Although most of the online content which they found written at a limited-literacy reading level was for young children (only one percent of the Web sites were found to meet adults with limited literacy skills needs for information) they did find several potentially useful Web sites for limited-literacy users.

"The Web sites described below are excellent examples of products that offer rich activities to improve literacy skills using a variety of media; they also provide "life information."

1. The Voter Involvement Project (http//www.otan.dni.us/cdlp/vip/welcome.html) is one of the few examples we found of online information designed for individuals who are at a beginning reading level. The content on the "How to Vote" section of the "Key to Community: Voter Involvement Project" (http//www.otan.dni.us/cdlp/vip/welcome.html) was developed by adult reading students to help other students learn more about voting. One can either go step by step through the tutorial or pick and choose sections to complete. The user can derive the meaning of the simple text from sketches and by listening to a reading of it, when the "HEAR" button on the menu is pressed. The menu itself is very simple, made up of five buttons and five words. The sentences are also spread out across the page, above and under the sketches.

2. Another Web site, Rebecca's EZ Pages, (Note New URL: Rebecca's EZ Page http://www.alri.org/ltc/ezpage/ ) follows similar design ideas but creates more sophisticated online reading exercises. One of the exercises, titled "What the Landlord Must Do," teaches students basic terminology about housing and landlord responsibilities. Then, it provides a written exercise in which the student explains the responsibilities and also describes the functions of certain parts of the house. The Web site gives the student a list of words that link to pictures about parts of a house. Or the user can click on different parts of a sketch of a house, which then show the appropriate word. The interaction between text and pictures, along with the written exercise, allows students to go back and forth between the pictures and the words as much as needed to succeed at the tasks.

3. LINCS (http://www.nifl.gov/lincs) is the adult literacy community's gateway to the world of adult education and literacy resources on the Internet. LINCS features multimedia curricula developed by practitioners, special collections on major literacy topics, the latest literacy-related research and statistics, and opportunities for communication with colleagues directly and through online discussion.

4. Western/Pacific LINCS (http://literacynet.org/lincs/), one of the LINCS regional hubs in partnership with the CNN office in San Francisco, offers a Web site for adults who are learning to read (http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/ ). It also uses multimedia to give the reader clues that help decipher textual meaning. A user can read a story in full, abridged, or in outline form. What is particularly interesting about this site is that, as part of its "Learning Resources," the students can listen to the story or watch it as a video. Afterward, they complete a series of exercises testing vocabulary and reading comprehension, and then they write their own ending for the story. The learning experience involves many different components to assist an early reader as much as possible.

5. Literacy Link (http://www.pbs.org/literacy/) is a very strong example of content on the Internet for early readers. A joint venture between PBS, the National Center on Adult Literacy, KET (The Kentucky Network), and Kentucky's Department of Education, the Web site has an instructional area geared to pre-GED students who lack basic reading skills and focuses on workplace skills. The director of Literacy Link, Noreen Lopez, explains: "The aim is to improve reading, math, and communication in a business context." Full instructional lesson units are built around video clips. In a unit about planning for a career, for instance, the user clicks on a link to perform an "anchor activity" that involves watching a video program, thus setting a context for the activity. Next, the user can do corresponding work in an offline workbook as well as online learning activities (e.g., taking inventory of areas that interest her/him). Each unit ends with a "closure activity" to help the learner reflect on what s/he has learned. The content was developed with strong input from educators and users and has high production value."

I would add these sites, as well:

6. E-square (http//www.alri.org/esquare)

This is an "electronic square" or village designed for adult learners with low basic literacy skills. There are a number of storefronts (health center, jobs center, library, family center, computer center, early childhood center, community arts center, library, and home.buying and rentals center) with low-literacy content inside, much of it written by adult new readers and writers.

7. California Distance Learning Project (http://www.otan.dni.us/cdlp/cdlp.html)

8. Lifelong Learning Online (http://www.otan.dni.us/cdlp/lllo/home.html)

9. Key New Readers Newspaper (http://www.keynews.org/)

10. Funbrain Spelling (http://www.funbrain.com/spell/index.html) This Web site gives students 24 screens with 4 words each, and asks them to identify the word that is misspelled. It provides feedback immediately, telling the student if the answer is correct or not. If the student was wrong, it enables him/her to try again. There are two levels -- easy and hard -- which makes it good for students of different ages at different levels of ESL."

11. Mathgoodies (http://www.mathgoodies.com/)

12.  The Office (http://www.workingsimulations.com/)
This is an interactive, Web-based prototype of a workplace-oriented simulation for learning literacy, numeracy and office skills simultaneously.