Information technology (IT) is the study or use of computers, telecommunication systems and other devices to create, process, store, retrieve and transmit information. While the term is commonly used to refer to computers and computer networks, it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones. Information technology is an application of computer science and computer engineering.
An information technology system (IT system) is generally an information system, a communications system, or, more specifically speaking, a computer system — including all hardware, software, and peripheral equipment — operated by a limited group of IT users, and an IT project usually refers to the commissioning and implementation of an IT system. IT systems play a vital role in facilitating efficient data management, enhancing communication networks , and supporting organizational processes across various industries.
Successful IT projects require meticulous planning and ongoing
maintenance to ensure optimal functionality and alignment with
organizational objectives.
Although humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating,
analysing and communicating information since the earliest writing
systems were developed, the term information technology in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review; authors Harold J. Leavitt
and Thomas L. Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet
have a single established name. We shall call it information technology
(IT)." Their definition consists of three categories: techniques for processing, the application of statistical and mathematical methods to decision-making, and the simulation of higher-order thinking through computer programs.
Antikythera mechanism, considered the first mechanical analog computer, dating back to the first century BC.
Based on the storage and processing technologies employed, it is
possible to distinguish four distinct phases of IT development:
pre-mechanical (3000 BC – 1450 AD), mechanical (1450 – 1840), electromechanical (1840 – 1940), and electronic (1940 to present).
Ideas of computer science were first mentioned before the 1950s under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University,
where they had discussed and began thinking of computer circuits and
numerical calculations. As time went on, the field of information
technology and computer science became more complex and was able to
handle the processing of more data. Scholarly articles began to be
published from different organizations.
During the mid-1900s, Alan Turing, J. Presper Eckert, and John Mauchly
were some of the pioneers of early computer technology. While their
main efforts focused on designing the first digital computer, Turing
also began to raise questions about artificial intelligence.
Devices have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, probably initially in the form of a tally stick. The Antikythera mechanism, dating from about the beginning of the first century BC, is generally considered the earliest known mechanical analog computer, and the earliest known geared mechanism. Comparable geared devices did not emerge in Europe until the 16th century, and it was not until 1645 that the first mechanical calculator capable of performing the four basic arithmetical operations was developed.
Electronic computers, using either relays or thermionic valves, began to appear in the early 1940s. The electromechanicalZuse Z3, completed in 1941, was the world's first programmable computer, and by modern standards one of the first machines that could be considered a complete computing machine. During the Second World War, Colossus developed the first electronic digital computer to decrypt German messages. Although it was programmable,
it was not general-purpose, being designed to perform only a single
task. It could not also store its program in memory; programming was
carried out using plugs and switches to alter the internal wiring. The first recognizably modern electronic digital stored-program computer was the Manchester Baby, which ran its first program on 21 June 1948.
The development of transistors in the late 1940s at Bell Laboratories
allowed a new generation of computers to be designed with greatly
reduced power consumption. The first commercially available
stored-program computer, the Ferranti Mark I,
contained 4050 valves and had a power consumption of 25 kilowatts. By
comparison, the first transistorized computer developed at the University of Manchester and operational by November 1953, consumed only 150 watts in its final version.
By 1984, according to the National Westminster Bank Quarterly Review, the term information technology
had been redefined as "the convergence of telecommunications and
computing technology (...generally known in Britain as information
technology)." We then begin to see the appearance of the term in 1990,
contained within documents for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Innovations in technology have already revolutionized the world
by the twenty-first century as people have gained access to different
online services. This has changed the workforce drastically, as thirty
percent of U.S. workers were already in careers in this profession.
136.9 million people were personally connected to the Internet, which was equivalent to 51 million households. Along with the Internet, new types of technology were also being
introduced across the globe, which have improved efficiency and made
things easier across the globe.
As technology revolutionizsed society, millions of processes
could be completed in seconds. Innovations in communication were crucial
as people increasingly relied on computers to communicate via telephone
lines and cable networks. The introduction of the email was considered
revolutionary as "companies in one part of the world could communicate
by e-mail with suppliers and buyers in another part of the world...".
Computers and technology have also revolutionized the marketing
industry, resulting in more buyers of their products. In 2002, Americans
exceeded $28 billion in goods just over the Internet alone, while
e-commerce a decade later resulted in $289 billion in sales. And as computers are rapidly becoming more sophisticated by the day,
they are becoming more widely used as people are becoming more reliant
on them during the twenty-first century.
