DOCUMENT RESUME ED 361 500 CE 064 435 TITLE Life at The
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 361 500 CE 064 435 TITLE Life at the Margins: Profiles of Adults with Low Literacy Skills. Contractor Report, Adult Literacy and New Technologies: Tools for a Lifetime. INSTITUTION Tennessee Univ., Knoxville. Center for Literacy Studies. SPONS AGENCY Congress of the U.S., Washington, D.C. Office of Technology Assessment. PUB DATE Mar 92 NOTE 348p.; For related documents, see CE 064 323 and CE 064 432-438. PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143) EDRS PRICE HF01/PC14 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Adult Literacy; Blacks; Differences; Hispanic Americans; *Illiteracy; *Individual Characteristics; *Individual Needs; Literature Reviews; Profiles; *Regional Characteristics IDENTIFIERS African Americans; *Appalachia; *California ABSTRACT As part of an ongoing assessment on adult literacy and the new technologies, this study profiled the similaritiesand differences among Appalachian and Californian adults withlow literacy skills. Two teams of researchers each profiledsix adults with low literacy skills. The study populationwas selected so as to reflect a diverse mix of ages, genders, social and ethnic backgrounds, and literacy skills. Despite their great diversity,the 12 persons profiled had all been marginalized economicallyand culturally by society, had faced hard times, expresseda strong desire to become more self-reliant, hoped to improve theirliteracy skills and thereby obtain a better life for themselvesand their children, and shared common strategies for overcomingtheir illiteracy (including the buildinp of social networksand use of "readers"). Differences among the native andnonnative English speakers profiled were found in relation to the followingareas: uses of technology, impact of first languageusage, connectir-ns between English-as-a-Second-Language literacy, and family relationships,and the clarity of cultural identity possessed by nonnativespeakers in contrast to the white and African Americans profiled. The implications of these differences for literacy educationwere discussed. (Appended are a literature review with 75references, reflections on the research, and biographicalsketches of the researchers.) (MN) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best thatcan be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** LIFE AT ME MARGINS: PROFILES OF ADULTS WITH LOW LITERACY SKILLS Center for Literacy Studies The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Contractor Report Adult Literacy and New Technologies: Tools for a Lifetime March 1992 This contractor document was prepared for the OTA assessment entitled Adult Literacy and New Technologies.- Tools for a Lifetime. It is being made available because it contains much useful information beyond that used in the OTA report. However, it is not endorsed by OTA, nor has it been reviewed by the Technology Assessment Board. References to it should cite the contractor, not OTA, as the author. U S. OEPARTMENT OFEOUCATtON Imocovement onlce 01 Eaucel.onal Research end iUCATIONM. RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) reproduce, es rh.s document Ass Dion ,ete.vect from the petsOn Or0,Qemzet,on or.conat.no .1 made to enoove C M.nor changes neve bean teptoduct.on (lushly slatml .n this docu. Pomt$ ol wee, of oplmonsrepresent offIc41 merd do not neceseardy OEM oosnion N oohcy BEST COPY AVAILABLE TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION Background 1 Key Research Questions 3 Research Methodology 4 The Research Teams 6 1. APPALACHIAN PROFILES Introduction 11 The Profiles 27 Overview 115 2. CALIFORNIAN PROFILES Introduction 117 The Profiles 121 Overview 197 3. SYNTHESIS Introduction 229 Common Themes 236 Differences 256 Implications for Education 263 Conclusions 278 APPENDDC A: LITERATURE REVIEW APPENDIX B: REFLECTIONS ON THE RESEARCH ArPENDIX C: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF RESEARCHERS INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND The world of adults with low literacy skills in the United States is largely unknown territory for most of us. The research base is slim indeed. We know little enough about what most adults read, how they use literacy in the various domains of their everyday lives and how literacy interacts with technology. We know still less about how adults with low literacy skills lead their lives in a print-based society, especially that great majority of those adults who are not enrolled in literacy programs. The current national concern about adult literacy is based in part on the assumption that technology is changing rapidly in our society, that it needs to change rapidly in order for our economy to remain competitive with that of other countries, and that literacy skills are essential to karn to we technology