Starting Points has been developed to complement and support the Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy.

You can find more resources on Pathways Awarua.

Starting Points – Supporting the Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy 

Starting Points – Supporting the Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy (PDF 2.9 MB)

This guide is an introduction to the initial knowledge, skills and understandings needed by adult learners who are beginning to read and write. Starting Points gives a framework for learning, to which tutors can add content and contexts appropriate to their learners’ situations and needs. 

The seven areas selected as “starting points” provide support for working out how to read and write words, enabling learners to access and work within the first steps of the Learning Progressions. They represent critical skills and knowledge that are essential for supporting adult literacy development. Without these skills and knowledge, it is unlikely a learner could advance significantly through the progressions for reading and writing.

Unlike the progressions, the areas selected as starting points are not represented in strands or in a sequential way. The skills and knowledge are closely interdependent and relate most closely to only two of the learning progressions:

• Decoding – in Read with Understanding
• Spelling – in Write to Communicate. 

They are underpinned by the skills represented in the Listen with Understanding and Speak to Communicate progressions, particularly those for vocabulary and comprehension. See: Listen and Speak to Communicate.

Learners who are beginning to read and write may have other literacy skills. For example, they may have excellent listening and speaking skills, including listening comprehension.

Some adults may be learning English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL learners). For them, a lack of English, along with a limited or very different literacy knowledge in their mother tongue, may be a barrier to progress. So, Starting Points may be useful for some ESOL learners, as well as for speakers whose mother tongue is English, depending on specific needs.

Starting Points – Assessment Guide 

Starting Points – Assessment Guide (PDF 1.2 MB)

The main aim of this guide is to give tertiary teachers a framework for assessing adults who are beginning to read and write. It is a must-read for anyone interested in supporting adults who operate below the steps described in the Learning Progressions.

An assessment of an adult literacy learner aims to achieve three key goals:

1. Identify the learner’s strengths and areas that need to be worked on, in order to set appropriate goals and plan instruction.
2. Continually inform instruction, with relevant feedback provided to both the learner and the educator.
3. Study the outcomes of instruction for reporting purposes (to identify the learner’s gains over time and provide information for evaluating adult literacy programmes).

When an adult has very low reading and writing skills, any assessments must be fine-grained and specific, in order to determine exactly what the learner’s skills and needs are and maximise the effectiveness of future instruction.

You’ll also find online Starting Points assessment options in the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool (LNAAT).

Reading Collections – reader series for adult literacy

Reading Collections

The Reading Collections are part of a suite of linked materials to support adult literacy learning, including books for learners and audio versions of the books. They contain a range of reading material, in New Zealand contexts and settings.

Digital read-along stories for adult ESOL learners and beginning readers

Digital read-along stories

This resource collection includes short stories for beginning ESOL learners and learners who are beginning readers. Learners can read and listen to the stories.