Advances and Remaining Challenges in Adult Literacy Research

Abstract

Low literacy levels in adult learners pose an educational, and public health challenge to practitioners and the scientific community. Increasing demands placed on literacy can limit opportunities in the workplace and access to health related resources, negatively impacting public health. Current estimates suggest over forty million adults in the U.S. possess only the most basic and concrete literacy skills (National Center for Education Statistics, 2003). Despite the estimated number of learners possessing minimal literacy skills in English in the U.S., there remains a paucity of research focused on adult learners to inform remediation efforts. This special issue represents an important step in highlighting the current scientific knowledge base and the implications for future directions and lines of inquiry with adult learners.

Adult reading teachers’ beliefs about how less-skilled adult readers can be taught to read.

“…National Research Council 2012, Perkins 2009, Tertiary Education Commission 2010. Low adult literacy levels have been linked to unemployment, social isolation, poverty and broader health issues (Chesters, Ryan and Sinning 2013, Miller, McCardle and Hernandez 2010, Perkins 2009). Reading is a key literacy component.…”

Component Model of Reading Comprehension for Adult Education Participants

“…Theory also supports such multicomponent models as the convergent skills model of reading development (Vellutino, Tunmer, Jaccard, & Chen, 2007), the interactive models of reading comprehension (Verhoeven & Perfetti, 2008), and the direct and inferential mediation model of reading comprehension (Cromley & Azevedo, 2007). However, we cannot assume that these 429197L DQ35110.1177/0731948711429197M ellard and FallLearning Disability Quarterly 1 University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA models of reading will apply to adults with low reading levels (MacArthur, Greenberg, Mellard, & Sabatini, 2010;Miller, McCardle, & Hernandez, 2010). In fact, Nanda, Greenberg, and Morris (2010) attempted to fit data from AE participants with third-to fifth-grade reading levels to three child-based models of reading skills and concluded that child-based models could not be relied on to describe adult struggling readers.…”

Relative Effectiveness of Reading Intervention Programs for Adults With Low Literacy

“…Many (44%) did not speak English before starting school in the U.S. About 45% of Below Basic adults graduate from high school. The need for effective educational services to boost the reading proficiency of this large, and growing, population is perceived as a pressing economic and social need (Kirsch, Braun, Yamamoto, & Sum, 2007; Miller, McCardle, & Hernandez, 2010). Adults who participate in adult education programs resemble the Below Basic group from the NAAL sample and, similarly, are a more diverse and disadvantaged population in terms of age, race/ethnicity, place of birth, and educational attainment than the U.S. population as a whole (Tamassia, Lennon, Yamamoto, & Kirsch, 2007).…”