Does Basic Skills Education Affect Adults' Literacy Proficiencies and Reading Practices?

Abstract

S A number of studies illustrate that the best predictor of adult reading ability is education. Schooling's contribution to the development of literacy has been termed a literacy development effect. This effect has not, however, been demonstrated for adults at the lower end of the literacy skills continuum who have participated in basic skills education, as the findings of previous studies have been equivocal on literacy gains. The National Adult Literacy Survey served as the data source for this investigation, which focuses on a sample of adults who participated in various basic skills education programs. Using hierarchical linear modeling, and controlling for a number of demographic variables, home environment, and neighborhood factors to account for a priori differences between participants and non‐participants, no association was found between participation in such programs and literacy skills, nor between type of basic skills program, or recency of participation and literacy proficiencies. There was, however, a positive association between participation and several types of reading practices. The findings suggest that adult basic skills programs may be ineffective for developing the kinds of literacy proficiencies assessed by the NALS‐reading and understanding prose and documents materials and texts containing quantitative information. Such programs appear, however, to motivate adults to use a variety of reading practices, such as using newspapers, books, and work‐related documents. We discuss why basic skills education may not lead to improved literacy skills and offer implications for educational policy pertaining to adult education. Further research is needed to more precisely identify the learning outcomes for adults in basic skills education programs. Un conjunto de estudios muestra que el mejor predictor de la habilidad de lectura adulta es la educación. La contribución de la escolarización al desarrollo de la lectoescritura ha sido denominada efecto del desarrollo de la alfabetización. Este efecto, sin embargo, no ha sido demostrado en adultos que están en el extremo inferior del contínuo de habilidades de lectoescritura y que han participado en la enseñanza de habilidades básicas, ya que los hallazgos de estudios previos han sido equívocos respecto de los logros en lectoescritura. La Encuesta Nacional de Alfabetización de Adultos (NALS) constituyó la fuente de datos para esta investigación, que se centró en una muestra de adultos que participó en varios programas de enseñanza de habilidades básicas. Se usaron modelos lineales jerárquicos y se controló un conjunto de variables demográficas, el contexto del hogar y factores del vecindario, para dar cuenta de diferencias a priori entre participantes y no participantes. No se halló asociación entre la participación en dichos programas y las habilidades de lectoescritura, ni tampoco entre el tipo de programa de habilidades básicas o participación reciente y las habilidades de lectoescritura. Sin embargo, hubo una asociación positiva entre particip...

Socio-demographic and practice-oriented factors related to proficiency in problem solving: a lifelong learning perspective

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Determinants of literacy proficiency: a lifelong-lifewide learning perspective

“…Regardless of the type of adult education and training, there is a general expectation that this kind of organized learning will involve literacy-related activities and hence be associated with literacy proficiency. But even for basic adult literacy education programs, the evidence of success in improving the skills and practices of adult learners are inconclusive (Sheehan-Holt & Smith, 2000). Despite these inconclusive results, adult education and training potentially exposes adults to environments that require the use of printed material and through practice engagement theory, this may lead to enhanced literacy skills.…”

Literacy practices among different ethnic groups: The role of socioeconomic and cultural factors

“…In our previous studies of adult literacy, racial and ethnic differences in reading practices varied depending upon whether income was taken into account (Sheehan-Holt & Smith, 2000;Smith & Sheehan, 1998). When demographic and socioeconomic factors were controlled, racial and ethnic minorities were shown to engage in more newspaper, magazine, and book reading than when these factors were not controlled.…”

“…However, differences in literacy proficiencies that favor European-American adults still exist, even when controlling for important background factors such as family income or mean income of the neighborhood (Sheehan-Holt & Smith, 2000).…”

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