Improving Adult Literacy With Creative Outlet

Improving Adult Literacy With Creative Outlet Danielle Utianski, Temple University Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rena Krakow Spring 2011 dutianski@temple.edu

What is functional illiteracy? Function in society (G., Malatesha, & J., 2008, p. 4)

Why is literacy important? • 90 million Americans have limited literacy ability • Associated with: • Lower socio-economic status • Lower levels of completed education • Racial/ ethnic minority group • Poorer health • hypertension • diabetes • obesity • depression (Sudore, 2004, p. 808)

Reading and Health • Positive relationship between reading ability and knowledge of health outcomes • Individuals with lower reading levels  more likely to have adverse outcomes in overall health • Resulting from difficulty in: • following directions with medications • “performing calculations requiring two or more sequential operations” (DeWalt, 2006, p. 1228)

“…I didn’t want to meet nobody or have any friends because I couldn’t read and they could so I just stayed in the house all the time” “Sometime I want to talk to [certain women] but I can’t because I don’t want them to get too close to me because I don’t want them to know that I can’t read” “Ann never makes a grocery list. She memorizes what she needs to buy and she looks at the pictures on food labels to help her decide if she is buying the right item” (Arlene, & Drennon, 1997) Reading and Social Isolation

Adult Literacy (Beverstock, & McIntyre, 2008) (Cambria, & Guthrie, 2010)

Research Question By retargeting a literacy development program designed for children toward adults of various literacy levels, do we see a higher improvement on reading and writing abilities than those in a traditional literacy program?

Hypothesis

Kids Read, Write, Create at a Glance • Pre and Post testing on the Test of Early Reading Ability (TERA) Exam • 30 participants in Grades K and 1 • One-on-one mentoring • Significant level of improvement: • Only 30% performing below the mean, compared to 53% at pre-test

Kids Read, Write, Create Cont’d Cover About the Author Sample Page

Methodology

Participants • Work Force Education & Lifelong Learning – Adult Literacy Academy ( approximately 30 students) • Control Group: • 22-24 students • Traditional literacy program • Experimental Group: • 6-8 students, self- selected • Adapted Read, Write, Create Program

Data: Standardized Assessment

Data: Questionnaires

Summary Status of Project Projected Findings Analysis

References Arlene, H, & Drennon, C. (1997). Literacy for life: adult learners, new practices. Teachers College Pr. Beverstock, C, & McIntyre, S. (2008). Dividing and conquering: successful writing processes for adult learners. Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal, 2(2), 104-108. Cambria, J, & Guthrie, J. (2010). Motivating and engaging students in reading. The NERA Journal, 46(1), 16-29. DeWalt, D.A. (2004). Literacy and health outcomes. a systematic review of the literature. Journal of general internal medicin, 19(12), 1228-1239. G., P, Malatesha, R, & J., D. (2008). Becoming a professional reading teacher. Paul H Brookes Pub Co. Sudore, R. L. (2006). Limited literacy and mortality in the elderly: the health, aging, and body composition study. Journal of general internal medicin, 21(8), 806-812. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my mentor, Dr. Krakow, and Temple University’s Ronald McNair Program.

Improving Adult Literacy With Creative Outlet