Programs, particularly, language teaching, undertaken in Sweden with a view to promoting immigrant adjustment, involve folk high schools, voluntary adult education associations, and municipal adult education. Reaching the isolated immigrant woman and arranging family courses are some of the avenues explored. (JH)

After decades of neglect adult literacy and numeracy (ALN) learning in Scotland has been accorded the prominence that it has always merited but seldom received. Understandings of the concept of literacies and what it means to be literate have similarly undergone significant change in the last few decades. This shift has entailed a recognition of…

The Adult Education Amendments of 1988 require the Department of Education to submit a report to Congress on the definition of literacy and then to estimate the extent of adult literacy. Literacy has been defined by self-report in early Census Bureau surveys, in a competency-based approach by the Adult Performance Level project, and as "the…

A definition of illiteracy is the inability to read and compute at the standard needed by an adult within a chosen social context. While statistics may vary depending upon the study, women make up the majority of the illiterates nationally and internationally. Three factors that contribute to illiteracy among women are social acculturation and…

Significant research studies, bibliographies, and selected scholarly papers that have analyzed numerous aspects of illiteracy are examined in this paper. A definition, characteristics, and the plight of illiterates are discussed. The following selected research studies are then reviewed and a brief analysis of each is given: (1) "The Acquisition…

This Brief first summarizes research findings regarding computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and its effectiveness in adult literacy education programs. The following findings are given: CAI is effective for a significant number of adult learners; CAI is effective because it provides the adult learner with flexibility, control, individualization,…

Literacy is a commodity of measurable value to those who acquire it. This proposition is easy to accept if the many benefits of acquiring literacy are considered: better jobs, more productive use of leisure time, greater self-sufficiency, increased ability to help one's children with school work and hobbies. The Gannett Foundation first became…

Although there may not be a direct causal relationship between illiteracy and crime a look at the broader picture points to a significant connection. As many as 50 percent of adults in federal and state prisons cannot read or write at all; the majority of prisoners are poor; blacks, comprising only 12 percent of the general population, make up…

Sociocultural concerns have provided the framework for literacy expectations throughout the history of the United States, and have determined the extent to which national emphasis has been placed on adult literacy programs. Early literacy programs have been traced to the Reconstruction period following the Civil War. The next surge of interest in…

These statements, letters, and supplemental materials were provided by: (1) Janet Jones Ballard, Assault on Literacy Program; (2) Representative Jim Cooper, Tennessee; (3) Mitch Snyder, Center for Creative Non-Violence; (4) Garrett Murphy, Division of Adult and Continuing Education Programs, New York; (5) W. Wilson Goode, mayor of Philadelphia;…

This pamphlet is designed to shed new light on opportunities for newspapers to help more people learn to read. For newspapers already involved in literacy education, the pamphlet suggests ways to enhance existing programs. The pamphlet contains information on community awareness, coalition building, workplace tutoring, funding, Newspaper in…

Illiteracy, the inability to communicate or receive information through the medium of print, has not been dealt with effectively by society, yet it is estimated that there are 23 million illiterate adults in America. Two major problems exist: diagnosing illiteracy, and attracting illiterate adults to adult literacy programs. With the development…

Describes how, by understanding the political dimensions of reading, Paulo Freire developed materials that enabled adults to learn to read in 30 to 40 hours; this article is based primarily on Paulo Freire's "Education for Critical Consciousness," Seabury, 1973. (Author/JM)

The third in a 3-volume report on the Adult Indian Education Project (AIEP, a 15-month U.S. Office of Education project designed to identify the literacy levels and educational needs of Oklahoma's adult American Indians), this volume presents supporting data in the form of appendices to Volume I. These appendices include: (1) The Survey Instrument…

Article described an attempt to re-evaluate the literacy movement, to encourage adult new readers to see the cause of their literacy differences as one that lies outside themselves. (Author/RK)