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Handwriting is essential for both children and adults. It is still unclear, however, how handwriting skills could be obtained. Here we tested the hand copy, the first step of handwriting, of children who started kindergarten for about one year (3–5 years old), who were in kindergarten for 2–3 years (5–6 years old), and who started elementary school for less than a year (6–7 years old). Participants were asked to copy down simple numbers and shapes under no time restraint. Their copy was also presented as visual feedback. In this case, their copy performance mainly reflects their abilities in visuomotor transformation. We found that the performance of children aged 5–6 years old was much better than that of the 3–5 years old ones, which could be due to the natural development of muscles and joints or the training at home or in kindergarten. We next tested illiterate, semi-illiterate, and literate adults with the same task to elucidate the contribution of natural development. Although illiterate adults had never been to school and could not read, they had well-developed and trained muscles and joints and had acquired fine motor skills during everyday life and work. Surprisingly, we found that the overall performance of the illiterate group was similar to that of the youngest (3–5 years old) children, which suggests that the visuomotor ability required for hand copy cannot be automatically obtained during growing up but requires specific training. Our findings provide new insights into visuomotor learning and have implications for handwriting interventions.

Children’s private speech has been widely studied among children, but it is clear that adults use private speech as well. In this study, illiterate adults’ private speech during a “school-like” task was explored as a function of literacy level and task difficulty in a sample of 126 adults enrolled in a public literacy program. A main effect for literacy level was found—private speech was more internalized and less externalized among adults with higher literacy levels. Externalized private speech was more frequently observed among illiterate adults engaged in the most difficult task. Private speech served cognitive functions as indicated by the proportion of self-regulatory private speech and the proportion of private speech preceding actions being higher in the advanced literacy group and among illiterate adults doing the easier task. Internalized private speech, self-regulatory private speech, and private speech preceding action were each positively correlated with performance and negatively correlated with time to complete the task. The use of private speech in illiterate adults appears to be linked to the mastery of cultural experiences, such as literacy, similar to the self-talk of children.

Nineteen adults who did not know how to read were asked to spell a list of words as well as possible. In general, their spellings consisted of letters whose names could be clearly heard in the pronunciation of the word (e.g., the spelling I and U for chinelo, in which the names of the letters i and u can be detected in the pronunciation of the word). These results suggest that illiterate adults use their knowledge of letter names to connect print to speech. Similar to what has been observed among preschool children, the use of this strategy resulted, sometimes, in so-called \"syllabic\" spellings, that is, spellings in which the number of letters correspond to the number of syllables in the pronunciation of the word. Keywords: Illiterate adults; Spelling; Letter-name knowledge. Dezenove adultos que nao haviam comecado a ler foram solicitados a escrever uma lista de palavras da melhor maneira que pudessem. De modo geral, suas escritas foram compostas de letras cujo nome podia ser claramente detectado na pronuncia das palavras (e.g., a escrita IU para chinelo). Esses resultados sugerem que adultos iletrados utilizam seu conhecimento do nome das letras para conectar a escrita a fala. Como parece ocorrer entre criancas, o uso dessa estrategia resultou, algumas vezes, em escritas \"silabicas\", isto e, escritas em que o numero de letras corresponde ao numero de silabas na pronuncia da palavra. Palavras-chave: Adultos iletrados; Escrita; Conhecimento do nome das letras.

Dezenove adultos que não haviam começado a ler foram solicitados a escrever uma lista de palavras da melhor maneira que pudessem. De modo geral, suas escritas foram compostas de letras cujo nome podia ser claramente detectado na pronúncia das palavras (e.g., a escrita IU para chinelo ). Esses resultados sugerem que adultos iletrados utilizam seu conhecimento do nome das letras para conectar a escrita à fala. Como parece ocorrer entre crianças, o uso dessa estratégia resultou, algumas vezes, em escritas \"silábicas\", isto é, escritas em que o número de letras corresponde ao número de sílabas na pronúncia da palavra.Nineteen adults who did not know how to read were asked to spell a list of words as well as possible. In general, their spellings consisted of letters whose names could be clearly heard in the pronunciation of the word (e.g., the spelling I and U for chinelo, in which the names of the letters i and u can be detected in the pronunciation of the word). These results suggest that illiterate adults use their knowledge of letter names to connect print to speech. Similar to what has been observed among preschool children, the use of this strategy resulted, sometimes, in so-called \"syllabic\" spellings, that is, spellings in which the number of letters correspond to the number of syllables in the pronunciation of the word.