Electronic data processing or business information processing can
refer to the use of automated methods to process commercial data.
Typically, this uses relatively simple, repetitive activities to process
large volumes of similar information. For example: stock updates
applied to an inventory, banking transactions applied to account and
customer master files, booking and ticketing transactions to an
airline's reservation system, and billing for utility services. The
modifier "electronic" or "automatic" was used with "data processing"
(DP), especially c. 1960, to distinguish human clerical data processing
from that done by computer.
Early electronic computers such as Colossus made use of punched tape, a long strip of paper on which data was represented by a series of holes, a technology now obsolete. Electronic data storage, which is used in modern computers, dates from World War II, when a form of delay-line memory was developed to remove the clutter from radar signals, the first practical application of which was the mercury delay line. The first random-access digital storage device was the Williams tube, which was based on a standard cathode ray tube. However, the information stored in it and the delay-line memory was
volatile in the fact that it had to be continuously refreshed, and thus
was lost once power was removed. The earliest form of non-volatile
computer storage was the magnetic drum, invented in 1932 and used in the Ferranti Mark 1, the world's first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.
IBM card storage warehouse located in Alexandria, Virginia in 1959. This is where the United States government kept storage of punched cards.
IBM introduced the first hard disk drive in 1956, as a component of their 305 RAMAC computer system. Most digital data today is still stored magnetically on hard disks, or optically on media such as CD-ROMs. Until 2002, most information was stored on analog devices, but that year digital storage capacity exceeded analog for the first time. As of 2007, almost 94% of the data stored worldwide was held digitally: 52% on hard disks, 28% on optical devices, and 11% on digital magnetic
tape. It has been estimated that the worldwide capacity to store
information on electronic devices grew from less than 3 exabytes in 1986 to 295 exabytes in 2007, doubling roughly every 3 years.
All DMS consist of components; they allow the data they store to
be accessed simultaneously by many users while maintaining its
integrity. All databases have a common one point in that the structure of the data
they contain is defined and stored separately from the data itself, in a
database schema.
In the late 2000s (decade), the extensible markup language (XML) became a popular format for data representation. Although XML data can be stored in normal file systems, it is commonly held in relational databases to take advantage of their "robust implementation verified by years of both theoretical and practical effort." As an evolution of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), XML's text-based structure offers the advantage of being both machine- and human-readable.
Transmission
Radio towers at Pine Hill lookout
Data transmission has three aspects: transmission, propagation, and reception. It can be broadly categorized as broadcasting, in which information is transmitted unidirectionally downstream, or telecommunications, with bidirectional upstream and downstream channels.
XML has been increasingly employed as a means of data interchange since the early 2000s, particularly for machine-oriented interactions such as those involved in web-oriented protocols such as SOAP, describing "data-in-transit rather than... data-at-rest".
Manipulation
Hilbert and Lopez identify the exponential pace of technological change (a kind of Moore's law):
machines' application-specific capacity to compute information per
capita roughly doubled every 14 months between 1986 and 2007; the per
capita capacity of the world's general-purpose computers doubled every
18 months during the same two decades; the global telecommunication
capacity per capita doubled every 34 months; the world's storage
capacity per capita required roughly 40 months to double (every 3
years); and per capita broadcast information has doubled every
12.3 years.
Massive amounts of data are stored worldwide every day, but
unless it can be analyzed and presented effectively it essentially
resides in what have been called data tombs: "data archives that are
seldom visited". To address that issue, the field of data mining — "the process of discovering interesting patterns and knowledge from large amounts of data" — emerged in the late 1980s.
Services
Email
A woman sending an email at an internet cafe's public computer.
The technology and services IT provides for sending and receiving
electronic messages (called "letters" or "electronic letters") over a
distributed (including global) computer network. In terms of the
composition of elements and the principle of operation, electronic mail
practically repeats the system of regular (paper) mail, borrowing both
terms (mail, letter, envelope, attachment, box, delivery, and others)
and characteristic features — ease of use, message transmission delays,
sufficient reliability, and at the same time no guarantee of delivery.
