This book provides a comprehensive synthesis of major developments, trends, issues, and practices relative to self-direction and adult education and offers strategies that have direct application to practice. Its intended audiences are practitioners and professors, students, and researchers in adult education. Part I is an introduction. Chapter 1…

The successes and challenges of the Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP) Workplace Literacy Project in Virginia are described in this evaluation report. REEP's federal Workplace Literacy Project Consortium is operated as a special project within the Department of Adult, Career and Vocational Education of the Arlington Public Schools.…

A survey was conducted of adults' participation in Scottish schools in order to update the statistical picture and investigate the schools' views of the advantages and disadvantages of making provisions for adults. Data were gathered from a random sample of 80 schools (20 percent of secondary schools) throughout Scotland with 20 or more adults…

A study investigated the attitudes of adult university students of English as a Second Language (ESL) toward use of closed captioned television (CCTV) as an instructional tool. Students at the intermediate (n=51) and advanced (n=55) levels of ESL study in classes using CCTV were administered a questionnaire concerning their perceptions of the…

The Learning Enhancement for Adults with Disabilities (LEAD 2000) project was undertaken at Jones Learning Center of the University of the Ozarks to build a knowledge base regarding the literacy and learning needs of adults with learning disabilities (LDs) and to develop a pragmatic action plan to meet those needs. Information for the knowledge…

Through classroom observation and examination of literature on adult learning, second language teachers can learn to adapt teaching styles to adult needs. Research on maturation suggests that in course planning and teaching, adults should be included in formulating learning objectives and designing learning experiences, taught to exploit their own…

Within the past decade there has been an increasing number of portfolios submitted by adult students requesting academic credit for their experiential learning in speech communication. The numbers of portfolios and the institutions accepting them are growing so much that the communication profession should develop policies for their assessment. In…

Based on the assumptions that a universal grammar has a number of functional parameters and that in each language, some are not activated, a study was undertaken to investigate two hypotheses. They are (1) that in a grammatical situation where an adult's first language parameter is not activated in the second language, the learner will "lose" the…

The results of surveys on adult basic education (ABE) student characteristics and program goals are presented in this digest along with recommendations on career development in ABE. Topics include: (1) results of a survey of directors of ABE projects which ranked the importance of 10 goals of ABE (Young and others 1980); (2) statistics from a…

The limited existing research on text structure and its effects on reading comprehension in English as a native language and English as a second language (ESL) is reviewed, and studies that have shown facilitating effects on first language reading comprehension of explicitly teaching text structure are discussed. A research project in progress…

Describes the "Single Step" program for handicapped adults at Dundalk Community College (Maryland), which consists of 15 one day per week sessions of testing, skills training, guidance, and counseling. (NHM)

Five institutions under one governing board have begun a degree program that is more responsive to the needs of the mature adult. Work remains to be accomplished in work competency assessment, but there is a growing commitment to the program, because it serves people not previously served--effectively. (Author)

Reflecting upon three conferences questioning the role of the private liberal arts college in educating the adult student, the author reviews the development of higher education, obstacles to be overcome, and the program needs of the experienced learner. (MW)