A study of low-literate adults: Personal, environmental and program considerations

Abstract

Sylvia, the mother of two school-age children, lives in the Adams Morgan area of Washington, D.C. She is enrolled in an adult literacy program. Embarrassment at not being able to help her children with their schoolwork was a strong factor in Sylvia's enrollment in the program. Jackson is a young man living in a group home following release from a youth detention center. Attending a literacy program is one of his parole requirements. While he feels that the work at the program is too easy and not very interesting, he plans to stick it out because he wants to have someone testify for him in court. These two cases represent the diversity of the clientele of adult literacy programs. To develop a clearer picture O f the people who attend adult literacy programs, a research team interviewed 17 participants in six programs in Washington, D.C. The researchers were interested in'discovering first-hand the diversity of the group labeled in the literature as low-literate adults. What motivates these individuals to attend and stay in literacy programs? How important is reading in their lives? How aware are they of the factors that influenced their problem and their progress in their current program? What kinds of goals do they have for themselves as readers? What coping strategies do they use when faced with reading tasks beyond their skill level? These were some of the questions that interested us as we began this investigation.