International Adult Literacy Survey Research Articles

Age, Period, and Cohort Effects on Literacy Skills across Life Stages

Literacy skills are essential adult competencies for economic, social, political and cultural participation, which are linked to higher quality of life. Literacy skills are known to be lower for older age groups. However, relatively little is known about cohort and period effects, which provide clues to the sociohistorical impacts on literacy, in addition to the well-known age effects, over the life course. This study analyzed three nationally representative cross-sectional survey data of the U.S. adults at five time points, from the 1994 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), 2003 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL), and the 2012/2014/2017 Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The total analytic sample was 17,450 adults age between 18 and 65 years old. The literacy measures were re-scaled (0-500 points) to be comparable across the surveys. An age-period-cohort hierarchical linear model (i.e., cross-classified random effects model) was constructed using the Bayes estimator. Individuals were cross-classified based on 14 five-year birth cohort and 5 periods (survey years) information. Results showed that literacy skills improved [95% credibility-interval (CI) for linear effect of age = (0.31, 1.07), but the rate of improvement declined over time, faster rates of decline in later life stages [95% CI for quadratic effect of age = (-0.17, -0.09)]. Additionally, the notable variability across the cohorts and periods [95% CI variances = (5.34, 52.52) and (2.30, 172.01), respectively] were identified. Possible explanations for the identified age, period and cohort effects on literacy and implications for adult competencies in later life are evaluated.

Trends in Educational and Skill Mismatch in the United States

We examined trends in the incidence and correlates of educational and skill mismatch in the United States. We focused on trends over time in the associations between various types of mismatch and a range of factors including contextual conditions. We explored whether contextual conditions at the transitional period from school to jobs increase or decrease the probability of mismatch and whether such relationships persist throughout the working career. Our central questions were how the incidence of and relationship between educational and skill mismatch in the U.S. changed between 1994, 2003, and 2012 and how this differed by age, gender, immigration status, educational attainment, and occupation. We used three cross-sectional surveys that had not previously been implemented for such an effort. These were the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) in 1994, the Adult Literacy and Life-skills (ALL) survey in 2003, and the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) in 2012. Repeated cross-sectional data provided us with substantial analytic leverage. Our findings point toward the key role of occupational or positional factors rather than individual worker characteristics as being most implicated in trends in mismatch. We describe the importance of our results for labor market theories.

An Age–Period–Cohort Approach to the Incidence and Evolution of Overeducation and Skills Mismatch

This paper provides new evidence on the changes in the level and persistence of occupational mismatch across countries by investigating whether differences among generations (cohorts) are at the core of these changes. Using data from the 1994–1998 International Adult Literacy Survey, the 2003–2008 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey, and the 2011–2012 OECD Survey of Adult Skills, we estimate an age–period–cohort model in three European countries to examine the extent to which younger cohorts face a greater (smaller) risk of being occupationally mismatched in their jobs than their older counterparts. Two definitions of occupational mismatch are used, focusing on both educational attainment and literacy skills. Results indicate that countries present different patterns in the evolution of occupational mismatch from older to younger generations according to the definition employed (overeducation or skills mismatch). Different macro-economic and educational contexts may be at the core of these results, suggesting that tailored policy responses are desirable for effectively addressing the occupational mismatch problem.

Micro and macro drivers affecting adult literacy proficiency profiles across countries

This article analyses comparative data from the 1994–1998 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the 2012 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). At the micro level, the author considers factors involved in the development of an individual person’s literacy from a lifecycle perspective. At the macro level, he investigates trends in literacy proficiency profiles for countries that participated in both the IALS and PIAAC studies. In a number of countries, small average declines in literacy were recorded. This apparent stagnation in overall literacy at the population level in so many member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) merits a closer look at the trend data made available from IALS and PIAAC. The aim of this research is to understand the determinants of literacy proficiency in terms of (1) how they may be affecting the development of literacy from an individual lifecycle perspective, and (2) how they may be affecting the development of national profiles of literacy proficiency as countries’ sociodemographic compositions, sociocultural practices and economies change over time. There are few other comparative data like these that can help to improve insights on what drives the development and maintenance of literacy in adult populations. The data suggest that macro trends in literacy practices in work-related contexts may be on the decline, an impression the author discusses in relation to the observed stagnation in literacy profiles across many of the countries for which trend data are available. He considers the implications of his findings in relation to the upskilling and deskilling of occupations, changes in the distribution of work tasks, and the continued measurement of practices in PIAAC.