The advantages of e-mail are: easily perceived and remembered by a
person addresses of the form user_name@domain_name (for example,
somebody@example.com); the ability to transfer both plain text and
formatted, as well as arbitrary files; independence of servers (in the
general case, they address each other directly); sufficiently high
reliability of message delivery; ease of use by humans and programs.
The disadvantages of e-mail include: the presence of such a
phenomenon as spam (massive advertising and viral mailings); the
theoretical impossibility of guaranteed delivery of a particular letter;
possible delays in message delivery (up to several days); limits on the
size of one message and on the total size of messages in the mailbox
(personal for users).
Search system
A search system is a software and hardware complex with a web
interface that provides the ability to look for information on the
Internet. A search engine
usually means a site that hosts the interface (front-end) of the
system. The software part of a search engine is a search engine (search
engine) — a set of programs that provides the functionality of a search
engine and is usually a trade secret of the search engine developer
company. Most search engines look for information on World Wide Web
sites, but some systems can look for files on FTP servers, items in
online stores, and information on Usenet newsgroups. Improving search is
one of the priorities of the modern Internet (see the Deep Web article about the main problems in the work of search engines).
Commercial effects
Companies in the information technology field are often discussed as a group as the "tech sector" or the "tech industry." These titles can be misleading at times and should not be mistaken for
"tech companies," which are generally large scale, for-profit
corporations that sell consumer technology and software. From a business
perspective, information technology departments are a "cost center"
the majority of the time. A cost center is a department or staff that
incurs expenses, or "costs," within a company rather than generating
profits or revenue streams. Modern businesses rely heavily on technology
for their day-to-day operations, so the expenses delegated to cover
technology that facilitates business in a more efficient manner are
usually seen as "just the cost of doing business." IT departments are
allocated funds by senior leadership and must attempt to achieve the
desired deliverables while staying within that budget. Government and
the private sector might have different funding mechanisms, but the
principles are more or less the same. This is an often overlooked reason
for the rapid interest in automation and artificial intelligence,
but the constant pressure to do more with less is opening the door for
automation to take control of at least some minor operations in large
companies.
Many companies now have IT departments for managing the computers,
networks, and other technical areas of their businesses. Companies have
also sought to integrate IT with business outcomes and decision-making
through a BizOps or business operations department.
In a business context, the Information Technology Association of America
has defined information technology as "the study, design, development,
application, implementation, support, or management of computer-based
information systems". The responsibilities of those working in the field include network
administration, software development and installation, and the planning
and management of an organization's technology life cycle, by which
hardware and software are maintained, upgraded, and replaced.
The field of information ethics was established by mathematician Norbert Wiener in the 1940s. Some of the ethical issues associated with the use of information technology include:
Breaches of copyright by those downloading files stored without the permission of the copyright holders
Employers monitoring their employees' emails and other Internet usage
Websites installing cookies or spyware to monitor a user's online activities, which may be used by data brokers
IT projects
Research suggests that IT projects in business and public administration can easily become significant in scale. Research conducted by McKinsey in collaboration with the University of Oxford suggested that half of all large-scale IT projects (those with initial cost estimates of $15 million or more) often failed to maintain costs within their initial budgets or to complete on time.
In 2023, 28% of adults scored at or below Level 1, 29% at Level 2, and 44% at Level 3 or above. Adults scoring in the lowest levels of literacy increased 9 percentage
points between 2017 and 2023. In 2017, 19% of U.S. adults achieved a
Level 1 or below in literacy, while 48% achieved the highest levels.
Adults scoring at Level 3 or above are considered "proficient at working with information and ideas in texts" (see also § Definitions
below). Adults scoring below Level 1 can comprehend simple sentences
and short paragraphs with minimal structure but will struggle with
multi-step instructions or complex sentences, while those at Level 1 can
locate explicitly cued information in short texts, lists, or simple
digital pages with minimal distractions but will struggle with
multi-page texts and complex prose. In general, both groups struggle reading complex sentences, texts
requiring multiple-step processing, and texts with distractions.
A 2020 analysis by Gallup in conjunction with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy estimated that the U.S. economic output could increase by $2.2 trillion annually—approximately 10% of the national GDP—if all adults were at Level 3.
History
Colonial era
Literacy in the colonial era
was primarily defined as the ability to read, with writing considered a
secondary skill. The significance of literacy varied according to
region, social class, and occupation, but it played a fundamental role
in religious practice, legal affairs, and the dissemination of political
ideas.
