National Adult Literacy Database

Series: Learning Research - HRSDC

Authors: Bagala Biswala

Collection: Research Materials

This document offers an analysis of the literacy, numeracy and problem-solving proficiencies of the working-age Aboriginal population in Canada, based on the findings of the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) conducted in 2003.

The analysis showed that in general, Aboriginal people had lower average scores than non-Aboriginal people. For example, 58 percent of Aboriginal people scored below level 3 in prose literacy, the level required to function effectively in a modern economy, compared to 41 percent of non-Aboriginal people. However, that was largely due to the high proportion of Aboriginal people who scored in the two lower levels of proficiency. In fact, those who scored at the highest literacy proficiency levels had average scores similar to the non-Aboriginal population.

The author raises concern over the very high proportion of Aboriginal youth who scored below level 3. About 65 percent of Aboriginal youth had prose literacy below level 3 compared to only 36 percent for non-Aboriginal youth.

The document also includes analyses of the relative performances of North American Indians, Métis, and Inuit; the link between literacy scores and employment; and the differences in prose literacy performance between men and women.

Added: 2012-07-31

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• Le niveau de littératie des Autochtones en âge de travailler au Canada : Résultats tirés de l’Enquête internationale sur l’alphabétisation et les compétences des adultes (EIACA) de 2003

Education Matters: Insights on Education, Learning and Training in Canada, April 2008, Vol. 4, No. 5

Series: Education Matters - Statistics Canada

Authors: Evelyne Bougie

Collection: Research Materials

Based on findings from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (IALLS), this article examines the literacy proficiency of First Nations and Métis adults living in urban parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

The IALLS results show that those adults performed at lower literacy proficiency levels than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. At the same time, analysis of the results confirms that, as is the case among the non-Aboriginal population, higher levels of formal education were consistently associated with higher levels of literacy proficiency.

As well, data show that the percentage of employed Aboriginal individuals was consistently higher among those who had literacy proficiency at or above Level 3 than among those who scored below this benchmark. In contrast, this difference was almost nil among the non-Aboriginal populations.

The author emphasizes that the IALSS does not take into account the different kinds of literacy practices that are valued in Aboriginal cultures, nor does it assess literacy in an Aboriginal language. However, in an urban context, the ability to use and understand the kind of information assessed through the survey is likely to be linked to many positive outcomes in life.

Added: 2012-04-24

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• Profil de littératie des membres des Premières nations vivant hors réserve et des Métis qui résident dans les régions urbaines du Manitoba et de la Saskatchewan

Series: International Adult Literacy Survey

Authors: Serge Coulombe, Sylvie Marchand, Jean-François Tremblay

Collection: Research Materials

Analysis of data from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) has demonstrated that directly assessed literacy and numeracy skills have a significant impact on a range of social and labour market outcomes observed at the individual level impacts that come on top of those attributable to educational attainment.
This paper estimates the impact that the level and distribution of directly assessed skill has had on rates of productivity growth and overall economic growth over the period 1960-1995 for a group of fourteen highly developed OECD economies.

Added: 2004-06-22

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• Performance en littératie, capital humain et croissance dans quatorze pays de l'OCDE

Series: The Monograph Series

Authors: J. Douglas Willms, Elizabeth Sloat

Collection: Research Materials

This study examines the distribution of literacy skills of Canadian youth. Adults aged 16 to 25 can be described as "in transition" from completing their formal schooling to entering the labour market, so the data can be used to examine the effects of formal schooling on literacy levels. Provincial differences in literacy levels are also examined, as are differences in individuals of varying backgrounds and personal characteristics.

Added: 1997-01-01

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• Les capacités de lecture des jeunes Canadiens

Education Matters: Insights on Education, Learning and Training in Canada, February 2008, Vol. 4, No. 6

Series: Education Matters - Statistics Canada

Authors: Kathryn McMullen

Collection: Research Materials

This article, published by Statistics Canada, looks at the relationships between schooling, literacy skills, aging, and the labour market.

The author examines a study undertaken by two economists at the University of British Columbia. Based on data from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS), the economists determined that younger Canadians have lower levels of literacy than older Canadians had, at the same age and level of education. They concluded that schools may be doing a poorer job of imparting literacy at any given level, but that this has been compensated by the fact that successive generations have attained higher levels of schooling.

