[NLA] Info: Adult Literacy Research

[David J. Rosen]

NLA Colleagues,

I have been asked by NIFL's Wil Hawk to post the message below for your 
information.

David J. Rosen
NLA List Moderator

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Dear NLA List Participants:

David Rosen's post in early April asking whether adult literacy has a 
literature of recommended practice based on scientific evidence has 
surfaced good information on available research from Gail Spangenberg, 
Tom Sticht, and others.  By mid-summer, the National Institute for 
Literacy will make available two new resources on adult reading 
research  - a printed report and a series of new pages on the 
recently-launched Partnership for Reading website.  The report was 
produced by a group of adult reading researchers convened by the 
National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and National Center for the Study 
of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) as part of the Partnership for 
Reading's work to disseminate scientifically-based reading research.  
Practitioners and other members of the adult literacy field also 
contributed to the effort.

The report reviews research related to adult literacy reading 
instruction using topics based on the components of reading - 
alphabetics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.  The group modified 
criteria established by the National Reading Panel to select and 
evaluate the studies to be included in the report.

Most of the report's findings are labeled "emerging principles" because 
they are based on a relatively small body of experimental research.  The 
report also supports many list contributors' observations that much more 
research on many aspects of adult education is still needed.  While the 
report is not meant to serve as a detailed guide to teaching reading in 
adult education classrooms, it will help define more clearly what we do 
and don't know about adult reading instruction. 

Lynn Reddy
NIFL Communications Director
lreddy at nifl.gov      

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