In a survey of 16 companies with over 500 employees, 12 respondents believed illiteracy was a national problem. Eight considered it a local problem. Eleven believed that schools adequately prepare employees. Limited interest in financially supporting reading programs was expressed. (SK)

A National Workplace Literacy Project implemented by the Center on Education and Training for Employment and the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council involves a partnership that employs teacher-worker co-learner methodology. It uses the DELTA (DACUM Enhanced Literacy Task Analysis) process to identify learner needs. (JOW)

Raises the following questions: who participates in workplace literacy; how do literacy programs change workers' participation in workplace culture; how does the culture change; how do literacy programs affect industrial relations; what is the role of unions; and how will power relations of literacy programs be affected by changes in modes of…

Examines complexities of the supposedly simple idea of literacy in the discourse of vocational education within the changing discourse of vocational and workplace education. Looks at two workplace educational initiatives: Secretary of Labor's Committee for Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS); and the Northwest Workplace Basics Curriculum Management…

Surveys 200 public relations practitioners and investigates whether the type of writing and over-all time spent writing vary with years of experience. Finds that higher levels of writing efficiency come with writing experience, and shows that female practitioners spend a higher percentage of their workday on writing tasks than do their male…

On the one hand, contemporary corporations want people who are geographically, culturally and temporally remote to work together to generate new knowledge and accomplish routine work--they want to generate multi-disciplinary, globally dispersed communities of practice. On the other hand, they need to exert some control over this divergent,…

This article seeks to explore the influence of the knowledge economy on the status of writing and literacy. It inquires into what happens to writers and their writing when texts serve as the chief commercial products of an organization--when such high-stakes factors as corporate reputation, client base, licensing, competitive advantage, growth,…

The aim of this article is to develop a holistic model that shows the basic elements of workplace learning and their mutual connections. This is done by adjusting and combining two models that have already been worked out formerly by members of the consortium a model dealing with the workplace as a learning space, and a general model of the…

This article is concerned with characterizing literacy activity as it is practiced in professional workplaces. Its starting point is activity theory, which grew out of the work of Vygotsky and has been subsequently elaborated in Russia and elsewhere. First, the authors propose that existing versions of activity theory are unable to account…

This paper provides a comparative account of two conceptualisations of pleasure. The first draws on Foucault's analysis of bio-power. The second provides a phenomenological account where pleasure is viewed as an aspect of our immediate consciousness. These conceptualisations are illuminated through an analysis of employees' accounts of learning at…

This guide, which is intended for project directors, coordinators, and other professional staff involved in developing/delivering workplace education programs, explains the process of developing a functional context workplace education curriculum. Discussed first are the following: the types of information needed to develop a functional context…

Based on data from the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) and census data, this document presents a series of studies on literacy in Nevada. Estimates of the literacy levels of Nevada's adults were derived from NALS data and census data. Employers who had in-state addresses and who employed 10 or more workers in unskilled jobs were surveyed to…

This guide, which is organized in a question-and-answer format, is designed to answer questions commonly asked by employers interested in establishing workplace literacy training programs. The questions and answers have been grouped in sections on the following topics: the extent of the employer commitment required to establish a workplace…

Describes the Southern Regional Education Board-State Vocational Education consortium, which envisions a major change in the way vocational education is delivered. Students must be educated for jobs, not trained for them. (JOW)

A project reviewed and classified adult literacy skills needed in industry and described nine industry-based literacy programs. The typology of such programs (direct/indirect; individual/group) provides a framework for analyzing industry perceptions of literacy needs. (SK)