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Lems describes the ways music has influenced her classroom. She talks about how her students are adults in an English language course. Through out the article she explains how through music based activities, positive attitude and affect, listening comprehesion, and oral and pronunciation practice helped her students become bilingual.

The National Institute for Literacy serves as a national resource for adult education and literacy programs, coordinates literacy services and policy, and provides leadership for literacy in the United States. The Institute disseminates information on scientifically based reading research pertaining to children, youth, and adults as well as information about development and implementation of classroom reading programs based on the research. A great resource for articles and statistics.

The Report discusses how nearly half of all American adults have difficulty understanding and using health information. Many patients do not always understand health information, so they get less preventative health care and use expensive health services such as emergency care more frequently. By incorporating health knowledge into the existing curricula of kindergarten through 12th grades classes, as well as into adult education community programs, confusion in health literacy can be eliminated. The IOM makes valid points and suggestions for ending the confusion with health literacy.

A film on OhioLINK. Why do girls demonstrate greater reading and writing ability than boys? Is the female brain hardwired for faster verbal development? Should men let women do the talking? This program studies language differences between the sexes and explores the possibility that many communication skills are gender-specific. Following two teams of well-educated adults as they undergo a crash course in broadcast journalism, the program documents wide variations between male and female abilities to verbally multitask, and examines distinctions in physical interaction, eye contact, and other behavioral factors. Clinical evidence regarding the significance of testosterone levels is also explored. (45 minutes)

Health literacy is basic reading and numerical skills that allow a person to function in the health care environment. Even though most adults read at an eighth-grade level, and 20 percent of the population reads at or below a fifth-grade level, most health care materials are written at a 10th-grade level. Older patients are particularly affected because their reading and comprehension abilities are influenced by their cognition and their vision and hearing status. Inadequate health literacy can result in difficulty accessing health care, following instructions from a physician, and taking medication properly. Patients with inadequate health literacy are more likely to be hospitalized than patients with adequate skills. Patients understand medical information better when spoken to slowly, simple words are used, and a restricted amount of information is presented. For optimal comprehension and compliance, patient education material should be written at a sixth-grade or lower reading level, preferably including pictures and illustrations. All patients prefer reading medical information written in clear and concise language. Physicians should be alert to this problem because most patients are unwilling to admit that they have literacy problems. (Am Fam Physician 2005;72:463-8. Copyright© 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians.)