Literacy is a concept that can be very briefly defined. Webster uses just the five words “ability to read and write,” and few would challenge this as an acceptable dictionary entry. Many scholars, however, have felt compelled to develop much longer definitions, some of paragraph length, as they have examined literacy from a particular perspective, and there is no counting the number of words which have been used, as definition moves on to description and research.

In the good old days, when learning to read was equated with breaking the written code and linguists were content with delving into the mysteries of phonemes, morphemes, and sentences, it was not too terribly difficult to define the scope of linguistics applied to literacy. Now the task is somewhat more complex thanks to both the diversification of lingustics and current concepts of the nature, function, and goals of literacy.

The multidimensional and interdisciplinary research on literacy has progressed so rapidly that researchers have responded to its growth in a number of ways which includes the occasional production of bibliographies. The most recent book-length bibliography by Graff stresses the multifaceted aspect of the research, admitting at the same time that approaches to literacy are too ubiquitous to enumerate (1981b:8). Among the important approaches to literacy, the following are noteworthy: historical, anthropological, sociological, economic, demographic, developmental, psychological, and linguistic. All of these approaches have two properties in common: first, they directly or indirectly address themselves to the questions of acquisition of reading and writing skills in pre-literate and semi-illiterate societies; and second, they study literacy without any significant reference to the monolingual (henceforth, ML) or multilingual structure of a speech community. The second reason thus explains the dearth of studies. Literature focusing on literacy in ML or multilingual societies is negligible. With advances in the field of sociolinguistics, this aspect of literacy research is no longer virgin territory.

Adult education, of which literacy is a central component, is considered as a critical factor in personal and national development (UNESCO 1972:13–16). West African nations, like most other african states, have been aware of the importance of adult education in development in general and in literacy education in particular for several decades now. This awareness is reflected in the articulation of educational and social welfare objectives set up by various governments since the advent of political independence in the late 1950s. For example, the Convention People's Party of the late Dr. Nkwame Nkrumah, former President of Ghana, included in its election manifesto in 1951 a pledge to eradicate illiteracy in the country. A resolution to this effect was adopted by the National Assembly in August of that year (Oyedeji, Omolewa, and Asiedu 1982:12). A similar pledge was expressed, and it formed the core around which long-range educational objectives were articulated by the first conference of Ministers of Education of African States held at Addis Ababa in May 1961.

The adoption of a multilingual educational policy resulting in the acquisition of literacy in different indigenous languages is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon throughout the world. Although comprehensive discussions of the role of literacy in development (Bokamba elsewhere in this volume), the patterns available for literacy acquisition (Ferguson 1971), critical questions (Srivastava elsewhere in this volume), and problems (Bokamba and Tlou 1977, Bamgboṣe 1976b, Chishimba 1981, Abu-Absi 1981, Kachru 1981) related to the implementation of multilingual educational policies exist, individual accounts of literacy projects tend to focus more on the goals and the programmatic development of materials and methods (e.g., Larsen and Davis 1982). Evaluations of specific projects, when they are available, are often reported in terms of the number of students reached (e.g., Teferra 1982), teachers trained, or certificates awarded (Bendor–Samuel 1980), rather than in actual acquisition of literacy skills. One major literacy project in East Africa which has been subjected to fairly rigorous formative evaluation since shortly after its inception is the Local Languages Literacy Project in the Southern Sudan. Drawing on the Sudan experience, this paper will delineate what appear to be the more important variables that affect the success of large-scale literacy programs in Africa, will make recommendations for the evaluation design of such projects, and will conclude with observations concerning the benefits to be gained from them.

Recent literature on literacy reveals that the ways people perceive and experience its nature and relevance differ fundamentally across time as well as across different societies (cf., Heath 1980, Graff 1982, Pattison 1982, Raymond 1982). It has been argued by scholars that the way societies view literacy and its benefits is circumscribed mainly by the characteristics of their socio-economic types (cf., Cressy 1980, Slaughter 1982, Neustupný forthcoming). Literacy, thus, by no means is a unified concept. What adds to the baffling complexity of literacy education is that it means different things to different people. Consequently, linguists, educationists, policymakers, etc. differ widely in their approach towards defining the form, function, and use of literacy.

Nearly a thousand Publications on reading appear annually in the United States. This Cascade of print deals with the place of reading in our society, the nature of skilled reading, how reading is learned, how it is taught and might be better taught, how to evaluate it, and how to explain and cope with failure in learning to read (Weintraub, et al. 1983). While only a small number of these studies take up linguistic questions directly, all but a few studies necessarily involve language

In 1945, when Indonesia declared its independence from the colonial regime of the Netherlands, only one Indonesian in twenty could read and write (Napitupulu 1980). Just 35 years later, in 1980, almost three-quarters of the Indonesian population aged ten years or older were literate (Nababan 1983). This paper will examine the sociolinguistic and historical context in which this dramatic increase in literacy has occurred, focusing in particular on the crucial role played by Bahasa Indonesia, the national language. Current efforts to extend literacy further among the population through non-formal education programs and to expand reading and writing skills in the school system will also be discussed.

There are four major dialects of Thai: Northern (Kam Mueng, Yuan), Northeastern (Isan, Lao), Central (Siamese), and Southern (Pak Tai). Standard Thai, the official language of instruction, is based on a prestigious social class dialect of Siamese. In addition to Thai, a great number of other languages are spoken by indigenous peoples, of whom some individuals are literate in thrir native languages. Foreign languages used in Thailand consist of classical (Pali, Sanskrit, Arabic) and modern (English, Chinese, French, Japanese, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Arabic). English is the most widely used foreign language.

Literacy (i.e., the state of being literate) produces change both in individuals and in social groups (Akinnaso 1981, Ong 1982). Change through literacy may be realized in incresased skills and reasoning abilities, may be called improvement, and may be measured against established norms, or it many be measured by changed attitudes, belief systems, and cultural patterns (cf., Bendor-Samuel 1980).

The topic of adult literacy has a vast literature around the world of both a theoretical and practical nature. Thus, this review is, of necessity, very selective. The principal focus is upon literacy in the United States, although attemps were made to include selected Australian, British, and Canadian items. In addition, a few unannotated entries which report the results of literacy campaigns or deal with literacy and language policy in other countries have also been included. In general, though, this is a bibliography of adult literacy in the United States.