Improving Adult Literacy Outcomes: Lessons from Cognitive Research for Developing Countries. Directions in Development.
Despite the existence of about one billion illiterates in the world, adult literacy programs make up 1-5 percent of government or donor budgets, and they remain severely underfunded in comparison to primary education. Though dropout and course completion rates improved in the 1990s, the outcomes of literacy instruction are still modest and may have improved little since the 1970s. The results may disappoint governments and donors who expect that once taught, people will have usable skills and remain literate. The modest results make it hard to increase coverage and to argue for increased expenditures for this sector. The results may be due to inefficient instruction but also to the structure of human memory, which has important implications for adult literacy acquisition. The need to learn the rapid recognition of complex patterns poses problems that are not apparent to people who became expert readers in their childhood.
Educating the adult brain: How the neuroscience of learning can inform educational policy
The acquisition of new skills in adulthood can positively affect an individual’s quality of life, including their earning potential. In some cases, such as the learning of literacy in developing countries, it can provide an avenue to escape from poverty. In developed countries, job retraining in adulthood contributes to the flexibility of labour markets. For all adults, learning opportunities increase participation in society and family life. However, the popular view is that adults are less able to learn for an intrinsic reason: their brains are less plastic than in childhood. This article reviews what is currently known from neuroscientific research about how brain plasticity changes with age, with a particular focus on the ability to acquire new skills in adulthood. Anchoring their review in the examples of the adult acquisition of literacy and new motor skills, the authors address five specific questions: (1) Are sensitive periods in brain development relevant to learning complex educational skills like literacy? (2) Can adults become proficient in a new skill? (3) Can everyone learn equally effectively in adulthood? (4) What is the role of the learning environment? (5) Does adult education cost too much? They identify areas where further research is needed and conclude with a summary of principles for enhancing adult learning now established on a neuroscience foundation.RésuméFormer le cerveau adulte : comment les neurosciences de l’apprentissage peuvent éclairer les politiques éducatives – L’acquisition de nouvelles compétences à l’âge adulte peut avoir une influence positive sur la qualité de la vie d’un individu, y compris son potentiel de revenus. Dans certaines situations, tels que l’alphabétisation dans les pays en développement, elle peut permettre de sortir de la pauvreté. Dans les pays industrialisés, la reconversion professionnelle à l’âge adulte contribue à la flexibilité des marchés du travail. Chez tous les adultes, l’apprentissage augmente leur participation à la société et à la vie familiale. Néanmoins, l’opinion générale veut que les adultes soient moins aptes à apprendre, et ce pour une raison intrinsèque : leur cerveau serait moins malléable que dans l’enfance. Les auteurs recensent les connaissances actuelles de la recherche neuroscientifique sur l’évolution de la flexibilité du cerveau avec l’âge, en particulier sur la capacité d’acquérir de nouvelles compétences à l’âge adulte. Appuyant leur examen sur des exemples de l’acquisition des compétences de base et fondamentales chez les adultes, les auteurs traitent cinq questions spécifiques : (1) Les périodes sensibles au cours du développement cérébral affectent-elles l’apprentissage de compétences éducatives complexes telles que l’alphabétisation ? (2) Les adultes peuvent-ils devenir chevronnés dans une nouvelle compétence ? (3) Tous les adultes apprennent-ils avec la même efficacité ? (4) Quel est le rôle de l’environnement éducatif ? (5) Les coûts de l’éducation des adultes sont-ils trop élevés ? Les auteurs identifient les domaines appelant des études plus poussées et concluent par une synthèse des principes valorisant l’apprentissage des adultes désormais fondé sur une base neuroscientifique.
A Cognitive Perspective on the Assessment, Diagnosis, and Remediation of Reading Skills
Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the cognitive perspective on the assessment, diagnosis, and remediation of reading skills. Standardized reading tests adequately fulfill some purposes for measuring reading skill but not others. An overview of the Laboratory for the Assessment and Training of Academic Skills (LATAS) model of assessment and educational intervention, the theoretical underpinnings of the LATAS diagnoses and interventions, five characteristics of teacher-useful reading diagnosis and remediation, the results of instructional interventions based on LATAS assessments, other intervention strategies used in LATAS, and user-friendly properties of the LATAS procedures are illustrated. The LATAS model of working with students experiencing learning problems begins with a comprehensive assessment of reading and math skills. With increased experience in processing graphemic information, the developing reader begins to transform conscious and strategic activities into modularized processes that are data driven. Data-driven processes are those that are automatically activated by the stimulus event. The major tools used in the LATAS diagnostic and instructional activities are SVT (Sentence Verification Technique) listening and reading comprehension tests and CAAS (computer-based academic assessment system) reading tasks. Establishing the validity of any assessment procedure is an ongoing task, and validity research is continuing on all of the LATAS assessment instruments.