Reading Comprehension Strategies for Adult Literacy Outcomes

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Issue Date
2005-11Author
Hock, Mike
Mellard, Daryl F.
Publisher
International Literacy Association
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Published Version
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40017582Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Although research on improving child literacy is converging, no such body of research exists for adult literacy. Yet the need is no less significant. This study extends the knowledge garnered with younger populations by determining the reading comprehension strategies most important to adults' success on adult literacy outcome measures and aligning them with previously researched interventions. According to an analysis of key adult literacy outcome measures (i.e., competency-based, standardized tests of literacy commonly accepted as reasonable proxies for the global construct of adult literacy: Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System [CASAS], General Educational Development [GED], and National Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP]), adults should benefit from strategies that teach looking for clues in or generating questions about a text. Additionally, adults need to learn how to summarize and draw inferences in order to address higher-level literacy demands. Adult learners also need a metacognitive strategy to self-regulate reading behavior (e.g., choose a strategy to use, evaluate its effectiveness, and abandon and choose another strategy if necessary.) Furthermore, when using a competency-based standardized test, adult learners need to be coincidentally taught test- taking skills to reduce the test-related task demands and produce a better index of a learner's reading comprehension skills.
ISSN
1081-3004Collections
Citation
Hock, M., & Mellard, D.F. (2005). Reading comprehension strategies for adult literacy outcomes. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(3), 192-200.
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