Analyzes low literacy levels among Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) applicants in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Discusses how cutbacks in CETA funding will adversely affect attempts to decrease illiteracy among unemployed, low-income, urban adults. (GC)

Chronologically traces the development of literacy programs for adults in public libraries from their beginning in the nineteenth-century to the situation we find today. (Author)

Discusses the Fifth UNESCO International Conference on Adult Education held in Hamburg, Germany, July 14-18, 1997. Describes four of the workshops held there: (1) Literacy Education and Social Development; (2) Literacy and Technology; (3) Literacy and Basic Skills for Community Development in Industrialized Countries; and (4) Literacy for…

Fourteen Texas community literacy programs received Job Training Partnership Act funds to form local partnerships. The collaborations enabled them to provide comprehensive, coordinated services to educationally disadvantaged people. The enhanced visibility of the programs enabled them to obtain additional funding after the initial grants ended.…

Transformation theory states that people learn through frames of reference that may be transformed by critical reflection. If literacy involves meaning making, literacy learning is a transformative process and communicative competence is the goal of literacy education. (SK)

Interviews with staff and students of five Alberta literacy programs about their participatory practices elicited three themes: student representation, from silence into speech, and working across differences. The way social identity played a role in power relations between literacy workers and students must be addressed for true student…

Describes the National Institute for Literacy's Literacy Information and Communication System as a national electronic network for literacy providers that focuses on comprehensiveness, ease of access, consistent format, and availability of support services for the state literacy resource centers whose home pages are linked. Seven websites are…

A survey received 143 responses (35%) from adult education/English as a second language directors; 16 were interviewed. Only 12% rarely read research; 84% found it interesting and 85% believed it relevant to practice; 66% had changed practice due to research-based information. Educational level had no significant influence, but training or…

Telephone interviews with 538 adults in San Diego assessed literacy with recognition tests in the form of yes/no checklists. Nearly one in five scored on the lowest level; of these, 41% had 12 or fewer years of education. This group read less and watched television more than those at level 5, and 70% were employed in clerical, skilled, or…

Provides a description of action research, shares examples from adult literacy education, and suggests implications for the practice of continuing professional education. (JOW)

The author discusses the problem of adult illiteracy. Funding sources for adult basic education are reviewed. Suggestions regarding how vocational educators can help solve the literacy problem are included. Initiatives suggested include (1) diversification, (2) collaboration, (3) partnerships, and (4) renewal. (CH)

Assesses adult illiteracy in the Federal Republic of Germany, reinforcing some observations on the situation in the U.S. and other industrialized nations. (RAE)

Introduces a new column which will be a "collection of choice morsels" about ways to use technology in the interest of enhancing literacy for adolescent and adult learners. (SR)

Describes the use of Stake's Responsive Evaluation Model, a transactionist approach, to evaluate the Distance Education for Literacy Providers (DELP) Course which is a Canadian project designed to assist community-based adult literacy workers acquire necessary skills and knowledge. A taxonomy of major evaluation models is included. (Author/LRW)

Six types of programs involving college students in adult literacy were identified and analyzed: adoption, referrals, coordination, cosponsorship, creation of new programs, and coalitions. Principles for successful collaboration, sustainability and quality, and ethical issues were also identified. (SK)