Our mission is to link theory and practice through interdisciplinary research, professional development and community partnerships to understand the challenges and opportunities for adults with low literacy skills.
Adult Education Program Fact Sheet
The National Association of State Directors of Adult Education (NASDAE) has a new website where you can select a U.S. state (or the entire U.S.) and find facts about the adult education population as well as enrollment and performance of adult education sites. Click here to access the facts sheet for Georgia»
A team of Georgia State University researchers has received a three-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health.
Recent News
From the News Archives
A team of Georgia State University researchers has received a three-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health.
Iris Feinberg, research assistant professor created “Teach Back” to help Georgia State University researchers promote the readability of consent forms in research.
Tabitha Stickel, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow working with the Adult Literacy Research Center, speaks about her work at a southwestern community college with the Diné (Navajo), the Hopi and the Ndee (Western Apache).
Faculty Corner
Joe Magliano, Ph.D., is a professor of educational psychology in the Department of Learning Sciences. He came to Georgia State University in 2018 for many reasons, but one major draw was the ALRC and the new collaborations he has established with affiliates of the center. Magliano has spent his career doing research on how adults make sense of texts, films and comics. Much of his research aims to uncover the basic cognitive mechanisms that enable the comprehension of these different media. He uses various techniques, including the computational analysis of student language, to uncover these mechanisms. His research in these areas has been funded by the Institute for Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, Georgia State’s Center for Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy and the Adult Literacy Research Center.
Over the past 10 years, he has become committed to understanding how to help college readers be successful. As such, another major draw for him was the fact that Georgia State is a leader in promoting student success.
“Some may think that being able to read is one of the most important skills needed to be successful in college. They are not wrong. However, being proficient in the mechanics of reading isn’t enough. College students need to be strategically engaged in the complex reading tasks that they are given. All this requires sustained motivation,” he states.
Since coming to Georgia State, Magliano has developed a program of research with faculty and students exploring how adult learners with low reading skills make sense of visual narratives. Some have argued that visual narratives can be used to develop comprehension strategies for children and adults that are learning to read. However, a lot more research is needed to learn how best to use visual narrative in literacy instruction for adults.
“I can’t think of a better place to be at this stage of my career, and my colleagues in the ALRC are a big reason why I feel that way.”
Joe, his wife Rachael and children Cella and Nick have recently taken up whitewater kayaking. Joe and Rachael kayaked before having kids but gave it up until they moved to Atlanta. The region is a Mecca for whitewater kayaking, and he says, “Being able to kayak again is icing on the cake!”
ADULT LITERACY
With one in six adults reading at elementary levels, many adults have difficulty with daily tasks that involve reading, numeracy and problem solving1.
Adult literacy difficulties are pervasive and require a multi-pronged approach to addressing low adult literacy skills in our country. Our research focus is broad and includes both programmatic interventions and more general areas of adult literacy.
Our website offers resources and information about our research in this area.
The U.S. PIAAC Skills Map is a new interactive mapping tool that allows users to access estimates of adult literacy and numeracy proficiency in all U.S. states and counties. These estimates are based on data collected in the three rounds of U.S. PIAAC data collection (in 2012, 2014 and 2017) as well as data from the American Community Survey (2013-2017).
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Nursing Students ‘Teach Back’ to Promote Health Literacy
Staffed by medical professionals who volunteer their time, and organized by members of Snellville’s Grace Fellowship Church, Grace Village Medical Clinic is now one of the newest clinical sites for nursing students from Georgia State University’s Perimeter College. Read more about this project »
ALRC Research Support Grants Program
In FY2019, the ALRC awarded three grants to student affiliates. Read more about their projects »
OUR PROGRAMS
Our interdisciplinary research, professional development and community partnerships all center around six areas of focus. Click on the links below to see what our faculty affiliates are working on.
Contact Us
For more information, contact Iris Feinberg, associate director, at ifeinberg2@gsu.edu