The social and instructional factors are the contexts of literacy development. The social context refers to the practices and functions of literacy in a society. The instructional context refers to the specific teaching and learning methods, approaches, curriculum contents and materials.

We are testing the applicability of our model of literacy development for LEP adults. We are focusing on adult LEP students with Spanish and Hmong as their first language (L1). These students have been shown to develop literacy in ways similar to normally progressing young children (Davidson & Strucker, 2002; Durgunoglu & Oney, 2002) and hence, the findings from child literacy development research are applicable. We are investigating how literacy development is impacted by the multiple factors and contexts of literacy acquisition. We are testing the validity of the constructs of our model and, based on our findings, modifying the model for limited-English-proficiency (LEP) adults. We are developing a more detailed and comprehensive approach to understanding each of the contexts of literacy acquisition and their interrelations.

We are also focusing on literacy programs in terms of their goals, assumptions about literacy, instructional approaches, durations, materials, and teacher characteristics. We are studying the interrelations between participant and program characteristics by examining the nature and quality of the adult literacy programs and the extent to which they can serve the multiple needs of their participants.