3. What is involved in adults’ reading?

Adults need to be able to read a range of everyday material with understanding. This requires:

• an understanding of how speech sounds relate to print
• decoding skills
• fluency
• vocabulary and background knowledge
• comprehension strategies, and
• a motivation to read

These components are described on pages 20-28 in the Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy and Numeracy:Background Information. Alternatively you can click here to read the online version of these pages.

Many adults who are having difficulty reading have spiky profiles. This means that they have distinct strengths and weaknesses in different reading components.

Next 4. Typical profiles of entry-level adult learners of reading