atw: Re: Literacy levels amongst users

  • From: Peter Martin <peterm_5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2009 16:34:40 +1100

Christine Kent:
You wrote:
>

Ok, folks.... here we go...

> I think this may be a false premise, which means the whole question breaks 
> down.  SOME
> younger readers may prefer SOME digital media for SOME purposes.  As a 
> horrible
> percentage of ?younger? people are functionally illiterate, there is at least 
> one group
> of younger people who are not being referenced in this statement.  How many 
> others are
> there, and how many like to soak in a bath with a good book?
>

Excuse me, but this reads to me like an older person's view, i.e.,

Fings ain't wot they used to be.

We seem to be moving into the urban legend territory here.

I don't know what you want to classify as "functionally illiterate" or as a 
"horrible percentage"   -- but if the former means failing to meet the national 
literacy standard and you regard that as the test,  then the most recent 
pass:fail percentage in school kids is a bit better than 70:30.  So maybe 30% 
is 'orrid, but it ain't 'alf as 'orrid as it usta be, and it's fairly clear 
that ranks of English as a second language students contribute significantly to 
an early gap in literacy.

Take, for example,  the horrible results younger persons were those reported in 
the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS) in 2006.   That report did 
show that the 15-19 year olds were not doing well.  It said they had lower 
levels of literacy than the 20 to 24 year age group (and presumably have 
improved considerably since).

But that report also said literacy levels generally tended to decrease with 
age, with higher proportions of people in the older age groups attaining skill 
scores lower than Level 3, and increasing percentages of people falling into 
the lower level categories of literacy, the older they were.

In other words, the further back you go in age from 23 year olds, the worse the 
literacy.





-Peter M
 peterm_5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
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