Courseware for teaching survival sight vocabulary and reading skills by computer to nonreading adults was developed using principles of adult learning. Non-English speaking immigrants in Western Australia used the modules cooperatively and were interviewed to determine their reactions to the approach. (SK)

This collection of selected reminiscences of a volunteer teacher in the Pennsylvania prison system recounts her experiences teaching illiterate and near-illiterate prisoners (and others) how to read. The collection describes several different individuals (in and out of prison), their diverse reactions to reading, and their understanding and use of…

Discusses the types of volunteer programs presently in operation in adult basic education and compares their effectiveness. (GB)

Detailed description of approaches used, emphasizing community education and post-literacy programs. (SP)

The author analyzes four informal reading inventories (IRIs) designed for adult students. Evaluative data presented for each IRI include the following: information on word lists and passages and on comprehension questions, estimates of difficulty based on the Fry index of readability, and a summary of scoring and evaluation guidelines. (SK)

Presents an overview of the PLATO Corrections Project (PCP) in Illinois and Minnesota, and describes recent curriculum development efforts in adult reading comprehension and vocabulary development. Data collected on student/instructor usage, attitudes, and achievement demonstrate that the PCP system is feasible, attractive, and effective in…

Notes problems in using reading tests intended for children when testing adults; attempts to clarify some of these problems by making explicit the assumptions implicit in the practice of using children's reading tests with adults. (GT)

The feasibility of tutor-based assessments in cognitive skills, functional literacy, and literacy-related self-confidence was studied through assessment batteries completed by 38 tutors from curriculum-based or learner-centered literacy programs for adults. It is recommended that such assessments be incorporated into tutor training workshops to…

Diagnostic/prescriptive techniques can match adult reading students with appropriate content materials. The Directed Reading Activity is a structured approach that introduces concepts and vocabulary, teaches or reviews specific reading skills, prepares for reading, encourages discussion of content, and follows up on information and skills…

Discusses Kentucky's efforts to increase adult literacy through the New Books for New Readers program in which scholars were asked to write books emphasizing adult topics with a reading level of third to fifth grade. Describes the process through which the target audience is involved in the creation of books for the program. (KO)

A case study of the Bob Steele Reading Center in Connecticut demonstrates problems inherent in participatory literacy education when the learners, the program's culture, and the sociocultural context are not grounded in the participatory democratic ethic. (SK)

Describes how a language experience approach was used in a workplace literacy program for adult immigrant railroad workers in Australia. Describes how the workshop built on participants' developed oral skills and life experience to create texts that were relevant, interesting, and comprehensible to these learners. (SR)

Areas of concern for matching adult readers and programs are theoretical orientation (meaning based, code based, or interactive); programing factors (reading assessment, goal formation, affective factors, negative schooling attitudes, student interests, reading interpretations); and methodologies (phonics, whole word, neuro-impress, repeated…

Based on ethnographic, participatory research in two Salvadoran villages, this article analyzes how features of the sociocultural setting bred discord and mistrust among the participants in an adult literacy program and other community residents, thereby undermining the program's goal of equipping "campesinos" to work together to improve…