Colleagues,

I hope many of you have had a chance to look at Part II of the Oxfam  
book, Developing Adult Literacy: Approaches to Planning, Implementing  
and Delivering Literacy Initiatives. The four Concepts and  
approaches: Skills, Tasks, Social and Cultural Practices, and Tools  
for Critical Reflection are a very useful framework of analysis  to  
look at adult literacy education programs in all countries. I think  
it is very helpful, too, for our discussion.

I suppose this is a question for Juliet, but Brenda, and our other  
guests may want to weigh in as well. I wonder where you see a project- 
based or constructivist approach fitting with these four concepts, in  
all of them, some of them, or one of them in particular?

I also wonder where initiatives started by a government, such as AIDS/ 
HIV education, maternal and child health, or other health  
initiatives; financial literacy;  environmental education; and others  
that use adult (or family) literacy programs as the way to "deliver"  
information to, and change values or practices of adults fit this way  
of looking at literacy.

David J. Rosen
Special Topics Discussion Moderator
djrosen at comcast.net