However, the author of this article offers another interpretation of these results. Larger percentages of Canadians are graduating from high school and much larger proportions are graduating with college diplomas and university degrees, suggesting that the educational system has become more inclusive over time. Therefore, it could be argued that the educational system has been serving a larger and more diverse student population.

Added: 2012-05-04

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• Compétences en littératie des Canadiens de tous âges : moins de Canadiens aux deux extrémités de l'échelle de rendement

Series: The Monograph Series

Authors: David A. Green, W. Craig Riddell

Collection: Research Materials

This study uses Canadian data from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) to investigate the relationship between labour market success and literacy skills, specifically prose literacy, document literacy and quantitative literacy or numeracy. Earnings is the most commonly used and widely accepted measure of labour market success. It has the advantage of incorporating the dimensions of both ‘price'—that is, the wage rate—and ‘quantity'—the number of hours worked per week or the number of weeks worked per year. Accordingly, this paper focusses on the relationship between literacy and annual, weekly and hourly earnings. This paper also takes into other factors that influence labour market outcomes, such as educational attainment, gender and experience.

Added: 2001-01-01

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• Les capacités de lecture et de calcul et la situation sur le marché du travail au Canada

Education Matters: Insights on Education, Learning and Training in Canada, June 2005, Vol. 2 No. 2

Series: Education Matters – Statistics Canada

Authors: Statistics Canada

Collection: Learning Materials

While Canada has made progress on a number of educational fronts, recent results from the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) show there is little room for complacency, according to the authors of this Statistics Canada analysis.

The IALSS tested more than 23,000 Canadians age 16 years or more in 2003 on their skills proficiency in prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving, then rated their skills on a five-level scale, from lowest to highest. In Canada, about 42 percent of adults between the ages of 16 and 65 scored below Level 3 on the prose scale, and about 50 percent scored below Level 3 on the numeracy scale. Those people are likely to have trouble coping with increasing literacy- and numeracy-related demands of life and work in a knowledge society and information economy, the authors note.

They also point out that although education is important, some individuals with low levels of educational attainment perform better than others who have more education. In Canada, one-quarter of individuals who had completed some kind of postsecondary education scored in the bottom 25 percent of individuals, while one-quarter of those with less than a high school education scored among the top 25 percent of individuals.

One key message of the IALSS study is that literacy pays dividends, the authors say. The likelihood of being employed or unemployed, of finding a job while being unemployed, and of earning higher wages all are related to stronger literacy skills.

Added: 2013-04-15

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• Compétences en alphabétisation, en numératie et en résolution de problèmes : compétences de base pour une économie du savoir

Collection: Research Materials

According to the 1994 international Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), literacy skills differ considerably between Canada's two official language groups. People whose mother tongue is English generally have higher scores on literacy tests than those whose mother tongue is French. In fact, the disparities are large: two to three times as many anglophones as francophones scored at the highest skill levels. This article first examines the literacy profiles of Canada's two main linguistic groups in terms of such variables as education, age and reading habits, and then calculates the effect of these variables on the "literacy gap" between the two groups.

Added: 1996-01-01

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Series: National Center for Education Statistics, Volume 3, No. 1, January 1998

Collection: Research Materials

This report presents data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress 1996 Long-Term Reading Assessment. The data show that overall student reading performance, as tested at age levels 9, 13, and 17, had increased for both 9- and 13-year-olds since the first assessment in 1971. Scores for 9- and 13-year-olds in most racial/ethnic and gender sub-groups reflected the overall increase. Black 17-year-olds were the only members of that age group to achieve an increase, and they did so while black dropout rates were declining.

Added: 1998-01-01

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Authors: Susan Crompton

Collection: Research Materials

This article briefly profiles the significant minority of Canadian workers who possess only Level 1 or 2 literacy skills, as determined by the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). Since useful questions may be raised by studying the literacy skills of foreign workforces, this article also looks at workers in the United States, our largest trading partner and primary competitor, and Germany, the principal economic power in Europe.

Added: 1996-01-01

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