Regional differences in literacy rates were pronounced. In New England, literacy was relatively high due to the Puritan emphasis on Bible reading. Colonial laws, such as the Massachusetts School Laws of the 1640s, mandated basic education, contributing to widespread literacy among the population. In the Middle Colonies,
literacy rates were moderate, reflecting the region's religious and
ethnic diversity. Education was often provided through private tutors,
church-run schools, or apprenticeships. The Southern Colonies exhibited lower literacy rates, particularly among poorer whites and enslaved individuals. Enslaved people were denied access to education while poor whites
were only able to attend school for which they could pay, since
Southern state governments typically did not fund public schools.
Religious institutions were central to literacy education
throughout the colonies. Churches frequently served as educational
centers, with ministers and religious leaders promoting literacy to
facilitate scripture reading. Educational materials commonly included
the New England Primer, hornbooks, and the Bible.
Gender disparities in literacy were evident across the colonies.
Men, particularly those in urban centers or from higher social classes,
were more likely to be literate than women. In New England, some women
acquired basic literacy through home instruction or religious
communities. However, in the Middle and Southern Colonies, formal
education for women was limited, and many remained illiterate.
Enslaved and Native American
populations faced significant obstacles to literacy. In the Southern
Colonies, laws were enacted to restrict the education of enslaved
individuals, as literacy was perceived as a potential means of
resistance. Nevertheless, some enslaved individuals acquired literacy, often in secret. Missionary
efforts to educate Native American tribes occasionally included
literacy instruction, although such efforts were typically tied to religious conversion rather than secular education.
Literacy played a critical role in colonial society, particularly in the dissemination of political ideas. Newspapers, pamphlets, and broadsides facilitated public discourse and contributed to the mobilization of support for independence during the American Revolution.
19th century
Public schools were rare in the South before the late 19th century.
During the industrial revolution, many nursery schools, preschools and
kindergartens were established to formalize education.
19th century literacy rates in the United States were relatively high, despite the country's decentralized educational system. By 1875, the U.S. literacy rate was approximately 80 percent.
In the history of slavery
in colonial America and later the United States, slave owners almost
always made efforts to limit the education of enslaved people, including
curtailing literacy. Lawmakers in slave states such as Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana
eventually established various anti-literacy laws that criminalized
teaching or attempting to teach an enslaved person to read or write. States established these laws in part due to fears that increased literacy among enslaved people could lead to a slave rebellion. These laws are the only known instances of anti-literacy laws in history.
By 1900 44% of black people remained illiterate. There were significant improvements for African Americans
and other races in the early 20th century; the descendants of former
slaves, who had had no educational opportunities, grew up in the post-Civil War
period and often had some chance to obtain a basic education. The gap
in illiteracy between white and black adults continued to narrow through
the 20th century, and in 1979, the rates were approximately equal.
There has been a notable increase in American citizens'
educational attainment since then, but studies have also indicated a
decline in reading performance which began during the 1970s. Although the U.S. Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) and legislation such as the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 had highlighted education as an issue of national importance, the push for high levels of mass literacy has been a recent
development; expectations of literacy have sharply increased over past
decades.
Throughout the 20th century, there was an increase in federal acts
and models to ensure that children continued to develop their literacy
skills as a part of receiving a proper education. Starting in the 2000s, there has been an increase of immigrants in
cities, the majority of whose children speak languages other than
English and who thus fall behind their peers in reading. Elementary school literacy has been the focus of educational reform since that time.
With the landmark publication of A Nation at Risk by the US National Commission on Excellence in Education
in 1983, concern for the performance of American students relative to
other student bodies worldwide intensified. It has been observed that
adolescents undergo a critical transition during their grade-school
years which prepares them to learn and apply knowledge to their actions
and behavior in the outside world. As the job market has become more demanding, the rigor of educational
institutions has increased to prepare students for the more-complex
tasks which will be expected of them. Addressing sub-par reading performance and low youth literacy rates is
important to achieve high levels of mass literacy because the issue of
sub-par academic performance is compounded. Students who struggle at an
early age continue to struggle throughout their school years because
they do not have the same foundation of understanding and breadth of
knowledge to build upon as their peers; this often translates to
below-average, poor literacy levels in later grades and into adulthood.
