methods and apparatus are provided for improved iterative error - erasure decoding . a signal is decoded by obtaining a plurality of symbols associated with the signal and one or more corresponding reliability values ; generating at least one erasure list comprised of l symbols and at least one shortened erasure list comprised of l ′ symbols , where l ′ is less than l ; and constructing an erasure set by taking erasures from at least one of the erasure list and the shortened erasure list . a signal is also processed by generating one or more reliability values using a soft - output detector ; generating an erasure list of symbols by comparing the reliability values to at least one reliability threshold value ; and performing error erasure decoding using the erasure list . the size of the erasure list can optionally be adjusted using feedback information .