Improving adult literacy outcomes: lessons from cognitive research for developing countries

With approximately one billion adult illiterates in the world today and adult literacy programs making up one to five per cent of government or donor budgets, teaching basic literacy skills is a challenge. This report summarises research into 'the cognitive mechanisms that enable learners' brains to perceive and interpret written patterns in a few milliseconds' and applies these findings to make literacy instruction more effective for adults in developing countries. The aim of this report is to provide information that will help in policy development and sensible resource allocation. The chapters are: Background: adventures in adult literacy; Cognitive science in the service of adult literacy; Instructional and social issues of literacy acquisitions; Policy implications of cognitive literacy methods. Included as appendices are: Improving reading performance in adult literacy classes of Burkina Faso; Literacy tests and questionnaire. Show less