The main aim of this study was to evaluate the Early Grade Writing Assessment for Kindergarten (EGWA-K), which is grounded in foundational literacy skills, for its validity and diagnostic accuracy in identifying children at risk of developing early learning disabilities in writing (LDW). To the best of our knowledge, no such tool exists for…

Education has been identified as one of the most important ways to achieve national development. With 3 million non-literate adults in Lagos State, the commercial nerve center of the nation, radio becomes a veritable medium to teach such adults who, for several reasons including economic, do not have the opportunity of formal schooling. The study…

This study explored how 14 foreign-language writers at a university in Japan changed their genre awareness of discussion genre texts (particularly argumentative essays) during a 15-week systemic functional linguistics course consisting of text-based writing lessons assigned as part of a teaching and learning cycle. To obtain in-depth quantitative…

Lesotho's educational system and development are largely influenced by missionaries and colonisers who taught the three 'Rs' (reading, writing and numeracy skills) to the Basotho. Most of those enlightened Basotho were to carry on the duties of either educating others or as missionary workers. Some became clerks, interpreters, police officers,…

This study examined the progress of English as a foreign language (EFL) writers using the instructional framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and the communities of practice (CoPs) model. The study participants comprised 11 first-year undergraduate students in Japan with intermediate-level English proficiency who were exposed to SFL…

We hear or read the following phrases often: "Everybody spends so much time on their smartphones that they never look up." "Just send me an email and we'll work out the scheduling." "You'll find all the job application materials on our website, where you can submit your application online." However, adults with low…

This report looks at whether employers think schools are equipping young people with the literacy skills required for the workplace. It is primarily based on secondary literature sources and introductory conversations with a small sample of key employers and agencies. A complementary report presents evidence on young people's views on literacy and…

At an age marked by the emergence of new literacies, vast technological developments, and social networking practices, language is currently approached from a pragmatic perspective that recognises its functional use to meet realistic communicative goals. Taking this into account, the present study sought to identify the functional writing skills…

This article describes an unconventional method to teach un-contracted braille reading and writing skills to students who are blind and have additional disabilities. It includes a keyboarding curriculum that focuses on the whole language approach to literacy. A special feature is the keyboard that is adapted with braille symbols. Un-contracted…

Growing scientific literature provides a perspective of literacy that is at variance with traditional points of view, which see literacy as a unitary, dichotomous, psychological capability that is learned with the appropriate educational opportunity. However, an individual is not easily categorized as literate or illiterate. While the goal is to…

In order to assess various reading and writing abilities of adults, for comparison with corresponding abilities of pupils in grades 7 through 12, and to investigate the extent to which adults' reading and writing abilities can be regarded as satisfactory, answers to a series of tests and questionnaire data were obtained from random samples of…

Intended for administrators, curriculum directors, teachers, school board members, and representatives of local industry in Michigan, this module was designed to create awareness of the disparity between the demands of the workplace and literacy instruction in the schools, and to encourage school districts to develop new indices for assessing the…

Causes of aliteracy, having reading and writing skills but choosing not to use them, are discussed. Ways of preventing it by making reading relevant and connecting reading to writing are suggested. Enabling preservice teachers to become confident in their ability to write is stressed. (MT)

Discusses the current state of literacy and suggests that there is a renaissance of interest in the teaching of rhetoric and composition. (AEA)

Describes a study that investigated the literacy demands required by the task of text editing a manuscript on a computer terminal. (MKM)