The Many Faces of Adult Literacy Across Contexts, Cultures, and Modalities
A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Language and Literacy Education".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2026 | Viewed by 5
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The use of academic skills pervades daily life in adulthood, whether it is understanding medication instructions, engaging on digital platforms, helping children with their homework, detecting misinformation, or comparing the costs of food items. Nevertheless, many adults lack the foundational academic skills needed to adequately perform such daily life tasks, as seen in a 2023 international survey of skills, where approximately one fifth of the adult participants performed poorly on the survey items (OECD 2024). In this Special Issue, therefore, we invite researchers to share their scholarship in all aspects of adult literacy across diverse contexts, cultures, and modalities. Adults are defined as those 15 years of age or older, and for the purposes of this Special Issue, we are concerned with adults who have difficulties with foundational academic skills in particular. If they are of high school age, the focus must only be on those not enrolled in high school (i.e., they dropped out of high school). Settings can be in any country of the world, with a focus on academic skills (reading, writing, numeracy, and vocabulary) and/or adult daily academic skills involving contexts such as technology, health, workplace, and family. Studies exploring interventions, testing, learner or teacher characteristics, and professional development are encouraged. Additionally, high-quality quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method analytic approaches are welcome. Opinion pieces and/or analyses of issues and events are also acceptable but must be grounded in evidence-based scholarship. Practical implications and recommendations are required in all manuscripts.
Prof. Dr. Daphne Greenberg
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- adult literacy
- adult numeracy
- health literacy
- workplace literacy
- digital literacy
- family literacy
- financial literacy
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