Reading and Writing for Life
Reading and Writing Strategies

Reading and Writing for Life from the Nectar Foundation, is a multimedia program which presents skills and strategies for reading and writing a variety of text types which are encountered in day-to-day life. The material is presented in a very academic manner, and would probably be most useful for learners preparing for the GED. While the scope of this program is impressive, the denseness can make it overwhelming at times.

The software is divided into two parts—Reading and Writing. Reading has four sections to choose from which cover different types of text, such as informational, literary, and graphical. The sections are comprised of an Introduction, Tips and Practice, and Reading Selections. Tips and Practice outline a number of strategies and skills for reading each type of text. Detailed explanations are accompanied by a reading selection with questions to illustrate what has been taught. Reading Selections contain several reading passages with questions. Pre-reading questions will get the learner thinking about the topic, and a Reading Strategies button provides additional help. The text for Introduction and Tips is always accompanied by audio and, in many cases, graphics. The learner may click on an optional button to hear the reading selections. These selections are quite long, and once the audio has begun, I haven’t found a way to stop it except by going back to the main menu. The text for the reading selections is in a box on the left side of the screen, while a box with questions is on the right side. Only a few paragraphs of the selection can be viewed at a time, which can make it difficult to find answers to the questions. Although there are some multiple choice questions, most of the answers need to be typed in by the learner. The learners’ answers can be compared with the answers generated by the computer, but in many cases the two sets of answers will not match exactly. Therefore, the learners will need to decide if their answers correspond closely enough to the computer’s answers.

The Writing part of the program has seven sections, including such text types as summaries, news reports, and correspondence. Each section has an Introduction, Tips and Practice, and some appropriate writing tasks. The Tips and Practice section thoroughly introduces the topic in a step-by-step approach, and usually includes some samples of student writing with assessment forms, which can be filled out and then compared with a teacher’s assessment. The writing tasks provide not only a scenario and a task, but the learner is steered through each step of the composition process and given a great many prompts and tips on the way to the finished product.

Reading and Writing for Life contains an exhaustive list of strategies to help literacy learners cope with today’s world. It contains thorough explanations and good samples of different types of text. If you have advanced learners who wish to pursue further education, this is an excellent program for a moderate cost.