This study was undertaken by researchers from the University of Ottawa in Canada, the University of London in the United Kingdom, and the University of Maryland in the United States. Their goal was to investigate how adult students learn collaboratively with their peers in both formal and non-formal adult literacy programs and what teaching styles best support this learning.

The research design involved several different literacy organizations in Eastern Ontario and in Central London, United Kingdom.

The authors suggest that collaborative learning is the cement that bonds the various building blocks in a community of literacy practice across small, large and tutorial types of programs. Central to this framework is the instructor's philosophy and teaching perspective, which helps explain the teaching and learning transactions.