Evolution of adult numeracy from quantitative literacy to numeracy: Lessons learned from international assessments

Historically, numeracy has tended to be forgotten and overlooked in adult education, especially compared to literacy. Yet evidence exists to show that numeracy should be made a priority, and that building the foundational numeracy skills of young people and adults is vital for their well-being in work and life in the 21st century. In the past three decades, there has been an increasing awareness of the role and importance of mathematics and numeracy skills in adult life. This concerns every adult as an individual, as a member of society and as a worker, and how proficiency in these areas is critical in underpinning the skills necessary to negotiate the challenges of 21st-century life. This article describes how this growing understanding and awareness of numeracy has been enhanced through the evolution of the assessment of numeracy in international adult skills surveys. It began with the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) in the 1990s, continued with the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills (ALL) survey in the mid-2000s, and in 2011 finally led to the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The latter’s second cycle is due to start collecting data in 2021–2022 and the results are due to be published in 2023. The development and ongoing refinement of the theoretical frameworks and constructs that underpin these programmes and the assessments themselves, alongside the research based on the rich data of empirical and background information emerging from these surveys, have contributed significantly to our knowledge and understanding of numeracy in people’s lives.

Are large surveys of adult literacy skills as comparable over time as we think?

Recent literature shows that younger cohorts have lower levels of literacy ceteris paribus in Canada, the United States, Norway and other developed countries. Very few explanations are provided to justify the existence of this negative cohort effect. Yet this decline has serious implications for the economy, education system and society. In this paper, we focus on Canada and replicate the results published in the literature using the same methodology (synthetic cohorts). We use the same data from surveys of adult skills, namely the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) and the Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Second, we conduct further analyses to better understand the effect of time on adults’ literacy skills. We then show that age has a negative effect on the literacy score, but also that a significant “period” effect (or rather a “survey” effect) can only be explained by a change in the instrument used to measure literacy skills from one survey to another. This article reveals that the negative cohort effect mentioned in the literature may be fallacious as it is exacerbated when the control for measuring instrument distortions is omitted. This paper contributes to advancing knowledge about the effect that age and cohort has on adult literacy levels in Canada. The results weaken the idea of a clear negative cohort effect; much of this effect would in fact be caused by a non-comparable methodology that systematically assigned individuals lower scores in the most recent survey cycles. These findings are important because they highlight the limitations of analyses that can be done with the synthetic cohort method using cross-sectional surveys on adult literacy skills not only in Canada, but also in all other countries where these surveys have been conducted.

The Rise and Fall of Adult Literacy: Policy Lessons from Canada

There was a period of time, from the late 1980s until the early/mid-2000s, when interest in adult literacy in Canada was strong among the public, in the media, and with policymakers, and a policy window opened for the mainstreaming of literacy. Against this background, it is surprising that the Canadian literacy infrastructure was subsequently_x000D_ largely dismantled. Drawing on theories of policy formation, and recent and previous research, including interviews with key stakeholders, we argue that mainstreaming literacy has failed and explore the reasons for this failure. The paper is structured in three sections. First, we report on the construction of an adult literacy infrastructure in Canada over two phases: i) the period from the 1970s up until the launch of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) in 1994; ii) the story of IALS and changes occurring up until around 2005. Second, we examine the reasons for the failure of the mainstreaming of literacy in Canada. We conclude with further reflections on the present situation in which adult literacy has been largely reduced to employability skills which are under-supported.

Changes in employment since the 1990s: numeracy practices at work in IALS and PIAAC

Observing the transition from industrial work to more and more digitalised work in the last decades, in this paper we discuss changes in employment and the relevance of numeracy in adult basic education and in working environments. In a knowledge society, the demand for highly qualified professionals is growing. It is questionable what effects this need will have on other occupational groups. Is there a higher risk of becoming more vulnerable as a result of a so-called ‘polarisation of the labour market’? Dealing with change in employment structures for industrialised countries, the authors examine the change in numeracy practices in the International Adult Literacy Survey compared with that in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. In a comparison of the two large-scale assessments, the authors are able to confirm a polarisation in the sense of more higher- and lower-qualified jobs and less medium-qualified jobs. Numeracy practices, however, have been decreasing across all occupational groups over the last 3 decades. Today there is a higher risk of becoming vulnerable if the occupations are part of a middle qualified job. More critical numeracy skills and a visibility of numeracy at work could reduce the risk of vulnerability.

Cohort patterns in adult literacy skills: How are new generations doing?

Skills are core elements of the socio-economic prospects of individuals, while they also improve national productivity, growth and social cohesion. Understanding how skills evolve over time and what drives their evolution has become a policy priority of many European countries. Using the 1994–1998 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the 2012 Survey on Adult Skills (PIAAC) we build synthetic cohorts and examine how the population gains, loses or preserves cognitive skills (literacy) over time. While, as expected, deterioration in the level of skills due to ageing is common to almost all the European countries studied, for some of them concerns arise for the occurrence of skill deterioration across generations, especially among less well-educated and medium-educated individuals. Certain countries appear to be doing a poorer job in providing the necessary literacy skills over successive generations.

