1. Because high skill levels in reading presuppose high skill levels in decoding, in oral language, and in a broadly developed conceptual base, government agencies sponsoring remedial literacy programs ought to be prepared to offer support for programs of longer duration than they do currently. It must be realized that the development of automaticity in decoding, say in adult literacy training, requires considerable drill and practice-and this requires time. Much more importantly, however, it must be realized that the development of oral language skills and broad bases of knowledge require considerable practice, drill, study, and time for assimilation and accommodation processes to build cognitive structures (cf., p. 22). Hence long-term commitments in adult basic education are needed, if such efforts are to truly develop accomplished students.
  2. Implications for government and industry career-oriented literacy training. When government and industry literacy programs are concerned with literacy training which will improve a person's capacity to accomplish his job and advance in his career, job-related literacy training should be emphasized in the remedial literacy program. This will build the most immediately relevant knowledge base. However, because learning the meanings of job-related terminology and concepts and developing automaticity in decoding job printed materials will require considerable time, these organizations should consider a program of literacy training of sufficient duration, and with suitable job-related content, to promote fully developed job literacy skills. Such a program might operate concurrently with job training (following some pre-job-training literacy training for personnel whose oracy/literacy skills are so low that they cannot qualify for technical training), and be available to personnel on the job to prepare them for career advancement.

    While there is much need for basic research to pursue many of the above implications, technology exists to immediately implement the development of prototypical language-testing procedures and literacy training programs geared to job-specific knowledges and reading skills. What is needed now is commitment of resources to literacy training for career development.