The report aims to gain a better understanding of youth employment outcomes in the hope of crafting more sound and responsive policies. The first part of this study provides an analysis of how youth spend their time and the determinants of this time use. The second part of the study provides an overview and analysis of the technical and vocational education and training sector. It also provides recommendations on how the sector can be made more responsive to the needs of youth in the light of the findings of the first part of the study.

Dezenove adultos que não haviam começado a ler foram solicitados a escrever uma lista de palavras da melhor maneira que pudessem. De modo geral, suas escritas foram compostas de letras cujo nome podia ser claramente detectado na pronúncia das palavras (e.g., a escrita IU para chinelo ). Esses resultados sugerem que adultos iletrados utilizam seu conhecimento do nome das letras para conectar a escrita à fala. Como parece ocorrer entre crianças, o uso dessa estratégia resultou, algumas vezes, em escritas \"silábicas\", isto é, escritas em que o número de letras corresponde ao número de sílabas na pronúncia da palavra.

The global ageing of the population has made the increase in age-related diseases more obvious, some of which are accompanied by a patient’s cognitive decline (CD). That is a hard problem for Mexico, as a large number of older adults belong to marginalized sectors. These older adults are characterized by their illiteracy and limited financial resources, which make them more vulnerable to conditions such as the Alzheimer’s disease. According to the literature, a person who participates often in cognitive stimulation (CS) activities reduces the risk of suffering a CD-related condition. This has provided the motivation to carry out case studies to understand older adults’ interactions in CS sessions, and their relation with technologies and with members of their social family networks (SFN). To address these technological, social and illiteracy gaps, a pervasive CS collaborative system has been designed and evaluated which eases interaction through natural interfaces and enables SFN members to interact with older adults during their CS activities regardless of their physical location. The evaluation results provide evidence that participants perceived the system as useful, easy to use and providing a pleasurable user experience. Furthermore, these results show the feasibility of augmenting traditional board games (e.g. chess, checkers) to create pervasive CS collaborative applications and the importance and benefits of integrating SFN members as informal caregivers.

This book details the findings of a research project investigating the social uses of literacy in a range of contexts in South Africa. This approach treats literacy not simply as a set of technical skills learnt in formal education, but as social practices embedded in specific contexts, discourses and positions. What this means is made clear through a series of fine-grained accounts of social uses and meanings of literacy in contexts ranging from the taxi industry in Cape Town, to family farms, urban settlements and displacement sites, rural land holdings, and various sites during the 1994 elections, and among different sectors of South African society, Black, Colored and White.Since the view of literacy presented here is so dependent on context, the book provides not only descriptions of literacy practices but also rich insights into the complexity of everyday social life in contemporary South Africa at a major point of transition. It can be read as a concrete way of understanding the emergence of the New South Africa as it appears to actors on the ground, focused through attention to one central feature of contemporary life - the uses and meanings of literacy. \"Using fascinating and carefully documented case-study material, this book raises vital questions about literacy and illiteracy, and about adult education. Above all, it questions the efficacy of any literacy programme which fails to acknowledge the many ways in which uneducated and so called 'illiterate' people already use reading, writing and numeracy in their everyday lives.\" Jenny Maybin, The Open University, Milton Keynes.

The eight chapters in this book relate the experiences and reflections of six researchers/teachers who set out to teach five students who had failed to acquire a useful degree of literacy. The book also provides a great deal of information about many of the central topics of teaching literacy: children's motivation, the influence of social and cultural background on learning, and different methods of teaching reading. These topics are integrated into the detailed case studies the book describes. (HOD)