Glossary of Key Terms in Adult & Family Literacy

The broad category of adult and family literacy includes the following subcategories:

Adult Literacy Education – Education for adults from basic through high school level, including English for speakers of other languages.

Adult Basic Education (ABE) – Education for adults that teaches reading, writing, and math skills, from the most basic level of students with limited or no formal schooling to the pre-high school level.

Adult ESL – Adults learning English as a Second (or additional) Language.  NOTE: While some adult ESL programs in the field of adult & family literacy education do serve adult learners who already have a secondary or even post-secondary education in their native language, that is a very small minority in Texas programs. The main purpose of those adult & family literacy ESL programs is to serve immigrants, refugees, and other adults who are working at basic through high school levels of reading and writing literacy even in their native language, and who not only need to learn English oral and literacy skills, but have limited reading and writing proficiency in even their native language.

Adult Secondary (GED) – Education for adults at the secondary or high school level, often but not always in preparation for the General Educational Development (GED) test.

Family Literacy – Many definitions of family literacy exist. (See Family Literacy Resource Notebook. PDF document. Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader) Generally, family literacy programs offer literacy instruction for the whole family versus adults only. Parenting education is offered in addition to literacy instruction for adults and early childhood education for their young children. Interactive Literacy Activites (ILA) or Parent and Child Together (PACT) activities give parents instruction and practice in effective methods for reading with their children. Many family literacy programs also include home visits for further instruction and modeling of parenting practices and ILA or PACT activities in the home environment.

Workforce Education (or Workforce Literacy) – Work-related learning experiences which can include foundation skills, technical knowledge and computer skills; serve either employed or unemployed workers; are provided either inside or outside the workplace; focus on the skills and knowledge workers need to get and keep good jobs and meet demands for productivity, safety, and advancement. (Definition from National Institute for Literacy Workforce Education Special Collection.)

Workplace Education (or Workplace Literacy) – Workforce Education/Literacy experiences provided by an employer for current employees in a workplace environment.