The Prediction of Labor Force Status: Implications From International Adult Skill Assessments

AbstractThis report investigates the prediction of labor force status using observed variables, such as gender, age, and immigrant status, and more importantly, measured skill variables, including literacy proficiency and a categorical rating of educational attainment based on the 1994 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the 2003 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL), and the 2011 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) projects. We explored the regression relations in the past two decades for six trend countries and subnational regions that provide data for all assessments: the United States, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada's English‐speaking region, and Canada's French‐speaking region. Probit regression models with latent predictors were used in this cross‐sectional study to investigate how those variables are structurally related to labor market outcomes. Results show the importance of literacy proficiency and education in determining individuals' labor force status across countries/regions, but with key differences among these countries/regions.

Inept or Badly Matched? — Effects of Educational Mismatch in the Labor Market

AbstractNegative wage effects of educational mismatch have become a stylized fact. Whether these are explained by differences in unobserved productivity or poor matching is still to be answered conclusively. In an empirical analysis based on data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel and the International Adult Literacy Survey, a broad econometric strategy is applied to solve the problem of unobserved heterogeneity and reveal the mechanism underlying wage differences between matched and mismatched workers. Results show that wage differentials can be explained by a poor matching in the labor market, rejecting the hypothesis that mismatched workers compensate for unobserved productivity differences.

Reprint of: Health literacy in Canada and the ophthalmology patient

Health literacy represents the cognitive and social skills that determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand, and use information in ways that promote and maintain good health.1 According to the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (IALSS), over 12 million (60%) adult Canadians lack the capacity to obtain, understand, and act on health information and services, as well as make appropriate health decisions on their own.2,3 Of these 12 million Canadians, the elderly are the most health illiterate age group in Canada. What this suggests for Canadian physicians is that to improve the CanMEDS roles of communicator and health advocate,4 physicians need to recognize health literacy as a modifiable contributor of poor health outcomes and work to remove literacy-related barriers.5 This is particularly important for ophthalmologists who manage chronic illnesses in elderly patients.2,6,7 The objective of this review is 2-fold. The first objective is to describe health literacy in Canada and provide a summary on the current state of health literacy research, both generally in medicine and specifically to Ophthalmology. The second objective is to propose a 3-step approach of evidence based techniques for managing low health literate patients in clinic.

Strong vocational education – a safe way to the labour market? A case study of the Czech Republic

Background: In its communications, the European Commission stresses the importance of vocational education and endorses apprenticeship training. Educational systems that have dual tracks of academic alongside vocational learning routes have been shown to generate better labour market outcomes for school leavers and smooth the school-to-work transition. On the other hand, dual tracked educational systems can reinforce the effect of social origin on educational performance: the differences between the achievement of students from a background characterised by low socio-economic status and students from high socio-economic status backgrounds are greater in a tracked system than in a comprehensive one. In addition to these general tendencies, the content and organisation of vocational education differ in individual countries, as do its strengths and weaknesses and impacts on the labour market prospects of young people.Purpose: This paper studies vocational education in the Czech Republic: specifically, its apprenticeship track leading directly to the labour market. It seeks to answer questions about whether the Czech apprenticeship education system provides its students with the knowledge and skills necessary for success in the modern labour market, and whether it facilitates their transition from school to work. The paper also studies the impact of the high vocational specificity of the Czech education system on educational inequalities and the development of these inequalities over time.Sample: The research questions are answered using statistical data and analyses of Czech data from international surveys of adult skills: the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), which studied probability samples of adults aged 16–65 years. The IALS data were collected in 1998 and included 3132 cases, and the PIAAC data were collected in 2012 and included 6102 cases.Design and methods: The IALS and PIAAC data were analysed using binary logistic regression. Descriptive statistics from PIAAC, statistical yearbooks of education and national surveys on the transition from school to work were also used to provide evidence.Results: The analyses show that in spite of its high vocational specificity, the efficiency of the Czech education system in facilitating transition to the labour market is relatively low, as are the achievement outcomes of its apprentices. This high differentiation, moreover, contributes significantly and increasingly to educational inequalities. In the light of those findings, the paper discusses features of the Czech apprenticeship education system and intended policy measures that are aiming to retain the current structure of the system and foster apprenticeship education.

Health literacy and disability: differences between generations of Canadian immigrants.

To determine whether there are differences in disability by immigrant generation and region of origin and recency of arrival in Canada, and the role of health literacy in this relationship. A secondary analysis of the Canadian component of the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) was undertaken. Compared to the third-plus generation, first-generation immigrants were less likely to report disability; these differences remained even after adjustment for sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors. No differences in disability were observed between the second- and third-plus generations. Among first-generation immigrants, those not from Europe or USA were less likely to report disability regardless of their duration in Canada. Health literacy was negatively associated with disability only in the analysis comparing generations of Canadians. However, its effect was largely accounted for by education, employment status and income. First-generation immigrants were less likely to be disabled than the other generations. Education, employment and income provide important avenues through which individuals develop health literacy. Health literacy was not associated with disability among first-generation immigrants perhaps because health literacy is low in this group.

