Understanding the health literacy of America's adults is important because so many aspects of finding health care and health information, and maintaining health, depend on understanding written information. Many reports have suggested that low health literacy is associated with poor communication between patients and health care providers and with…

A 1-year project undertaken for World Literacy of Canada to survey the Canadian Literacy scene attempted to identify and describe the adult population in need of literacy activities in Canada, to identify and describe the literacy activities being undertaken by existing organizations, communities and individuals in Canada, and to share the…

Argues for new opportunities for persons previously excluded from rewarding employment experiences, through partnerships between business and adult literacy programs. Joint ventures to benefit viable, functionally literate workers must create a new market through such initiatives as national, state, and business cooperation, language minority…

Data from a 20-year longitudinal study of 125 males and 126 females born to Black teenage mothers in a Baltimore hospital between 1966 and 1968 were analyzed to identify early childhood, middle childhood, and early adolescence determinants of functional literacy. All 251 subjects were interviewed in 1987, and 202 of them completed a document…

This document reports the results of a study of literacy in Canada conducted for the Southam News in 1987. During the study, 2,398 Canadians were surveyed to determine the levels of literacy they possessed and how they coped in society if they were illiterate. The research methodology is based on an assessment of literacy conducted in 1985 by the…

Recent cognitive and historical research as well as the perspectives of workers can challenge the popular myths of literacy and work. It is believed that workers do not possess the necessary literacy skills for current and future jobs. Forecasters specify which groups will dominate the future work force--women, minorities, and immigrants. Since…

The 1-year project reported here was undertaken for World Literacy of Canada to survey the nature and extent of functional illiteracy in Canada, with a focus on those activities currently being undertaken in Anglophone Canada. An introduction provides background on the extent of the problem, comparing 1961 and 1971 Census statistics, and defines…

The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was a collaborative effort by seven governments and three intergovernmental organizations to describe and compare the literacy skills of people from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Each country drew a probability sample from which results…

This two-part document summarizes and analyzes the implications of a national study of adult literacy in Canada that included home interviews with a representative sample of 13,571 Canadians between the ages of 16 and 69. Part 1 summarizes the study's objectives, methodology, and findings. Among the main findings are the following: (1) 16% of…

Anticipated demographic changes in the United States adult population in the decade between the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1992 and the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), which is scheduled for 2002, were reviewed. Next, the implications of those changes for the NALS and NAAL were analyzed. The analysis focused on births,…