Drawing on empirical research, this book presents the text–task–respondent (TTR) theory of functional literacy ─ a detailed and highly integrative new theory that offers an improved understanding of adults’ performance on everyday literacy tasks.
A high level of literacy in both print and digital media is required for negotiating most aspects of 21st-century life, including supporting a family, education, health, civic participation, and competitiveness in the global economy. Yet, more than 90 million U.S. adults lack adequate literacy. Furthermore, only 38 percent of U.S. 12th graders are at or above proficient in reading. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction synthesizes the research on literacy and learning to improve literacy instruction in the United States and to recommend a more systemic approach to research, practice, and policy. The book focuses on individuals ages 16 and older who are not in K-12 education. It identifies factors that affect literacy development in adolescence and adulthood in general, and examines their implications for strengthening literacy instruction for this population. It also discusses technologies for learning that can assist with multiple aspects of teaching, assessment,and accommodations for learning. There is inadequate knowledge about effective instructional practices and a need for better assessment and ongoing monitoring of adult students' proficiencies, weaknesses, instructional environments, and progress, which might guide instructional planning. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction recommends a program of research and innovation to validate, identify the boundaries of, and extend current knowledge to improve instruction for adults and adolescents outside school. The book is a valuable resource for curriculum developers, federal agencies such as the Department of Education, administrators, educators, and funding agencies.
The purpose of this volume is to present recent research in the field of the acquisition of functional literacy and its precursors. The volume aims to capture the state of the art in this rapidly expanding field. An attempt is made to clarify the vague and often inconsistent definitions of functional literacy from the perspective of development. Cognitive, linguistic, educational, and social factors of literacy development are all taken into account. The volume consists of three subsequent parts. The first part goes into phonological precursors of literacy development. In this part the focus is on the development of early language precursors of of reading and writing. The cultural foundations of these precursors are explored, and their links with reading development are dealt with in detail. Different psycholinguistic approaches are also proposed to explain the occurrence of literacy problems. In the second part, the scope is on the constraints of reading and writing efficiency at the word level and beyond. The acquisition of reading and writing is seen as a result from the interaction between phonological, orthographic, and semantic processes. A crosslinguistic perspective is taken on the role of writing system factors in the acquisition of literacy skills. The final part deals with the role of social and educational factors in literacy acquisition. Starting from a crosscultural perspective, the central issue is how the attainment of functional literacy is dependent on sociocultural variation. The predictors of more advanced levels of literacy development are considered, including foreign language literacy and adult literacy.
This book will help those who plan and develop literacy initiatives; using case studies from literacy programmes in many countries including Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mali, Nigeria, the Philippines and Uganda, it demonstrates the importance of literacy, its power to improve lives, and the role literacy plays in social and economic development.
Covering a wide range of literacy topics, including literacy planning, programme implementation and literacy evaluation, the emphasis of this book is on literacy work at the grassroots. The theory and research come from rural and urban settings around the world and refer to literacy work with a variety of different learners. Written for all kinds of literacy workers and organisations, the book is an accessible and practical guide to all areas of literacy work. The themes of each chapter are listed at the beginning of the chapter, and chapters and sub-sections are self-contained so that they can be read independently.
This is a research report on the findings of the Partnership in Reading project. Its aim was to identify and evaluate existing research in adult literacy reading instruction and provide a summary if scientifically based principles and practices. Topics covered include: * Emerging principles, trends, ideas and comments * Reading assessment profiles * Phonemic awareness and word analysis * Fluency * Vocabulary * Reading comprehension * Computer technology and ABE reading instruction.
The purpose of the volume is to open up new perspectives in the study of literacy by bringing together current research findings from linguistics, psychology, sociology and anthropology. The book divides into five parts. The first part deals with theoretical questions related to the definition and the modeling of the construct of functional literacy. The second part goes into the notion of literacy development. Both societal and individual aspects of literacy development are taken into account. In the next two parts the actual achievement of literacy in various regions of the world is dealt with. In part 3 the focus is on attaining literacy in developing societies, and in part 4 on attaining literacy in industrialized societies. In the final part the question is raised how functional literacy can be promoted through education. Starting from a cross-cultural perspective the central issue is how standards of functional literacy can be established throughout the world.
Offers guidance on how to work with adult learners to develop literacy skills and includes case studies of real student experiences and practical suggestions for teaching, planning, and assessment.