I. Preliminaries

(1) Opening comments & Informed Consent: Introduce myself and Caroline. Discuss our roles (i.e doing research on the issue of literacy, welfare, and work) and purpose of FGI. Discuss confidentiality. Discuss target group. Ask if anyone is not on some form of assistance. Pass around consent forms and go over them. Ask if there are any questions. Get participants to sign them.

(2) Go over ground rules as follows "There is no hidden agenda to the discussion. What we want is for you to use this as an opportunity to share your thoughts and opinions freely on the subject of literacy, welfare, and work. What I am going to do is spend the 2 hours asking questions designed to get a full picture of your thoughts and feelings. The only ground rules to remember here are that there are no right or wrong answers to anything I ask - only your honest opinions. I ask that you try to speak one at a time and to think of this tape recorder as my 'memory', so that later, when we write down your words, we record them exactly. Everything you say, of course, is confidential (your names will not be used in any reports or publications). You have each been given a pad of paper in case you wish to make notes to yourselves while awaiting your turn"

Does anyone have any questions on how we are going to proceed?

II. Issues and Related discussion questions

(1) "The first thing I would like to do is to go around the table and ask each of you to introduce yourself and to tell me the name of your literacy program and how long you have been enrolled in this program.

(2) "Now I'd like to ask you a little bit more about yourself as a literacy student...

• WHY did you decide to enrol in literacy training? What are your literacy goals (probes: personal goals, academic goals, employment goals)? What do you think is your MAIN goal at this point?
• Did you set those goals yourself? Did anyone else help you set them (if so, how?)
• Is your participation in literacy training helping you to meet your goals? If so, how?
• Do you regularly review these goals? If so, with whom (counsellor, instructor, etc.)

"Does anyone wish to add anything else to this topic of discussion?"

¹⁶ The discussion guides used in the FGI's are included in the Appendix. The complete transcribed texts are available from the author upon request.