Functional and structural neural plasticity effects of literacy acquisition in adulthood
Abstract
Abstract. In Germany, 7.5 Million individuals between 18 and 64 years are considered to be functionally illiterate (Grotlüschen & Riekmann, 2012). Functional illiterates have only rudimentary literacy skills despite attending school for several years. Although they can use written language to a very limited extent, only few functional illiterates attend literacy courses for adults. In addition, most adult literacy courses primarily aim at promoting basic reading and writing skills. Offers specific to workplace literacy are scarce.
This review gives an overview of the definition of functional illiteracy. Afterwards, a specific literacy program (AlphaPlus) and its effectiveness will be presented. The reviewed studies indicate that learning to read in adulthood is associated with structural and functional brain changes.
Zusammenfassung. 7.5 Millionen Erwachsene in Deutschland haben große Probleme die schriftsprachlichen Anforderungen, die an sie im Alltag gestellt werden, zu erfüllen. Sie werden als funktionale Analpabeten bezeichnet. In dieser Überblicksarbeit wird das Trainingsprogramm AlphaPlus vorgestellt, das speziell für die Verbesserung der Schriftsprachkompetenz von Erwachsenen konzipiert wurde. Der Schwerpunkt dieses modularen Programms liegt auf der Vermittlung arbeitplatz-relevanter schriftsprachlicher Fähigkeiten. Es werden vier Studien vorgestellt, die die Verbesserungen der Lese- und Schreibfähigkeit durch das Training belegen und die neuroplatischen Veränderungen, die beim Leseerwerb im Erwachsenenalter auftreten, charakterisieren.
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