This paper is part of Stories from the Field, a research project that investigates the principles and practices that best support both the learning and teaching of literacy. It celebrates three extraordinary women, each of whom, in her own way, is a literacy cartographer, charting new and innovative landscapes in adult literacy in Alberta.
In this study, the authors try to understand the evolution of adult literacy research by analyzing material published in “The Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education,” a peer-reviewed publication that first appeared in 1987.
This handbook draws upon the findings of a five-year study of adult literacy education in the United States, entitled “The Literacy Practices of Adult Learners Study,” or LPALS. The study supported the hypothesis that the use of “authentic” or real-life materials and activities in the classroom led students to increase their literacy activities outside the classroom.
This literature review examines works from 2006 to 2009 as a follow-up to a comprehensive report on international workplace literacy and basic skills, published by Alison Gray. The review surveys research, policy and practice documents from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The sources examined comprise primarily research studies and reports, including some French-language materials.
This resource manual is a publication by the Literacy and Policing Project of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), Ottawa, and its Crime Prevention Committee. It provides an overview of the literacy problem in Canada, the impact of low literacy on communities, crime and the justice system and how to recognize the signals of low literacy and act on them. The legalities relating to literacy are also described.
This toolkit is designed for practitioners who may feel intimidated at the prospect of integrating research into a program.
The authors begin by defining “research in practice” simply as using the evidence of research and applying it in some way to one’s own experience and “research integration” as using the knowledge of the research.
In this report, the authors discuss the cost and the importance of investing in literacy. They suggest that advanced literacy is the single most important tool that Canadians need to compete in the global economy and present estimates of the total cost of raising the literacy skill of the adult population to Level 3.
In 2003, the Coalition francophone pour l'alphabétisation et la formation de base en Ontario commissioned a research study, entitled "For My Child," to evaluate the impact of family literacy programs. The current report is an analysis of this research, which was conducted in the broader context of research on family literacy.
In this book the author examines the concept of dyslexia. He begins by looking at the cognitive psychology of literacy, that is, how the brain works when it reads, writes or spells. He then looks at some interesting and unusual new ideas such as the powerful effect of affect on learning and performance, the significance of learned helplessness to learning and literacy and the enigma of consciousness in our teaching.
This book originated in a course that was offered as part of the Research in Practice in Adult Literacy Network Project, a project initiated in 2000 involving Literacy Alberta, the Learning Centre Literacy Association, and the Centre for Research on Literacy at the University of Alberta. As the title suggests, this guide was written to help literacy practitioners conduct research related to their practice.
