A primer on adult literacy

M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.Professor, Educational Psychology

ProgramCollege of Education

Northern Illinois University

Overview

• Why focus on adults’ literacy skills?

• Current status of literacy proficiency levels among U.S. adults

• Theoretical perspectives on literacy

• Relationship of practices to proficiencies

• Literacy education programs for adults

Why is it important to improve adults’ literacy skills?

• Increased emphasis on lifelong learning• Greater skills needed to compete in the

jobs market• Immigrants’ English language skills are not

sufficient• Parents’ literacy supports their children’s

literacy skills• Literacy contributes to personal well-being

Current status of literacy proficiency among U.S. adults

• National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), 1992– 26,000 adults, ages 16 and older, sampled

• Nationally-representative cluster sample

– Assessed adults’ literacy skills along three dimensions: Prose, Document, Quantitative (PDQ) literacy

– Tasks ranged from easy to difficult, requiring diverse information processing skills and strategies

– Scores ranged from 0 – 500• Five levels of proficiency distinguished

– 1 (0-225) 2 (226-275) 3 (276-325) 4 (326-375) 5 (376-500)

National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), 2003

• A follow-up to the NALS• 20,200 adults, ages 16 and older, sampled • Assessed PDQ literacy

– Also “health literacy,” fluency, and a supplemental assessment

• Both NALS and NAAL used paper-and-pencil literacy tasks much like academic literacy tasks, but designed to approximate “real life” adult literacy tasks

• NAAL reported 4 rather than 5 levels

Example Prose task

• In a sentence, describe the situation Joe is facing

___________________

(What percent of adults answered this item correctly?)

Example Document Task

• A receptionist at a retirement center keeps a record of the residents' outside activities using a sign-out sheet. Use the completed sheet to answer the following question. – At 8:15 p.m. you receive a

call from Miss Farr’s brother in Indianapolis asking what time she returned to the center. What should you say?

(What percent of adults answered this item correctly?)

Quantitative task• Complete the check

ledger for the month of September. Keep a running total of the balance and include the following:– $50 deposit on

9/27– check 108 payable

to Mr. Davis for $18.49 on 9/27

– check 109 payable to Electric Co. for $53 on 9/28

– the $5 monthly service fee for your checking account

(What percent of adults answered this item correctly?)

Comparing NALS and NAAL

• No significant change in Prose and Doc literacy from 1992 to 2003

• Quantitative literacy increased

• Fewer adults with Below Basic Doc and Quant literacy in 2003 than 1992

• Fewer adults with Proficient Prose and Doc literacy in 2003 than 1992

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey and 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

Percentage of adults in each PDQ literacy level:

1992 and 2003

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey and 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

Other results

• Higher literacy proficiencies found among:– Those with more education– Younger adults (literacy proficiency peaks

between 25-54 years)– White adults, followed by Asians, Blacks, and

Hispanics– Men (on document & quantitative literacy)

What factors are responsible for the modest changes in adults’

literacy proficiencies over a decade?

Likely cause

• Immigration of non-English speaking adults into the U.S.

• How likely are these other factors?– Poor high school preparation– Adults don’t have time to read– Television and right-wing talk radio– Rise of corporate bookstores

Theoretical perspectives on literacy

• The “Cognitive skills” perspective– Reading ability is primarily an intellectual

skill• consists of cognitive processes and sub-processes

(e.g., letter/word recognition, phonemic awareness)

• these processes lead to comprehension

– Dominant view of skills perspective is that reading ability is trainable, autonomous, and portable

Consequences of the cognitive skills perspective

• Educational policies and practices that…– standardize reading curricula– advocate skills based approach to instruction– emphasize large scale assessments of reading

abilities– ignore the social, cultural, and historical contexts in

which students acquire and use literacy– hold teachers accountable when students fail to

achieve standards– undermine struggling students efforts to become

literate

Theoretical perspectives on literacy

• The “Social practices” perspective– Literacy is a social activity– Literacy practices are patterns by social institutions and

relationships; some literacies are more dominant, visible, influential than are others

– People have different literacies which they make use of in different domains of life

– Literacy practices are purposeful and embedded in broader social goals and cultural practices

– Literacy is a symbolic system used to represent the world to ourselves; literacy is part of our thinking

– People have awareness, attitudes and values regarding literacy; these guide actions

– Literacy has a personal history upon which is built one’s current literacy practices

The way we define literacy has powerful pedagogical implications

• Teaching literacy skills– Phonemic awareness? Phonics? Whole

language? Reading vs. writing

• Assessing literacy practices and measuring literacy skills

• Understanding the “adequacy” of our own literacy skills and practices– When do we have “enough” literacy?

Relationship of practice to proficiency

• Is it true that “practice makes perfect”?• In the case of literacy, practice may play an

important role in the development of literacy proficiencies– We know that practice is important to learning,

regardless of the knowledge domain– We know that practice enhances skills

• People who read and write a lot tend to be better readers and writers

Research findings

• West, Stanovich, & Mitchell (1993)– Adults who had greater “print exposure” were

smarter (i.e., more world knowledge, larger vocabularies) than those having less print exposure

• Smith (1996)– Adults who read more books, magazines, and

document materials have higher PDQ scores than those who read fewer

Literacy education programs for adults

• Adult Basic Education (ABE)– Adults reading below 9th grade level, no HS diploma

or GED– 2.8 million adults in ABE or GED classes

• English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)– 1.9 million adults in ESL programs– Fastest-growing adult education program

• Family literacy– May include ABE, ESL, or GED

Adult literacy education programs

• Provided through:– Community colleges– Community-based and volunteer literacy

organizations, churches – Employers (workplace literacy)– Military

• Primary focus: reading– Much less emphasis on writing and math

Assessment• Programs receiving federal funding must report

student achievement gains– pre- and post-test– National Reporting System (USDoEd)– TABE or CASAS tests used

• Approx. 100 hrs. instruction required to improve 1 grade level– Most adult learners receive far fewer than 100 hours

of instruction

• Achievement gains are modest in ABE programs

Instruction

• Alphabetics– Phonemic awareness– Word recognition

• Vocabulary

• Fluency– Practice at reading orally, silently

• Comprehension

Summing up• While adult literacy is a significant issue, it

receives little attention– Funding needs to be increased for basic

research and for adult education programs

• Skill-based views of literacy limit our understanding of the nature of literacy in the real world

• The condition of adult literacy is not as bad as some claim, but the skills of immigrants and poorly educated are a concern