[NLA] Cutting Edge Research

[Thomas Sticht]

Recently Dr. M. C. Smith mentioned some people whom he thinks is doing
"cutting edge" research. One of these was Dr.Daphne Greenberg, a recent
recipient of one of the five NIFL/NICHD/USED grants to study adult
reading. On the Women and Literacy (Womenlit) discussion list sponsored by
the National Institute for Literacy I recently came across a couple of the
"cutting edge" questions that Dr. Greenberg is struggling with. I left the
list after reading the questions and a couple of responses to the
questions posted by others, one of which reported the definite "fact" that
10 percent of the population of adults is gay,  puzzled as to what
particular issues in adult literacy education these questions were aimed
to resolve. I also wondered how this work might be used to approach the
Bush administration and new Republican-lead Congress to advocate for the
field of adult literacy education. I wonder if others have any insights as
to how this might be done.
Tom Sticht

On  the Womenlit list Dr. Greenberg said:

Quote:"As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, from time to time I will
pose questions that I am struggling with while I am doing my research.
Here are two questions:

1. Do you prefer the term learner or student? Do you prefer the term
teacher or instructor? If you have a preference, why? I am
struggling with the words that we use, but I don't know enough to
know why I am struggling. What do we imply when we use the word
learner vs. student? What do we imply when we use the word teacher
vs. instructor? Are there other terms that are even better?

2. I would like to make sure that the reading materials that we
offer to our learners/students are as diverse as possible. How do I
ensure this? For example, if I want to include books with characters
who have diverse orientations-what proportion of the books should
this be? Also, does anyone know of appropriate books that cover LGBT
[lesbian, gay,bisexual,transgendered] issues/characters that are written
between the 2nd and 7th grade reading levels (Mev, I know that you have
supplied lists, but are any of the books that you have mentioned written
below the 7th grade reading level)?

Any thoughts ideas about any of the above?
Daphne" End Quote.


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