In 2019, the National Center for Educational Statistics reported
that 4.1% of US adults had literacy abilities below level 1, defined as
"unable to successfully determine the meaning of sentences, read
relatively short texts to locate a single piece of information, or
complete simple forms", and could be classified as functionally illiterate.
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated school closures which had a negative impact on child literacy in America. More than one million eligible children did not enroll in kindergarten for the 2021–2022 school year in the U.S.
Literacy rates
Definitions
Two
boys in Laos laugh over the book "What Can You Do with an Extra
Dinosaur?", which one of them had received as his first book. This took
place at a rural school book party sponsored by Big Brother Mouse, which
says its goal is to "make literacy fun!"
The simplest definition of literacy in a nation is the percent of
people age 15 or older who can read and write, which is used to rank
nations. More complex definitions, involving the kind of reading needed
for occupations or tasks in daily life, are termed functional literacy,
prose literacy, document literacy and quantitative literacy. These more
complex definitions of literacy are useful to educators, and are used by
the Department of Education.
Functional literacy can be divided into useful literacy,
informational literacy and pleasurable literacy. Useful literacy
reflects the most-common practice of using an understanding of written
text to navigate daily life. Informational literacy can be defined as
text comprehension and the ability to connect new information presented
in the text to previous knowledge. Pleasurable literacy is the ability
of an individual to read, understand, and engage with texts that they
enjoy. In a more abstract sense, multiple literacy can be classified into
school, community, and personal concepts. These categories refer to an
individual's ability to learn about academic subjects, understand social
and cultural contexts, and learn about themselves from an examination
of their own backgrounds.
In a 2003 study of adults, the NCES measured functional literacy. The center measured three types of functional literacy: prose literacy,
document literacy, and quantitative literacy. Prose literacy consists
of the "knowledge and skills needed to perform prose tasks", and
includes the ability to read news articles and brochures. Document literacy consists of the "knowledge and skills needed to
perform document tasks", which include job applications, payroll forms
and maps. Similarly, quantitative literacy is the "knowledge and skills required
to perform quantitative tasks"; those tasks include balancing a
checkbook and filling out an order form.
The governments of other countries may label individuals who can
read a few thousand simple words which they learned by sight in the
first four grades in school as literate. UNESCO has collected the definitions used by nations in their tables of literacy in its General Metadata
on National Literacy Data table; variations depend on whether childhood
literacy (age six) or adult literacy was measured. The list
distinguishes between a respondent's self-reported literacy and
demonstrated ability to read.
Other sources may term individuals functionally illiterate if
they are unable to read basic sources of written information, such as
warning labels and driving directions. According to The World Factbook from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), "There are no universal definitions and standards of literacy"
and its statistics are based on the most common definition: "the ability
to read and write at a specified age." The National Center for
Education Statistics defines literacy as "the ability to understand,
evaluate, use and engage with written texts to participate in society,
to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential." "Detailing the standards that individual countries use to assess the
ability to read and write is beyond the scope of the Factbook.
Information on literacy, while not a perfect measure of educational
results, is probably the most easily available and valid for
international comparisons." The World Factbook does not include the U.S. literacy rate in its reporting. Using its definition, literacy refers to the percentage of people age 15 or older who can read and write.
How did the Literacy Decline Start and Progress Overtime?
People typically believe that literacy began to decline due to the pandemic in 2020; however, according to Harvard University,
it actually started earlier in the mid-2010s. It states that reading
scores in the U.S. peaked during that time and began a slow but balanced
decline afterward, showing that the issue developed gradually overtime
rather than appearing suddenly.
The changes in the reading habits of students also include a
decrease in reading in their own free time and they spend more time on
their digital devices. These changes may reduce how often students
practice reading outside of school. If students begin to read less
consistently, it can affect their reading comprehension over time.
Students who constantly read digitally also tend to have shorter or more
broke down texts, impacting how students engage with longer texts, a
decreasing attention span for example.
Social and educational changes also impact the literacy decline
rather than a single cause. Reading methods have changed overtime, along
with classroom expectations and how strict teachers and parents are
with their kids over sustaining reading practice. Outside of school,
screentime is increased immensely and changes in how people consume
information also affect how much reading students do regularly. These
factors do not happen by itself, they slowly influence how literacy
develops overtime instead of it immediately happening. Because they
slowly build up overtime, this affects students at different stages of
their lives and education, creating an uneven level of their reading
ability in the U.S., especially when some students have more access to
practice than others. The literacy decline is much more complex than
others think because it is not just one problem that causes a decline,
but multiple things interacting with each other overtime causing the
problem to deepen.
