In this case study of adult English as a Second Language (ESL) educators, the researcher facilitated a six-week professional development activity around the topic of early literacy instruction. The four participants in the study circle were all LESLLA (low-educated second language and literacy acquisition) teachers whose students are adult…

This article examines the case of an adult reader who has developed literacy practices that represent a wide range of authentic, personally and professionally motivated purposes for reading and writing. Despite this wide range of literacy practices, however, and despite the opportunities they have opened for him, Joseph (his chosen pseudonym)…

Although literacy rates have improved somehow in recent years, there are still large numbers of people that are illiterates in developing countries. This paper examines the impact of severe economic decline and demographic pressures on youth literacy rate in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this study, a cross-sectional data of 39 Sub-Saharan African…

Although the United States federal government has attempted to extinguish the gaps among various populations (socioeconomic, racial, etc.) through educational policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act, such policies may in fact create further divisions among these groups within American society. I base my argument on inadequacies in the…

Teaching national history in school generates significant public anxiety and political debate--as the various "history wars" around the world reveal. For many school students, however, studying their nation's past is dull and repetitive. Such lack of interest has been confirmed by surveys and research reports that reveal alarmingly low…

In Ethiopia the level of illiteracy in rural areas is very high. In this study, we investigated the effects of an audio HIV/AIDS prevention intervention targeted at rural illiterate females. In the intervention we used social-oriented presentation formats, such as discussion between similar females and role-play. In a pretest and posttest…

This study identifies a unique context for exploring lay understandings of language testing and, by extension, for characterizing the nature of language assessment literacy among non-practitioners, stemming from data in an inquiry into the registration processes and support for overseas trained doctors by the Australian House of Representatives…

Literacy is the foundation of lifelong learning and a crucial element in the universally recognised right to education. However, illiteracy continues to exist as a global challenge, and many individuals still lack the basic literacy skills that are needed to engage in further learning opportunities and for the economic and social development of…

In Denmark, the welfare system has evened out the gaps between rich and poor. Schools and child care settings all over the country have an equal level of resources provided by the state, and are financed through taxes. Schools and child care settings in areas with families of lower socioeconomic status (SES) get extra money and resources. All…

After independence, the new Latin American polities adopted republican systems of government. This crucial decision stressed the importance of vast projects of popular education for the shaping of the virtuous citizenry to come, a clearly different agent from the old colonial society. As a means of creating new citizens and, at the same time,…

A lack of familiarity with the language of teaching is blamed for illiteracy rates beyond 40% among people who live in nations in Africa or Asia in which dozens of languages are spoken. For a critical test of the importance of familiarity with the language in which initial reading is practiced, we took the Zambian situation as a natural experiment…

In this study the print awareness of 25 unschooled adult illiterates in the Netherlands was compared with that of 24 pre-reading children and of 23 low-educated literate adults with approximately four years of primary schooling. The illiterates were interviewed about their experiences with writing and all participants completed six assessments of…

In 2009, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) published a technical report titled "Indirect County and State Estimates of the Percentage of Adults at the Lowest Literacy Level for 1992 and 2003," (ED503830). NCES also published a corresponding online tool (http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/index.aspx) that allows users to…

Illiteracy is a huge problem, socially, economically and educationally. This study of the history and current practices of American public libraries examines their role in supporting the development of human literate abilities and in helping all Americans to be critically literate in order to participate fully and successfully in our society. This…

This study was planned to investigate the utility of the vertical Faces Pain Scale (FPS) in the assessment of pain in stroke patients using the shoulder pain model and to assess its utility in the Turkish patient population. The secondary aim was to analyze the association of FPS with the quality of life and depression in the study population.…