New findings about the reading ability of Canadian adults who are challenged by low literacy underscore the extent and the complex nature of Canada’s literacy dilemma.
The study was released Jan. 9 and called Learning Literacy in Canada: Evidence from the International Survey of Reading Skills by Statistics Canada.
"This is a welcome study that begins to paint a fuller picture of the nine million Canadian adults who struggle, to some degree, with low literacy," said Margaret Eaton, president of ABC CANADA. "It makes it clear that – unlike the often-held myth that we have scads of people who cannot read at all – Canada is populated by many people … with different reading and comprehension needs."
The results of the 2005 International Study of Reading Skills (ISRS) which administered clinical reading tests to 1,585 English-speaking and 1,382 French-speaking Canadian adults, all of whom had participated in an earlier 2003 study that determined, in broad terms, the literacy levels of Canadian adults, age 16 to 65.
The new study considered the participants’ reading ability in terms of word recognition, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and general reading processing skills. Knowing their proficiencies in these areas, the ISRS study was able to profile the specific learning needs of different groups of adults.
Further analysis will provide more detail about the learning needs of each group.
"Investments are critical… where too many adults do not possess the skills to realize their full potential and where Canada’s competitiveness is compromised," said Eaton.
