individuals who are often characterized as illiterate?…

This paper challenges constructions of the "gendered illiterate Indian villager" as a homogenous group of people who are empowered through acquiring literacy. I strive to displace homogeneous representations of gendered "illiterate" subjects through ethnographic accounts of diverse people's realities in different villages in…