A preliminary study of job-related communications skills in British Columbia sawmills investigated the extent of agreement between reading grade levels of written workplace materials and reading comprehension levels of employees expected to read them. In 1990, 227 employees in 8 sawmills were interviewed with a 52-item structured interview, a…

In 1989, the Industrial Research and Development Advisory Committee (IRDAC) of the European Community established a Working Party on education and training issues relevant to industry. A subgroup on schools and industry identified the dominant influences on initial and adult training policy for the 1990s and beyond: (1) the need to adapt it to…

Research shows that the benefit structure of the GI Bill has discouraged veterans from using the education entitlement. Over 1,000 Florida Vietnam veterans completed a survey on education and the GI Bill. The collective experience provides insight to post-wartime readjustment efforts. Case studies and stories of Vietnam War veterans' educational…

The project described in this paper attempted to provide vocationally tracked high school students with the literacy skills needed to compete successfully in today's high-technology work force. This attempt was carried out by: (1) assisting students in establishing their vocational objectives in order to focus on specific literacy requirements;…

This ERIC digest examines the extent of early school leaving among migrants, conditions that precede early school leaving, common features of programs that work to retrieve dropouts, and illustrative programs that exhibit these features. The Migrant Attrition Project estimates a 45% national dropout rate of migrant students. Conditions that lead…

This paper discusses the use of American Sign Language (ASL) in an English-as-a-Second-Language approach to teaching reading and writing skills to deaf students. The paper poses and answers the following theoretical and practical questions: (1) What is the nature of first language reading? (2) What is the nature of second language reading? (3)…

Process writing methods, which are well established in Canadian elementary and secondary schools, are introduced in this book for use with adult English as a Second Language (ESL) and adult basic education (ABE) classes. The book is the result of two research projects that investigated the feasibility of using a process approach to teaching…

An assortment of materials that may be useful in addressing issues of language, culture, and power in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom is presented. Specific focus is placed on the movement to make English the official language of the United States. Contents include materials developed by teachers and adapted from commercial texts,…

This manual is designed to help classroom teachers in Alberta, Canada implement the Junior High Computer Studies Program. The first eight sections cover the following material: (1) introduction to the teacher resource manual; (2) program rationale and philosophy; (3) general learner expectations; (4) program framework and flexibility; (5) program…

In October 1990, 223 delegates from 22 nations of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific met in Australia to discuss plans and strategies for achieving universal education in the region. To inform planning and action, the conference defined five groups of people for whom universal education is a priority: indigenous people and minorities, people in…

Two separate research projects were undertaken in Georgia and Texas to examine the current and future needs of older adults for functional literacy and to analyze the involvement of adult basic education (ABE) programs to better serve those needs. The projects involved literature reviews; mail-out surveys; and one-on-one interviews with senior…

Intended to assist educational leaders by identifying recommendations from the report, "A Nation at Risk," that are relevant to reading and literacy and by suggesting instructional guidelines consistent with both the report and current reading research, this booklet presents policy guidelines in the following areas: (1) literacy…

A 12-month program provides adult Indochinese refugees with the basic communication skills and understanding of American culture needed to help them secure or upgrade employment. Offered through the community college system, the program is divided into four levels of instruction: non-literate, beginning, intermediate, and upper intermediate. The…

The document provides a process model for a competency-based adult high school diploma program. Following an overview, the document is arranged into nine chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on starting such a program and gives suggestions for conducting needs assessment, setting up a planning group, implementing adult basic education awareness activities,…

Intended for use by educators of handicapped individuals, this publication uses the form of an allegory to describe the process of learning to use computers, and provides guidelines for novices who want to utilize computers in the classroom. The need for self-awareness, initial planning, and acquisition of basic knowledge about computers is…