This book focuses on results from secondary analyses of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) and implications of these analyses for policy, practice, and further research on adult literacy. Part I contains an introduction and three additional chapters that provide a substantive summary of the NALS and its purposes: "Introduction: Adult…

The role of workplace literacy and numeracy education in the introduction of new workplace practices was examined in a case study of a local council in New South Wales, Australia. Two researchers worked over a 6-week period to interview the manager, 2 team leaders, and 15 team members involved in the introduction of competitive maintenance and…

For nearly 3 years, the Massachusetts Career Development Institute provided a workplace literacy program for 201 persons employed by the Geriatric Authority of Holyoke, Massachusetts, a major nonprofit nursing home and rehabilitation facility. The literacy program included adult basic education, English as a second language, and high school…

This document, which was developed as a cooperative effort between the business and education communities in Denver, presents an English-as-a-second-language curriculum for service helpers in full-service and fast food restaurants. The curriculum consists of five lessons targeted toward high intermediate to advanced nonnative speakers who work in…

The Professional Development Program (PDP) of Rockefeller College of the State University of New York, in partnership with the Eddy/Northeast Health of Troy, New York, conducted a 3-year demonstration project to provide and foster institutionalization of a functionally contextual workplace literacy curriculum and training program to upgrade the…

Four African-American women, participants in PROBE (Potential Reentry Opportunities in Business and Education), a program to prepare low-income women in Pennsylvania for jobs through computer and communications skills training, were interviewed about their attitudes toward learning. The four were single-parent welfare recipients in their late 20s…

A pilot program of the industry immersion model of reading and mathematics instruction was conducted on site at the Airport Field Maintenance Facility, Memphis, in January-February 1989. After this intensive immersion program (80 hours of instruction in 4 weeks), the 12 participants showed significant gains averaging 2.2 grade levels in reading…

This document contains both a final report and a curriculum guide for the Homestudy Option, a program geared to the 1988 General Educational Development (GED) test. The final report describes two program objectives: (1) providing an adult basic education home study curriculum to rural adults to take the first steps toward educational independence;…

This report describes the current delivery of adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction in British Columbia (Canada), identifying needs for services not being met currently, the nature of services required to meet those needs, and related educational issues. Findings are intended for the use of provincial policy-makers to improve…

This guide describes the Combined Instructional Approach to adult basic education in English as a Second Language (ESL) and offers procedures for its implementation. The approach uses literate bilingual tutors with little professional educational exposure to teach beginning reading instruction in ESL. A study of the feasibility of this method…

This basic course in oral communication developed especially for hospital employees is designed to be taught onsite and to complement a hospital's other training and staff development efforts. The topical focus is workplace communication. The course is designed as a 16-hour course, with eight 2-hour sessions. The curriculum guide consists of a…

A descriptive study examined the relationships between what young children learned about written language in the home and their parents' levels of literacy ability and their uses of print in their lives. Twenty-four children, aged 4-6, in 20 families of low socioeconomic status were observed during their waking hours in their homes and communities…

This guide was developed during a demonstration project conducted in three diverse, multiethnic Western Pennsylvania communities to use older adult tutors as mentors to improve Head Start parents' literacy skills and ability to develop their children's literacy. The guide is intended to facilitate tutors' learning about family literacy and to give…

This document reports on a project conducted to develop a curriculum to enable adult learners to explore their own and others' cultures while participating in reading, writing, math, English-as-a-Second-Language, or social studies course offered by adult basic education providers throughout Pennsylvania. The curriculum manual in this report…

The New York City Adult Literacy Initiative is a state- and city-funded program to help city residents expand their literacy and English language skills. In fiscal 1991-92, it provided services to 57,676 adult learners, including classes in basic education, English as a Second Language (ESL), and math and basic education taught in native languages…