Examines three causes for Japan's high literacy rate: (1) emphasis on literacy in Japanese society; (2) pervasive effect of the modern Japanese school system; (3) special structural features of the Japanese language which aid in functional use. (DR)

A key tenet of the Home-School Knowledge Exchange Project is that children's learning will be enhanced if the knowledge and experience that are to be found both at home and in school can be brought together. In this paper we explore ways of connecting home and school to support literacy learning at Key Stage 1, focusing on the home-to-school…

This article investigates the policy of setting that is commonly being seen as an organizational tool for effective delivery of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS). It is suggested that teachers are finding the increased amount of whole-class teaching to a diverse range of abilities, as prescribed by the NLS, problematic. This case-study…

The critical literacy classroom is characterized by an emphasis on students' voices and on dialogue as a tool with which students reflect on and construct meanings from texts and discourses. Is it appropriate, however, to teach critical literacy in settings such as penal institutions where student voices are deliberately discouraged and silenced?…

The eradication of illiteracy in Russia has a lengthy history but a systematic literacy campaign began only after the revolution of 1917. The literacy problem was considered to be solved two decades later. Success was due to the following factors: (1) illiterate people were eager to learn; (2) the eradication of illiteracy and preparation for…

The national language of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia, although there are hundreds of languages and dialects spoken by different ethnic groups. In 1977, more than 26 million Indonesians were illiterate in their national language. Present efforts to eradicate illiteracy include construction of 10,000-15,000 primary schools annually since 1973 and…

The United Republic of Tanzania was perhaps the first African country to give urgent attention to adult literacy. One of the immediate results of educating adults was to make them insist that schooling be provided for their children. The literacy campaign that started in 1971 reduced the 1969 illiteracy rate of 69 percent to 9.6 percent in 1986.…

Africa was unable to fulfill the objectives of making compulsory primary education available for all by 1980. As a result, the Harare (Zimbabwe) Declaration, signed by ministers of the United Nations members states of Africa in 1982, aimed to make primary schooling universal and to promote literacy among young people and adults on a massive scale.…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has acted to provide a new perspective with its 1985 survey of the literacy skills of young Americans aged 21-25. In the spring of 1985, NAEP began screening 40,000 households to identify a nationally representative sample of between 3,600 and 5,000 young adults aged 21-25 and several hundred…

"What gets assessed is what gets taught" is a common assertion whose meaning is often underestimated. It is not just what gets assessed, but how it is assessed that has implications for what is learned. When a child who is asked the meaning of his report card grades responds, "If I knew that I'd be the teacher" he is saying something about the…

This report discusses the progress in the development and clarification of the term "environmental literacy" (EL) and suggests ways in which the term may be used to advance the field of environmental education. Part I presents the evolution of EL beginning with a description of the concept as a goal of general education. Discussed in…

The United Nations' Regional Programme for the Universalization and Renewal of Primary Education and the Eradication of Adult Illiteracy in the Arab States by the Year 2000 (ARABUPEAL) began in 1987. Among the educational problems confronting Arab States are that their educational objectives do not specifically relate to development objectives,…

Significant reductions in adult illiteracy can be achieved most cost-effectively by focusing more resources on the education of women. These monies contribute not only to women's development but also to the educational achievement of their children. Educated adults have more influence on their children's education; the children become literate…

The idea of what constitutes literacy in the classroom is mostly determined by middle-class school officials and state and federal administrators. The discourse of minority populations is marginalized and not readily recognized or incorporated into mainstream instruction. This impacts not only the ability of these students to be accountable…

When considering illiteracy in industrialized countries, one should consider the following: (1) schools historically were not set up to transmit literacy skills, as evidenced by the fact that the geography and chronology of literacy are much less linked to the establishment of formal schooling than to the history of social development; (2) schools…