elciently. Behind such assumptions lies little solid information. Do people with low literacy skills use the new technology that is becoming commonplace for members of the educated middle class: VCRs, computers, video games, microwaves and ATMs? Are they affected by changing technology at work? How do they learn to use it, and are their literacy limitations a barrier to their use of new technology? The research on these questions has not been done, yet public policy is being influenced by assumptions about the answers. This study set out to use qualitative researth to give us some insights into how adults with low literacy skills use literary and technology in their everyday lives. The study was shaped in part by a review of the limited research and theory relating to everyday literacy and technology.This literature review (in Appendix A of this report) raised an number of important issues. We reviewed theoretical perspectives on literacy, and especially reflected on two competing concepts of literacy:functional and social-contextual concepts. We reviewed some of the key issues and pedagogical approaches in both adult basic education (English literacy) and English-as-a Second-Language (for non-native English speakers). And we focussed especially on those few =dies that exist of literacy in everyday life a series of ethnoiraphic studio, some workplace studies of reading and writing on the job, and studles oi 'practical problem solving in everyday and work life. The review offered three major insigids which were important in shaping our study. 1. The deficit perspective is challenged Pioneering ethnographic roearch by Fingeret and others shows that to lack literacy skills is not necessarily to lack other skills.'It is often assumed that low-literate adults live impoverished lives, socially and culturally as well as in terms of literacy. In contrast, these Henna Mew Finger* Thijaiterate Underclass:Derarthologizina the American Show Ph.D. Dissertation, Syracuse University, 1912; Linda Zeigehn, Me formation of literacy perspective' in LA. Fellenz and G..T. Conti (Eds.) Adult training in the Commtmitr, Bozemea, Monts= Center for Adult Laming Research, Montana State UniversitY, JUDO 1990; Shifyi Gomm. :.EXKSIELl.pirkelattrZ.IL.CLiliSallb0=1211L2fi Egligigaliggagy_Egaim Ph.D. Diessetation, Georgia State University, 1990. 4 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 Life a the Margins few ethnographic studies depict adults who are strong and resourceful, skilled and knowledgeable. These studies suggest that to lack reading skills is not necessarily to lack other skills: indeed the adults Fingeret and Zeigahn studied had many other skills and cultural knowledge, and led full social lives. They were respected community members. Similarly, research by psychologists into practical problem solving in everyday life shows people creating sophisticated solutions to familiar problems, in which literacy plays only a small and selective role. Literacy texts are only one source of information, and one that can often be circumvented in familiar contexts. 2. The Importance of Context Careful rsading of existing research on literacy, shows the importance of context in literacy use. To view literacy as a generic set of skills which can be measured in standardized tests would be to ignore the research showing how much more skilled workers are at reading job-Mated materials than at general reading tests.2 Recent developments in cognitive science demonstrate how much more accurate people are at mathematical operations contained in everyday problem solving than in pencil and paper tests.' Together, these two bodies of research indicate that knowledge and processes are intertwined. When the process (literacy as skill) is separated from the knowledge (everyday context), everyone may look much less skilled than they really are. Different literacies exist in different aspects of people's &elwork, home, shopping, school. The demands and uses of litesacy in one domain may be very different from those of another. In particular, the research by Sticht, Mikulecky and others underscores the differences in workplace literacy demands from those of school-based literacy. 2 Including Thomas Sticht, Readinr for Workkg, Alexandria, VA:Human Resources Research Organization, 1975, and ; W. San Diego, CA: Applied Behavioral sod Cognitive Sciences, Inc., 1987; Sticht sod L. Mikulecky, job Related Basic Skills:Case Ed capalsitool, Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse, 1984; L. Mikulecky, *Job literacy: The relationship between school preparation and workplace actuality,* iteadiniz Research Ouarterlv, 12, 1982, p. 400-419, sad TreParing students for workplace literacy demends,* IgiumaLsdiggsfigg, 22, 1984, p. 253-257; Mikulecky and Jeanne Ehlintar, TraiaiaLimissaissamossolas_fflationishlasilicaarstcs, Institute for tho Study rof Adak Literacy,