The Adult Basic Education Program at Umgeni Water, a water authority in South Africa, is a workplace literacy program that seeks to impart skills within the workplace that can be used in community development, benefiting both the business and community involved. From a pilot project in 1989, the adult education program at Umgeni Water has grown…

Studies have confirmed that there is a strong correlation between employees' levels of basic workplace skills and their productivity in the workplace. Programs to build basic workplace skills have been shown to yield the following positive results: more instances of employees using reading and writing on the job, higher employee participation in…

This article gives a brief overview of issues in adult literacy; an assessment of workplace literacy; and components, concepts, and steps of the NASA Adult Literacy Evaluator project. The Adult Literacy Evaluator project applies NASA's technical experience to the problem of adult literacy and workplace literacy by finding ways to use interactive…

Discusses information literacy and its importance for the workplace. Topics include literacy for economic and social upward mobility; the use of computers to help achieve information literacy; adult information literacy; the roles of professional associations, government agencies, teachers, and print media; information overload; information…

In this paper we address a perceived gap in the workplace learning literature, for there is very little writing which successfully integrates the issues of individual learners into predominantly social theories of learning. The paper draws upon data from four linked research projects to address this problem. Following an analysis of the…

The Test of Workplace Essential Skills (TOWES) assesses cognitive skills in three areas using the following three separate subscales: Reading Text, Document Use, and Numeracy in Working-Age Adults. The sample was composed of 2,688 working-age English-speaking Canadians who came from a variety of settings (e.g., trades training programs, adult…

In this paper I am concerned with the challenge workplace learners and educators face, as they engage with global economies, to create "a world in common as . . . known in common" (Smith 1999). I focus first on why global companies need their geographically dispersed workers to engage with a world "in common", and how they go about constructing…

"Review of Adult Learning and Literacy: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice, Volume 7" is the newest volume in a series of annual publications of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) that address major issues, the latest research, and the best practices in the field of adult literacy and…

This volume discusses factors that affect struggling readers in grades 7-12 and provides research-based strategies for improving their reading and writing skills. Chapters examine why some adolescents have trouble achieving reading proficiency, describe school-wide policies and programs that support literacy, and suggest age-appropriate classroom…

This product checklist can be used to determine whether a particular workplace literacy product (such as a series of instructional workbooks, curriculum guides, or computerized instructional systems), follows best practice and will meet the needs of a particular business firm and build the productive capacity of its employees. The checklist was…

This bibliography provides a listing of 53 publications that were funded under the Adult Education Act, as amended by the National Literacy Act of 1991, or that provide support to adult education and literacy activities. The listing includes reports, studies, surveys, and guides on the following topics: assessment and testing, curriculum…

This vocational English-as-a-Second-Language program stresses interactive language use in the context of communicating with customers. Intended for intermediate-level adult learners, the manual will assist students in developing the communication and interaction skills they need for a variety of public contact positions, including retail sales…

Developed as part of the ABCs of Construction National Workplace Literacy Project, these instructional modules are designed to help low-level readers develop paragraph composition skills. The first module is a list of 10 topics about which students are daily to write several paragraphs related to their craft. The second module consists of 10…

Developed as part of the ABCs of Construction National Workplace Literacy Project, this instructional module teaches general, specialized, and technical terms encountered by persons employed in electrical and instrumentation occupations. Included in the module are the following: a discussion of the difference between general, specialized, and…

This handbook, which is intended for workplace literacy practitioners and trainers, examines how to develop and evaluate workplace literacy. Discussed in chapter 1 are the following: current practices in workplace literacy programs, literacy demands on workers and ways of addressing them through workplace education programs, and the importance of…