Department of Education surveys
English Language Proficiency Survey (1982)
In 1982, funded by the Department of Education, the Census Bureau conducted the English Language Proficiency Survey (ELPS): an in-home literacy test of 3,400 adults. The Education Department considered this direct measure of literacy
more accurate than a 1979 estimate which inferred literacy from the
number of years of education completed. Data from the ELPS were presented in a 1986 Census Bureau report which
concluded that 13% of adults living in the United States were illiterate
in English. Nine percent of adults whose native language was English (native
speakers) were illiterate, and 48 percent of non-native speakers were
illiterate in English but not necessarily illiterate in their maternal
language.
In his 1985 book, Illiterate America, Jonathan Kozol ascribed the very-high figures for literacy to weaknesses in methodology. Kozol noted that in addition to this weakness, the reliance on written
forms would have excluded many individuals who did not have a literate
family member to fill out the form for them. The Census Bureau reported a literacy rate of 86%, based on personal
interviews and written responses to Census Bureau mailings. The bureau
considered an individual literate if they said that they could read and
write, and assumed that anyone with a fifth-grade education had at least
an 80% chance of being literate. Kozol suggested that because
illiterate people are likely to be unemployed and may not have a
telephone or permanent address, the Census Bureau would have been
unlikely to find them.
National Adult Literacy Survey (1992)
In 1988, Congress requested the Education Department conduct a national literacy survey. In 1992, the National Adult Literacy Survey was conducted by the NCES, administered by the Educational Testing Service and designed by Westat,
to assess adult literacy in the United States. The survey categorized
literacy into three domains: prose, document, and quantitative literacy,
each measured on a 500-point scale and divided into five proficiency
levels.
The study tested 26,000 in 12 states.
Key findings indicate that 21–23% of U.S. adults had Level 1 literacy
skills, meaning they struggled with basic reading comprehension,
locating information, and making low-level inferences. Additionally, a significant proportion of those at this level were
non-native English speakers, individuals with limited formal education,
or older adults. Socioeconomic factors were closely tied to literacy
levels, with those in lower literacy brackets more likely to live in
poverty and earn lower wages.
National Assessment of Adult Literacy (2003)
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy was sponsored by the NCES as one of its assessment programs. The study included comparisons to the 1992 survey. Adults over sixteen
years of age were scored on their prose, document, and quantitative
literacy. Although there was no significant change in prose and document
literacy between 1992 and 2003, quantitative literacy improved. The study maintained the practice of the 1992 National Adult Literacy
Survey of dividing literacy into three aspects, each measured on a
500-point scale. Scores in each aspect were again grouped into five
different levels, using a new numerical scale which differed for each
aspect.
Report on the Condition of Education (2022)
Mandated by Congress,
the annual Condition of Education Report is conducted by the NCES
assesses national education data using 88 indicators and includes
workforce statistics and global comparisons. The NCES operates under the
aegis of the U.S. Department of Education as its statistical, with
primary responsibility for the collection and analysis of education
data.
In the United States, the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP
("The Nation's Report Card") is the national assessment of what
students know and can do in various subjects. Four of these
subjects—reading, writing, mathematics and science—are assessed most
frequently and reported at the state and district level, usually for
grades 4 and 8.
In 2019, with respect to the reading skills of the nation's grade-four public school students, 34% performed at or above the Proficient level (solid academic performance) and 65% performed at or above the Basic level (partial mastery of the proficient level skills). The results by race/ethnicity were as follows:
Race/Ethnicity
Proficient level
Basic level
Asian
57%
82%
White
44%
76%
Two or more races
40%
72%
National average
34%
65%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
24%
55%
Hispanic
23%
54%
American Indian/Alaska Native
20%
50%
Black
18%
47%
NAEP reading assessment results are reported as average scores on a 0–500 scale. The Basic Level is 208 and the Proficient Level is 238. The average reading score for grade-four public school students was 219. Female students had an average score that was 7 points higher than male students. Students who were eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) had an average score that was 28 points lower than that for students who were not eligible.
Reading scores for the individual states and districts are available on the NAEP site. Between 2017 and 2019 Mississippi was the only state that had a grade-four reading score increase and 17 states had a score decrease.