Consumer health information

www.ccl-cca.ca/literacy What part of your district would benefit most from a family literacy program? What’s the average literacy level in the area surrounding your library? This kind of granular data on literacy levels across different communities is now available, for free. The Canadian Council on Learning has launched an interactive online map that shows adult prose literacy levels in 52 200 cities, towns, and communities across the country. The map allows you to zoom in and get data on a particular neighbourhood or zoom out and see the patchwork of different literacy levels within a city, town, or region. The map uses data from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (IALSS), which was conducted by Statistics Canada and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and combines it with 2006 Census data. It displays levels of prose literacy — that is, the knowledge and skills needed to understand and use information from text, such as news stories, editorials, poems, and fiction. The map drives home a sobering point. According to the 2003 data, nearly half of all Canadian adults have low literacy levels (level 2 or below), meaning they are ill prepared for the current demands of society. As many of you know, adult literacy is often measured on a prose literacy scale of 1 to 5. Level 3 is widely considered to be the minimum threshold for coping with the demands of the global knowledge-based economy. That nearly half the population can’t cope with today’s literacy demands should be a wake-up call, especially for those of us concerned with health.

Assessing Adult Learner’s Numeracy as Related to Gender and Performance in Arithmetic

The study investigated adult learner numeracy as related to gender and performance in arithmetic among 32 Nigerian adult learners from one government accredited adult literacy centre in Lagos State using the quantitative research method within the blueprint of descriptive survey design. Data collected were analysed using the descriptive statistics of percentages, mean, and standard deviation and inferential statistics of factor analysis, independent samples t-test, and multiple regression analysis. Findings revealed that numeracy skill assessed by the numeracy self-assessment scale was a multi-dimensional construct (numeracy in everyday life, numeracy in workplace, and numeracy in mathematical tasks). Adult learners showed average numeracy strength as gender differences in perception of numeracy skills and performance in arithmetic among adult learners reached zero-tolerance level. Numeracy in workplace and numeracy in mathematical tasks made statistically significant contributions to the variance in adult learners’ performance in arithmetic. Based on this base line study, it was thus, recommended that future studies in Nigeria should investigate adult learners’ numeracy skills using more robust and psychometrically sound instruments such as the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS) and the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS).

Educational stratification in cultural participation: cognitive competence or status motivation?

This article examines educational stratification in highbrow cultural participation. There are two contrasting explanations of why cultural participation is stratified. The status hypothesis predicts that people come to appreciate particular forms of art because it expresses their belonging to a certain social group. The cognitive hypothesis stipulates that cultural participation depends on a person’s cognitive abilities, which is why educational stratification in cultural consumption is so evident, especially among consumers of high culture. However, to test these explanations, previous work predominantly relied on an individual’s level of education, thus confounding the two mechanisms. We test the status and cognitive hypothesis using data from the International Adult Literacy Survey, covering 18 countries. First, by including an individual’s literacy skills, we separate the effect of cognitive ability from that of education. The remaining effect of education can be seen as a better measure of the status-related motives for cultural participation. Second, we examine whether stratification varies across countries. The findings show that the status-related effect of education on cultural participation is smaller in societies with larger educational expansion and intergenerational educational mobility. This is in line with the status explanation, which holds that boundaries between educational groups are less exclusionary in societies that are educationally less stratified. In contrast, the relation between cognitive skills and cultural participation is unaffected by distributional variation in education, as the cognitive hypothesis predicts.

The Literacy Performance of Young Adults Who Had Reading Difficulties in School: New Zealand Data from the International Adult Literacy and Lifestyle Survey

The Literacy Performance of Young Adults Who Had Reading Difficulties in School: New Zealand Data from the International Adult Literacy and Lifestyle Survey

The media construction of an adult literacy agenda in Canada

This paper explores the role of media in shaping adult literacy discourse and policy in Canada. The authors show how journalists, newspapers and other media personalities have directly and indirectly influenced (1) government and public perception of adult literacy and (2) the creation of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). Overall, the paper points to the crucial role of the media in the transnationalisation of government agendas and policy discourse.

Comparative performance measures, globalising strategies and literacy policy in Scotland

This paper explores one example of an international comparison – the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) – in order to investigate the power of numbers in both the shaping and the legitimisation of adult literacy policy using Scotland as a case study. It is argued that policy implementation is framed by a common assumption that the production of knowledge will increase global competitiveness leading to the prioritisation of economic objectives in education. However, despite these globalising strategies, examples are provided of how the economic discourse can be resisted, to some extent, through prioritising more social objectives at both the local and state levels.