[NLA] Why so much interest in adult reading?

[Barb Sabaj]

I will venture a guess that the rebirth of reading skills has a great deal
to do with technology and the workplace driving reading skills.  As the
Internet and other technologies abound, the ability to read at least the 8th
grade level becomes paramount.  Websites with real information in them are
written at a relatively high level, even the "Value" site for learners is
written at the 8th grade level.   (I did a copy and paste, then ran it
through Word's readability program.)



Manufacturers are placing orders and changes through their computer systems
to the employees on the factory floors and everyone needs to be able to read
them.

Reading skills are more important today for manufacturing jobs than 25-30
years ago when orders and information were given orally.



Barbara Sabaj
District 214 Community Education
bjteach at ameritech.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Sticht" <tsticht at znet.com>
To: <nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 6:46 PM
Subject: [NLA] Why so much interest in adult reading?


> Why is there so much interest in adult reading instruction lately?
>
> Here is a list of some activities that have suggested to me that there has
> been an upsurge in the interest in adult reading.
>
> 1. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Title 2: The Adult Education and
> Family Literacy Act took strong steps toward suggesting a national
> approach to teaching adults to read when six times throughout the Act it
> refers to teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and reading
> comprehension.
>
> 2. The Partnership for Reading, formed by the U. S. Department of
> Education, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and
> the National Institute for Literacy to bring scientific evidence to
> learning sponsored the adult Reading Research Working Group to review
> research-based approaches to adult reading instruction. An extensive
> report of the work of this group is available at the www.nifl.gov web
> site. Like the WIA Title 2 act, it emphasizes "alphabetics," meaning
> phonemic awareness and phonics, fluency, and comprehension. Additionally,
> it discusses reading assessment profiles and vocabulary development.
>
> 3. , On October 2, 2002  a new Adult Reading Research Network was
> unveiled. With $18.5 million over a five year period, in grants from the
> National Institute for Literacy (NIFL), Office of Adult and Vocational
> Education of the US Department of Education, and the National Institute of
> Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of
> Health, the new Adult Reading Research Network will study the most
> effective methods and approaches for teaching reading skills to
> low-literate adults.
>
> 4. Additionally in 2002, in a partnership with the National Center for
> Family Literacy (NCFL) the NIFL established the Equipped for the Future
> (EFF) Reading Project. This project will develop a train-the-trainer model
> to support family literacy programs in integrating scientifically based
> reading instruction and EFF's constructivist approach to teaching and
> learning.
>
> Though I suppose this new policy and research focus upon teaching adult
> reading is to be welcomed, I still wonder why there is all this new
> attention to adult reading instruction. Especially when on the 1992
> National Adult Literacy Survey 93 percent of adults said they read well or
> very well.
>
> Does anyone want to venture a guess or two?
>
> Tom Sticht
>
>
>
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