Adult Literacy Development*

Abstract

The 1980s experienced a worldwide increase in interest in adult literacy, culminating in the designation of 1990 as International Literacy Year by the United Nations, and the setting of a variety of international and national goals for the reduction or eradication of adult illiteracy by the year 2000. While attention to adult illiteracy resembles a pendulum, a number of factors have contributed to the current heightened awareness of this problem as well as interest in working toward its solution.