Describes how tapes and transcripts from student-tutor pairs in adult literacy groups were examined to analyze the transition from speech to writing. Discusses the difference between written and spoken English. Provides examples of how passages were transcribed. (JOW)

Discusses the language experience approach (LEA) to teaching adults to read. LEA capitalizes on the adult's rich experience and advanced learning and speaking skills. (JOW)

Describes a study conducted to determine how adults view literacy and themselves in relation to literacy. The authors concluded that programs for adults need to be built on the collective knowledge of scholars from many fields. They discuss the language experience approach and development of control over the visual dimensions of print. (CT)

Presents three tenets from the research for adult literacy instruction: (1) improvement in one literacy skill should mirror improvement in others; (2) instructors should facilitate, not control, learning; and (3) students should be able to transfer classroom learning to their daily language encounters. Includes ideas for application. (CH)

Describes several approaches used in trying to teach an adult to learn to read over a period of several years, including the approach that was successful (language experience) because the student was highly motivated to write. (JM)

Presents the case history of an adult nonreader taught to read through the language experience approach, rereading, retelling, assisted reading, and sustained silent reading. (DD)

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)

This curriculum guide was developed for tutors using the "Challenger Adult Reading Series." The guide is intended to help tutors make the lessons more effective, motivational, and meaningful for students. The guide is based on a five-part lesson plan prescribed by the Computer-Assisted Literacy in Libraries (CALL) program: language…

Presents a last resort technique for teaching reading to adolescent and adult illiterates. (RS)

Techniques for using the whole language approach include read-aloud sessions, student story dictation, practice in using decoding skills, word banks, and exercises that stress the connection between reading and writing. The method considers individual needs and interests, offers relevance, and builds on adults' experiences. (SK)

Describes how a language experience approach was used in a workplace literacy program for adult immigrant railroad workers in Australia. Describes how the workshop built on participants' developed oral skills and life experience to create texts that were relevant, interesting, and comprehensible to these learners. (SR)

Argues that using the adult learner's needs and interests to choose individual reading material makes better sense than using inappropriate workbooks and other commercial literacy materials, and offers six criteria for evaluating materials. (HOD)

The stories, essays, poems, and anecdotes in this booklet were written by students attending community-based literacy classes and they reflect the students' varied lives and experiences. Many of these pieces are appropriate for adult beginning readers and may encourage students to write their own stories that in turn may be read by others. The…