After reiterating the findings of an earlier examination of job literacy, this paper discusses the results of a job literacy survey involving interviews with 107 individuals representing 100 occupations ranging from short-order cooks and assembly-line workers to lawyers and corporation vice-presidents. Other aspects of the research findings…

This document contains a collection of direct quotations from the nearly 50 participants at a roundtable on workplace literacy. It also includes an executive summary, a list of participants, a list of related publications, and a synopsis of a presentation made at a follow-up activity.) The participants included business people, literacy experts,…

In a response to the Mikulecky and Diehl examination of work-related literacy, this paper points out the need for data based on ethnographic approaches to research and more realistic assessments of text difficulty. Also suggested are questions to which future research might respond: How much of functional literacy is really functional competency?…

This document traces the history of volunteerism in the literacy field, discusses the current role and use of volunteers, and assesses the potential and the limits of volunteerism as a current and future means for overcoming illiteracy in the United States. (The major conclusion is that the current delivery system of literacy activities can go no…

Reports on research probing job-related literacy demands and on programs promoting job literacy. (JT)

Introduces the standardized safety sign system being established in the United States. Argues that these safety signs, symbols, and warnings may be a good place to begin a workplace literacy project for workers with limited reading skills. (SR)

This study of work force illiteracy in the southern region of the United States reached the following five conclusions: (1) the problem is concentrated more among high school dropouts than among grade school dropouts who never learned to read; (2) the South risks creating a permanent, massive pool of undereducated citizens unable to support…

The variable nature of literacy is discussed in chapter one of this paper, including problems of arbitrary standards, instruments, and criteria. In the second chapter, some of the historical roots of the concept of literacy are traced both to show how the concept of literacy evolved and to show how literacy has always been closely tied to the…

This report was prepared to assist the United States Army in evaluating the usefulness of readability formulas in identifying material that will be comprehended by readers at a given reading skill level. Existing readability methods and research findings were reviewed against three major criterion questions and the findings are discussed. The…

In response to the assertion that reading is a fixed set of processes that can be identified and studied independently of context, a study was initiated based on the following assumptions: that different types of reading (prose comprehension and text search) can be identified and measured, that reading competencies are highly associated with uses…

The Sheffield (Great Britain) Occupational Functional Reading Project was organized to study the functional reading required of 16-year-old school leavers who entered employment or training for a job, and to design instruments for assessing and diagnosing occupational functional reading abilities. The primary task of the project was to develop a…

Functional illiteracy is an urgent problem for the U.S. business and industrial communities. Employers can uncover literacy problems among employees by conducting analyses of the literacy tasks needed on the job and assessing the basic skill levels of their work force. The design of a basic skills training program should be based on clearly…

A test of job-specific literacy, called the McCoy Assessment of Worksite Literacy Abilities (MAWSLA), could not predict the job success of the 100 employees who took it. The 108-item test was based on literary tasks encountered by employees in the course of a routine day at McCoy Electronics Company, a 560-employee firm in Pennsylvania. The…

Part of a series of instructor guides designed to support Ohio's ACT Work Keys System, this book addresses the skills required to read and understand the kinds of documents used in the workplace and to apply the information they contain in performing job tasks. It is for teachers, tutors, parents, mentors, and trainers seeking strategies for…

Some researchers estimate that 99 percent of occupations require some ability to read. Yet, illiteracy is a present and growing problem for many businesses. Some researchers contend that the basic educational system does not prepare workers to read on the job. Many teachers consider reading an elementary skill and do not focus on it in higher…