Empirical Evidence
When we consider the evidence base for adult reading instruction, we include two sources of information, empirical evidence and expert practitioner evidence.
Empirical evidence comes from formal, rigorous research studies whose findings have been corroborated by additional research. Compared with the research done on children's reading instruction, there has been a relatively small amount of empirical research on reading instruction for adults.
In 2002, John Kruidenier analyzed the empirical studies on adult reading and summarized them in his report Research-Based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction. A short, easy-to-read summary of this report is also available, Teaching Adults to Read: A Summary of Scientifically-Based Research Principles.
In 2010, Kruidenier's report was updated to include the findings of studies that had been conducted since the first report. The 2010 report supported the findings of the earlier report.
Links to all of these downloadable reports can be found on Moodle.
