back
to spring 2004 • spring
2004 readings
spring
2004 web forum readings
What
Practitioners Say about Assessment by
Betsy Alkenbrack?
From
Research to Practice by
Katrina Grieve
Letter
from the UK, The Both...and And... of Everything
by Margaret Herrington
What
Can we Learn from Sweden??
An interview with Nayda Veeman
by
Tannis Atkinson ?
What
Counts as Literacy Work?? by
Nancy Jackson?
Book
Review: Rethinking Assessment
by
Tom Ciancone, Flora Hood and Joy Lehmann
Practitioners
Write Effective Practice in Scotland -
about the project
Download
PDF: 124 kb
www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/Web/Site/cl/al_research.asp -
the report
Funding
Matters - about the
project
www.ccsd.ca/pubs/2003/fm/ -
the report
How
Funding Affects Workers -
about the project
www.cprn.org -
the report
from
RiPAL
Alderson,
Lucy and Diana Twiss (2003).
Literacy
for Women on the Streets.
Vancouver:
Capilano College/WISH.
HTML: www.nald.ca/RIPAL/online.htm
Battell,
Evelyn (2001).
Naming
the Magic: Non-Academic Outcomes in Basic Literacy.
Victoria:
Province of British Columbia, Ministry of Advanced
Education.
HTML: www.nald.ca/RIPAL/online.htm
Holt
Begg, Fay (2002).Audemars Piguet Replica
Adapting
Writing to Read for adult literacy students: It worked
for Bill. Will it work for Carol?
Edmonton:
Learning at the Centre Press.
HTML: www.nald.ca/ripal/Resourcs/publicat/adapting/cover2.htm
PDF: www.nald.ca/province/alt/ripa/Resourcs/publicat/adapting/adapting.pdf
Park,
Veronica (2000).
Why
Don’t
People Come? Some Reasons for Non-participation
in Literacy Programs.
In
M. Norton & G. Malicky
(Eds.), Learning About Participatory
Approaches in Adult Literacy Education. Six research
in practice studies.
Edmonton:
Learning at the Centre Press.
PDF: www.nald.ca/ripal/Resourcs/learning/learning.pdf
Pheasey,
Andrea (2002).
What
do literacy students think being literate is?
Edmonton:
RiPAL Network/Learning at the Centre Press.
HTML: www.nald.ca/ripal/Resourcs/publicat/whatdo/cover2.htm
Steeves,
Phyllis (2002).
From
practice to theory and back again.
Edmonton:
RiPAL Network/Learning at the Centre Press.
HTML: www.nald.ca/RIPAL/Resourcs/theory/1.htm
PDF:
www.nald.ca/ripal/Resourcs/theory/FromPracticetoTheory.pdf
other
Canadian online reports
Grieve,
Katrina (2003).
Supporting
Learning, Supporting Change
Ontario
Literacy Coalition
PDF: www.on.literacy.ca/research/smsdfld/smsd_fld.pdf
Veeman,
Nayda (2003)
Adult
Literacy in Canada and Sweden: From Policy to Practice
WEB SITE: www.usask.ca/education/alcs
Practitioners
Write Effective Practice in Scotland
the project: www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/Web/Site/cl/al_research.asp
Funding
Matters
the report: www.ccsd.ca/pubs/2003/fm/
How
Funding Affects Workers
the report: www.cprn.org
even
more briefly noted
by Maria
Moriarty
For a bracingly
British take on issues of standard curricula,
learner progress, assessment and accountability, visit
the following sites:
RaPAL (Research
and Practice in Adult Literacy): www.literacy.lancs.ac.uk/rapal/rapal.htm
Literacy
Trust: www.literacytrust.org.uk/
Basic Skills
Agency: www.basic-skills.co.uk/
NIACE (National
Institute of Adult Continuing Education): www.niace.org.uk/
and read these
UK publications:
Brooks,
G. et al. (2001).
Progress
in Adult Literacy. Do Learners Learn? London:
The Basic
Skills Agency.
This publication
reports on research by the National Foundation for
Educational Research (NFER) in the United Kingdom.
The study was commissioned by the Basic Skills Agency
to investigate what progress adults enrolled in basic
skills programs in England and Wales made, and the
factors associated with that progress
The findings
of the study indicated that adult literacy students
made only small improvements in reading and relatively
insignificant improvements in writing. The study associated
progress with regular attendance and whether qualified
teachers along with tutor helpers were available.
The findings
of the study engendered considerable media coverage
in England. The media particularly highlighted the
relative paucity of learning gains and the need for
qualified teachers in adult literacy programming.
They cast a negative light on adult literacy programming.
In response
to this report, Mary Hamilton (Professor of Adult
Learning and Literacy, Department of Educational Research,
Lancaster University) was asked by NIACE to review
and respond to the report.
Hamilton,
Mary (2001).
Commentary
on the NFER Research Report Progress in Adult Literacy.
London: NIACE.
In her response,
Hamilton strongly challenged the research design,
methodology and, consequently, the overall conclusions
of the report. She suggested that the study be used
as a pilot for a study with a more rigorous design.
The response
provided by Hamilton underscores the need for
caution in carrying out
large-scale studies that
seek to report broadly,
particularly if such studies
have a narrow skills-measurement
focus. Such studies can,
and often, are used to support
policy, and do not necessarily
provide an accurate account
of adult literacy.? The
response to the NFER report
is a reminder of the efficacy
of close collaboration between
academic researchers and
the adult literacy field
in addressing and challenging
prevailing notions of literacy
deficits and reiterating
the complexities of programming,
assessment and measures
in addressing and analyzing
adult literacy issues.
A 2001 response to the response
by Greg Brooks from the School of Education, University
of Sheffield, (formerly NFER) can be found at www.niace.org.uk/organisation/advocacy/NFERreply.pdf
