ABSTRACT
Adult basic and literacy education programs take many forms and adopt a variety of approaches to instruction. Around the globe, these programs range from formal, state-sponsored regimens that are driven by endorsed curricula and assessment protocols and administered by professional educators to informal programs that are led by volunteers, usually from local communities or neighborhoods. The scope and quality of the instruction provided often depend on a variety of factors, such as the guiding philosophy of the provider organization, the theories about learning that are endorsed by program directors, the training of the teachers and/ or volunteers, the knowledge and skill levels of the adult learners on program entry, and the learners’ collective and individual learning goals. The instruction found that adult basic education (ABE) literacy programs generally center on teaching functionally illiterate or low-literate adults how to read, write, and perform basic math functions or introducing them to personal computers. However, typically, there is greatest instructional emphasis on improving adults’ reading skills (e.g., the ability to decode words and comprehend written texts) rather than writing or numeracy. A functionally illiterate individual is a person who lacks the reading, writing, and math skills to perform everyday tasks and manage daily living activities. Low-literate adults are those who can perform simple literacy tasks, but not more challenging ones; or, these persons may be literate in their native language but not in the majority language, such as English. In the United States, these individuals are referred to as English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) learners.
