Colleagues: I recognize that the ongoing discussion about diversity is
focused upon race, gender, and other personal characteristics of adult
learners. But there are other facets of diversity that influence
instruction in adult literacy education that may be of interest for some.
In a 1997 report entitled Functional Context Education: Making Learning
Relevant I reviewed some of these other facets of diversity. If interested,
you can find the report online at
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/context/context.pdf

Following is a brief extract from the chapter on diversity.

Tom Sticht

Chapter 3

Some Challenges of Diversity for Adult Literacy Education

Adult language and literacy learners form a breathtakingly diverse group.
Among others, it includes college students taking English courses at the
university, new immigrants who need to learn the English language as a
second language, out of school, native born adults who are seeking to
develop basic and intermediate language and literacy skills and mature
adult employees who need to upgrade their language and literacy skills in
the wake of changes in their work environments, and learners across the
adult age span.

The Diversity of Instructional Contexts

The adult educator's task is made even more difficult because diversity is
also constituted by the contexts in which adults learn. The various
situational and institutional contexts in which adult learners may be found
constrain the types of instructional environments that adult educators can
provide.

Self Instructional Programs: Adults may choose to learn in a variety of
contexts. They may study alone at home, using language tapes, computer
software, books, or even products such as Hooked on Phonics Tmwith SRATM
kits ("used by over 62 million people around the world") that use the mass
media of television and radio to bombard the airwaves with advertising
aimed at the adult learner/consumer.

Military Contexts: Educators working in military contexts are strictly bound
by the amount of time that is provided for instruction. Such time pressures
may be even greater under a major mobilization like war.  Socialist,
Marxist or "critical literacy" aimed at overthrowing the hegemony of the
governing classes through revolution are notions that are not typically
valued as goals of military literacy programs.

Jails and Prisons: As sad as it is to say, one of the "growth" areas for
adult language and literacy providers are the thousands of city jails and
state and federal prisons, so-called "correctional" institutions, that have
and continue to proliferate throughout the United States. With over a
million prisoners behind bars, perhaps most of whom are undereducated,
adult educators must understand the cultural contexts of institutions that
many view as existing to punish, not rehabilitate5 (p. vii)

Workplace Learning Contexts: Partnerships of educational providers and
various businesses sometimes develop and conduct basic skills programs for
employees. Socialist, Marxist or "critical literacy" aimed at destroying
capitalism and replacing management with labor through revolution are
notions that are not usually valued in such programs. Rather, they
generally have to conform to traditional values of "the American work
ethic" and be consistent with the concepts of capitalism, competitiveness
and private enterprise.

Community Colleges and Adult High Schools (Local Education Agencies):
Community colleges and adult high schools are typically state-funded,
bureaucracies which scramble to get Full Time Equivalents -FTE's. FTE's are
the number of student contact hours that would be obtained with a full time
student. FTE's are typically based on average daily attendance, and because
adults are not usually full-time students in ESL, ABE, or ASE programs, it
may take quite a few adults to make-up one FTE.

Community Based Organizations (CBO's): There are a large number of community
based groups that are typically non-profit, charitable organizations that
provide a variety of services to community residents, often including ESL,
ABE, and ASE. Many of these organizations have sprung up to serve the
educational needs of particular segments of the adult population for whom
special laws, policies and funding have been provided by various government
agencies.

Diversity of Learning Outcomes

Not surprisingly, perhaps, the diversity in students, faculty, and
facilities in adult literacy education programs results in a diversity of
learning outcomes. In a comprehensive study of adult literacy education
programs in the United States, it was found that for English as a Second
Language (ESL) students who stayed in programs for an average of 120 hours,
pre-test scores on the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS)
went from 207 to 212 for a statistically significant gain of 5 scale score
points. In reading grade levels, the ESL students went from reading at
about the 5.5 grade level to the 6.5 grade level. About a one year gain. 20
pp.25-26

Adult basic education students went from the 6.1 reading grade level on the
Tests of Adult Basic Education (TABE) at the pre-test to the 7.4 grade
level on the post-test for a gain of 1.3 grade levels after an average of
84 hours of instruction.20 pp 25-26 Students in adult secondary education,
those preparing for the high school equivalency examination, went from the
middle of the eighth grade (8.5) to the mid-ninth grade (9.3) for a gain of
8 months in an average of 63 hours of instruction. 20 pp.25-26