Representatives of the business community define workplace literacy according to how well informed are the spokespersons for business, how expansive is their view of the role of literacy, and the extent to which literacy bears on their firms' productivity. These elements affect business people's understanding of what constitutes workplace…

This document describes a workplace literacy program designed to improve the literacy skills of entry-level workers in the housekeeping, food service, and laundry departments of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. An introduction describes the goals of the program and the employees served (low-literate adults who relied on word of mouth for most…

Seven trends are emerging in the corporate training and development sector of human resource development (HRD). First, there is an increasing corporate commitment for training. Employers are viewing training today as an essential element in their competitive business strategies. Second, customer service training is becoming the competitive weapon…

West Virginia Northern Community College provided workplace literacy education and training for employees of Weirton Steel Corporation and Union Carbide Corporation. For Weirton Steel the training included 4,040 hours of instruction in fundamental literacy skills (reading, writing, speaking, and math), oral and written communications (including…

This manual and curriculum guide describe the steps in the development of a workplace English program for hotel housekeepers, offers methods for needs assessment, outlines a curriculum, provides reproducible hands-on classroom activities designed to practice the concepts of the curriculum and to trigger teachers' imaginations, and offers general…

The New Jersey Workplace Literacy Partnerships Program was conducted from February 1989 to May 1990. The project was funded by the New Jersey Department of Education, with a 30-percent cash match from District 65 of the United Auto Workers, the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association, and the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Benevolent…

A project was developed to teach literacy to adult students over 40 years old, using job-related materials in a computer-assisted approach with volunteer tutors. The project used the Penn State Adult Literacy Courseware, consisting of six computer-based modules and an Apple IIGS microcomputer. Volunteer teachers already working with adult students…

The Basic Occupational Literacy Test (BOLT) was developed as an achievement test of basic skills in reading and arithmetic, for educationally disadvantaged adults. The objective was to develop a test appropriate for this population with regard to content, format, instructions, timing, norms, and difficulty level. A major issue, the use of grade…

Based on the National Adult Literacy Survey of 1992, which described the literacy skills of adults in the United States (based on data drawn from a random sample of 13,600 adults across the United States, and from telephone interviews with additional adults and from other sources, with a total of 26,000 adult participants), this report contains…

An independent evaluation of the College of Lake County's National Workplace Literacy Program included both formative and summative evaluations over the 3 years of the project. The evaluation design was planned primarily as a naturalistic inquiry that used the structured interview approach to data collection. An external evaluator interviewed all…

A research study used trend analysis to examine case studies of 18 workplace literacy programs with a framework of good practice principles as a template to identify trends in practice. Each case study was examined using the nine components identified in the framework: program orientation, program evaluation, partnerships and participation,…

This handbook, which is intended for educators, managers, and union leaders responsible for workplace development, outlines a four-phase collaborative approach to assessing a work organization's overall education needs and specifying a range of activities to meet the identified needs. Discussed in the introduction are the purposes of the handbook,…

This booklet presents summaries of the 35 projects funded by the National Institute for Literacy in 1992. Each summary provides the project's purpose, findings, products, and contact person with address and telephone number. These projects are included: Adult Literacy in the United States; Cognitive Skills-Based Instruction and Assessment; Hmong…

This paper examines aspects of the knowledge content of work and its relationship with workers' education level and literacy skills. An executive summary appears in English and French. After an introduction, Chapter 2 classifies occupations into seven categories based on knowledge content of the work. Chapter 3 develops profiles of the prevalence…

This volume of an annual collection presents 10 essays relating to instruction in the basic communication course. The essays are: "The Basic Course and the Future of the Workplace" (Andrew D. Wolvin); "Predictors of Self-Perceptions of Behavioral Competence, Self-Esteem, and Willingness to Communicate: A Study Assessing Impact in a Basic…