With these statistics all put together, these scores suggest that
the reading proficiency in the U.S. remains inconsistent, with a large
amount of students performing below proficient levels.
The differences of the racial group scores also show uneven
reading achievements, which is often associated with broader educational
inequalities.
Other domestic studies
Central Connecticut State University study
From 2005 to 2009, Jack Miller of Central Connecticut State University
conducted annual studies aimed at identifying America's most literate
cities. Miller drew from a number of available data resources, and the
CCSU America's Most Literate Cities study ranks the largest cities
(population 250,000 and above) in the United States. The study focuses
on six indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of
bookstores, library resources, periodical-publishing resources,
educational attainment, and Internet resources.
The United States participated in the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) with Bermuda, Canada, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and the Mexican state of Nuevo León. Data was collected in 2003, and the results were published in 2005. Adults were scored on five levels of difficulty in prose, document and
numeracy literacy. In 2003, only eight percent of the population aged 16
to 65 in Norway fell into the lowest skill level (level 1). The highest
percentage was 47%, in Italy; the United States was third-highest at
20%.
Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies
The United States participated in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies
(PIAAC), which was "developed under the auspices" of the OECD. The
PIAAC is a "collaborative endeavour involving the participating
countries, the OECD Secretariat, the European Commission and an international consortium led by Educational Testing Service (ETS)". According to the NCES (NCES), the PIAAC provides the "most current
indicator of the nation's progress in adult skills in literacy,
numeracy, and problem-solving in technology-rich environments" and is a
"large-scale assessment of adult skills."
In 2012, 24 countries participated in the large-scale study; thirty-three countries participated in 2014. The 2013 OECD report "First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills",
which published the results of tests conducted in 2011 and 2012, said
that the "skills of adults in the United States [had] remained
relatively unchanged in the decade since the previous report, while other countries have been showing improvements, especially among adults with low basic skills." The 2011 literacy test for was altered: "Before the PIAAC 2011 survey,
however, essentially all that one could infer about the literacy skills
of adults below Level 1 was that they could not consistently perform
accurately on the easiest literacy tasks on the survey. One could not
estimate what literacy tasks they could do successfully, if any."
In 2016, PIAAC 2012 and 2014 data were released. Participating adults in Singapore and the United States had the largest
number of adults scoring "at or below Level 1 in literacy proficiency"
compared to other participating countries in their performance in "all
three reading components". According to the authors of the OECD report,
"These results may be related to the language background of the
immigrant population in the United States."
According to the 2012-2014 data, 79% of U.S. adults have "English
literacy skills sufficient to complete tasks that require comparing and
contrasting information, paraphrasing, or making low-level inferences."
In this study, immigrants are over-represented in the low English
literacy population. Adults born outside the U.S. make up 34% of adults
with low literacy skills while making up only 15% of the population.
However, of the adults with low English literacy skills, 66% were born
in the U.S.
Gallup
principal economist Jonathan Rothwell concluded, in a 2020 analysis and
economic impact study of the PIAAC results collected during 2012 -
2017; commissioned by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, that the United States could increase its annual GDP
by 10%, adding $2.2 trillion in annual income, by enabling greater
literacy for the 54% of Americans reading below a sixth-grade level
nationwide. The analysis noted that, of the 33 OECD
nations included in the survey, the U.S. had placed sixteenth for
literacy, and surmised that about half of Americans surveyed, aged 16 to
74, had demonstrated a below sixth-grade reading level.
Literacy education in schools
Federal programs and bills
Federal government responses to address the problems of struggling
English language learners and overstretched teachers ensued from the
1960s. Head Start
was created in 1964 for children and families living under the poverty
line, to help prepare children under five for elementary school and to
provide family support for health, nutrition, and social services. In
1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
to ensure that each child gets equal education, regardless of their
race or familial affluence. In response to English language learners, in
1968 Congress passed the Bilingual Education Act. The act allowed ELL students to learn in their first language and provided resources to assist schools with ELL students. Generational discrimination connects directly to why students who
struggle in reading proficiency who attend underfunded schools are
typically children of color. Statistically, schools with BIPOC
enrollment of 90% or more in its student body spend $733 less per
student per year than schools with a White student body of 90% or more
enrolled.
