Reading practices among adult education participants

Abstract

This study extends the literature on the relation between reading practices and individual characteristics of participants in adult education who have low literacy skills. Reading practices describe individuals' reading frequency for different types of written material, such as books, newspapers, magazines, technical materials, and work documents. Our survey of 213 participants considered individual characteristics such as age, gender, education level, reading level, learning disability status, and employment status. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses identified differences in reading practices by age, gender, learning disability status, and reading level. Complex interactions among these learner characteristics were also identified. We discuss the implications of our findings for educators of adults when matching curricular materials to salient learner characteristics, which could enhance the learners’ persistence and success.