Participants in Adult Literacy Programs in Germany - Reaching the Functionally Illiterate IntroductionLiteracy and literacy programs have gained importance in recent decades. The latest PIAAC study exploring adult skills in OECD countries showed that there are relatively high numbers of people with only the most basic or lower literacy level. Germany also has a high number of illiterates (Grotlüschen & Riekmann, 2012, Rosenbladt & Bilger, 2011, Schneider & Ernst, 2009) and a below-average literacy performance (OECD, 2013). Since this phenomenon has been around for a long time, there are many traditional literacy courses and anonymous online learning platforms. However, these courses are attended by only 1% of illiterates in Germany (Schneider & Ernst, 2009). Below I want to answer the question of why literacy courses in Germany only reach so few people. I am therefore going to describe the term illiteracy before investigating the course attendees and their different biographical data. Additionally, I will discuss possible reasons for discontinuing the course. Context When talking about illiteracy, a distinction is made between functional illiterates and primary illiterates, the latter being people who have absolutely no ability to read and write in any language and the former who have possibly received a few years of basic education, but currently do not go beyond the most basic writing and reading skills (OECD, 2013, Grotlüschen & Riekmann 2012). This can lead to devastating limitations in daily and professional life, as well as dependence on others or isolating aspects. In this article I will only refer to functional illiterates. There are 4.4 million functional illiterates with German as their first...... middle of paper ......piaac/SkillsOutlook_2013_ebook.pdfRosenbladt, B. von (2012): Schriftschwäche als Handicap – Zur sozialen Verortung des funktionalen Analphabetismus in Deutschland, Report - Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung, 35(2), pag. 73 - 89.Rosenbladt, B. von & Bilger, F. (2011a): Erwachsene in Alphabetisierungskursen der Volkshochschulen. Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Befragung (AlphaPanel) [Brochure]. Retrieved May 16, 2014, from http://www.grundbildung.de/fileadmin/redaktion/pdf/DVV-Projekte/Verbleibsstudie/2011-Bericht-AlphaPanel.pdfSchneider & Ernst (2009): Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Befragung von Volkshochschulen -Reichweite der Alphabetisierungskurse, Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung, 09/1, p.37-39.Sparks, B. &. Butterwick, S. (2004). Culture, equity and learning. In G. Foley, Dimensions of adult learning (p. 276-289). McGraw-Hill Education.