Nazareth College\u27s Department of Continuing Education, directed by Mr. Paul Hang, instituted a unique program in 1972 to serve some very specialized needs of the greater Kalamazoo area. Organized under the name of the Community Learning Center, the program reaches members of groups disadvantaged by income, minority background, and education

Holladay, William L.

English

ScholarWorks at WMU

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy andLanguage ArtsVolume 15Issue 1 October 1974 Article 710-1-1974Horizons of Reading Education: Attacking theProblem of the Adult LearnerWilliam L. HolladayNazareth CollegeFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizonsPart of the Education CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the SpecialEducation and Literacy Studies at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has beenaccepted for inclusion in Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy andLanguage Arts by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks at WMU. For moreinformation, please contact maira.bundza@wmich.edu.Recommended CitationHolladay, W. L. (1974). Horizons of Reading Education: Attacking the Problem of the Adult Learner. Reading Horizons: A Journal ofLiteracy and Language Arts, 15 (1). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol15/iss1/7HORIZONS OF READING EDUCA liON: Attacking the Problem of the Adult Learner William L. Holladay Nazareth College's Department of Continuing Education, directed by Mr. Paul Hang, instituted a unique program in 1972 to serve some very specialized needs of the greater Kalamazoo area. Organized under the name of the Community Learning Center, the program reaches members of groups disadvantaged by income, minority back-ground, and education. Schools and institutions across the nation have felt the need for basic education programs. Such valuable programs often fail in respect to the individual who has been through the institutionalized educa-tional process and for one reason or another has dropped out or failed to gain the necessary skills needed for dealing with life realistically. Nazareth's Center for Learning makes a good idea better by reachin!6 out to undereducated or underemployed adults who may have no other source for basic ed uca tion courses. According to program coordinator, Ms. Edith Pulaski, the primary goals of the program are to improve reading and computation skills and to incorporate on an intensive level those services, agencies, and other educational alternatives available to persons in the metropolitan area. One vital function is the Center's continuing effort to reexamine and evaluate its existing programs in an effort to determine its impact on increasing academic and personal skills. The resultant major achien'ment is beneficial to the community as a whole ... in increased student potentiality to become better parents, citizens, employees, and life-long learners. The reading program is highly individualized incorporating several programmed texts. The Educational DeL'clo pment Laboratories L-IOO series is the core source. Reading teacher Betty Porter finds tbis in-dividualized method to be best vvhen working with adult learners. \Vord skills and comprehension are approached through various media utilizing realistic adult literature. College students help provide one to one tutoring. In accordance with the Center's philosophy of utiliz-26-rh ing all available sources, much valuable time is given to the tutoring program by the retired Sisters of Saint Joseph. One outcome of the adult reading program has been the need for special training of the teacher of the adult basic education reading student. Ms. Porter is now developing a series of videotapes dealing with teaching techniques for adult reading. These tapes should help fill the educational gap in the background of the reading teacher faced with the problem of teaching adults to read. Two aspects of the Center's program will receive emphasis in the future. "English as a Second Language" is a unique program designed for Spanish-speaking Americans, foreign student wives, immigrants, and foreign wives of American citizens. Instructional level here is necessarily different. Center staff, while using commercial materials, are being creative in designing materials to meet these specialized need~. Besides reading and reading comprehension, conversation and listening skills are also stressed. Center personnel keep in mind at all times that perhaps the major motivation of their students is to secure a job. Acting on this basis, they are working on a program of technical reading skills that students will find necessary for certain positions. \Vorking with practical mate-rials such as descriptive manuals with key words should engross the student in the learning process while experiencing a feeling of personal achievement. Nazareth's Center for Learning stresses the personal approach to reading through self concept building and development of attitudes conducive to the successful reading program. 

Horizons of Reading Education: Attacking the Problem of the Adult Learner

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and 
Language Arts 
Volume 15 
Issue 1 October 1974 Article 7 
10-1-1974 
Horizons of Reading Education: Attacking the Problem of the 
Adult Learner 
William L. Holladay 
Nazareth College 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons 
 Part of the Education Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Holladay, W. L. (1974). Horizons of Reading Education: Attacking the Problem of the Adult Learner. 
Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 15 (1). Retrieved from 
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol15/iss1/7 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by 
the Special Education and Literacy Studies at 
ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion 
in Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language 
Arts by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks at WMU. 
For more information, please contact wmu-
scholarworks@wmich.edu. 
HORIZONS OF READING EDUCA liON: 
Attacking the Problem 
of the Adult Learner 
William L. Holladay 
Nazareth College's Department of Continuing 
Education, directed by Mr. Paul Hang, instituted 
a unique program in 1972 to serve some very 
specialized needs of the greater Kalamazoo area. 
Organized under the name of the Community 
Learning Center, the program reaches members 
of groups disadvantaged by income, minority back-
ground, and education. 
Schools and institutions across the nation have felt the need for 
basic education programs. Such valuable programs often fail in respect 
to the individual who has been through the institutionalized educa-
tional process and for one reason or another has dropped out or failed 
to gain the necessary skills needed for dealing with life realistically. 
Nazareth's Center for Learning makes a good idea better by reachin!6 
out to undereducated or underemployed adults who may have no 
other source for basic ed uca tion courses. 
According to program coordinator, Ms. Edith Pulaski, the primary 
goals of the program are to improve reading and computation skills 
and to incorporate on an intensive level those services, agencies, and 
other educational alternatives available to persons in the metropolitan 
area. One vital function is the Center's continuing effort to reexamine 
and evaluate its existing programs in an effort to determine its impact 
on increasing academic and personal skills. The resultant major 
achien'ment is beneficial to the community as a whole ... in increased 
student potentiality to become better parents, citizens, employees, and 
life-long learners. 
The reading program is highly individualized incorporating several 
programmed texts. The Educational DeL'clo pment Laboratories L-IOO 
series is the core source. Reading teacher Betty Porter finds tbis in-
dividualized method to be best vvhen working with adult learners. 
\Vord skills and comprehension are approached through various media 
utilizing realistic adult literature. College students help provide one 
to one tutoring. In accordance with the Center's philosophy of utiliz-
26-rh 
ing all available sources, much valuable time is given to the tutoring 
program by the retired Sisters of Saint Joseph. 
One outcome of the adult reading program has been the need 
for special training of the teacher of the adult basic education reading 
student. Ms. Porter is now developing a series of videotapes dealing 
with teaching techniques for adult reading. These tapes should help 
fill the educational gap in the background of the reading teacher faced 
with the problem of teaching adults to read. 
Two aspects of the Center's program will receive emphasis in the 
future. "English as a Second Language" is a unique program designed 
for Spanish-speaking Americans, foreign student wives, immigrants, 
and foreign wives of American citizens. Instructional level here is 
necessarily different. Center staff, while using commercial materials, 
are being creative in designing materials to meet these specialized need~. 
Besides reading and reading comprehension, conversation and listening 
skills are also stressed. 
Center personnel keep in mind at all times that perhaps the major 
motivation of their students is to secure a job. Acting on this basis, 
they are working on a program of technical reading skills that students 
will find necessary for certain positions. \Vorking with practical mate-
rials such as descriptive manuals with key words should engross the 
student in the learning process while experiencing a feeling of personal 
achievement. 
Nazareth's Center for Learning stresses the personal approach to 
reading through self concept building and development of attitudes 
conducive to the successful reading program. 


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