Teachers play an extremely important role in the classroom given
that they work with the student consistently enough to notice which
students struggle most. Studies have shown that teacher judgment
assessments are a really accurate determinant for elementary school
students’ reading proficiency. They are not as precise as the curriculum based measurements
(CBM) but extremely accurate on average. This gives faster and more
personal results in terms of identifying which student needs more
assistance. In 1997, President Bill Clinton
proposed that tutors work with children reading below their grade
level. Tutoring programs include partnerships with university
organizations in which college students tutor and develop the literacy
skills of elementary school students. Using non-certified teachers
reduces the amount of money that a school would have to put into hiring
many certified teachers, which increases the number of children that can
be helped. Many underprivileged elementary school students need this reading
proficiency assistance but also deserve the best quality given the
historical inequities within the educational system. The tutoring
model's components can ensure that service from a non-certified tutor
can in fact prove to be effective by “engaging reading materials that
are carefully graded in difficulty"; offering "a sequenced word study or
phonics curriculum"; "regularly scheduled tutoring sessions (at least
two each week)"; "a committed group of non certified tutors
(para-professionals or community volunteers)": and "a knowledgeable
reading teacher who provides ongoing supervision to the tutors.” Tutoring elementary school students is extremely effective when it is
accompanied by a series of approved curriculum, adequate training, and
systems of accountability.
By January 12, 2015, civil rights groups and education advocates
drafted and released a document called the "shared civil rights
principles for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA)", which pushed for the reauthorization of a bill
termed ESEA, which was initially drafted in 2002. Though not yet passed,
the bill had innumerable pathways that insured money for the education
sector. Still, due to the Senate and the House's polarization, it had
not been re-approved and had been pending approval since 2007. The bill
would push for equal access to educational opportunities for students
across the country. "As of January 16, 22 organizations [had] signed the
principles". The following day, on January 17, "Sen. Lamar Alexander, R. Tenn., released a draft reauthorization bill for ESEA".
Following ESEA approval, Charter I, also called Title I schools,
according to NCES, received $6.4 billion in "Basic Grants," $1.3
billion in "Concentrated Grants," and $3.3 billion in "Targeted Grants"
in 2015, in response to Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
being passed. ESEA ensures financial assistance is provided to local educational
agencies who work for children coming from low-income families in
pursuit of help, and hence fulfill the goals of state academic
standards. These Title I schools can contract private nonprofit tutoring
programs to work with their students in enhancing skills such as
reading comprehension, analytical skills, and word recognition.
The provisions through the "No Child Left Behind Act adopted" in
2002, the reauthorization of the ESEA in 2015, and the "Every Student
Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015" build upon specific guidelines, conditions,
and financial policies, indicating progress towards equity in
education. According to a study conducted in the state of Alabama, the "addition
of [certain education] standards and a means of measuring whether a
district has met those educational standards have heightened the
awareness of a need for adequacy".
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
provided $122 billion in school funding for programs to assist with
reopening amidst COVID-19 pandemic safety protocols and to address both
academic and mental health needs of students. In July 2022, First LadyJill Biden, a former teacher, and Education SecretaryMiguel Cardona
embarked on a two-day assessment tour to observe summer learning
programs designed to help children catch up on reading, writing and
arithmetic skills prior to the 2022–2023 school year.
Non-profit tutoring programs
Non-governmental organizations have been described as the "missing
link between the government and the poor": NGOs bridge the gap that the
government leaves open for the less fortunate. While Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in education were also not
prevalent during the early 2000s, but with the declining standards of
education, NGOs, which included both non-profits and for-profits
emerged, which focused more on the "private engagement", the one-on-one
teaching mode. "Private engagement [by tutoring programs] is not only altering the
delivery of education but also participating in the reshaping of the
politics of education" since the usage of material and mode of
instruction does help mold the way a student views the world. Also, since the 1990s, and up until the early 21st century, there was a
more significant concern regarding "the need for better articulation
and specification of concepts," which were challenges that NGOs had to
address. Though the work of NGOs in any field is to an extent independent of
government intervention, however, there is some overlap and
collaboration between them. NGOs within the education and literacy sectors are seen as supplemental
to the already large governmental role in education. NGOs strengthen
the overall reach that society can have on a child's education.
Founded in 1999, Reading Partners in California operates in multiple
states and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving literacy
skills among elementary school students, particularly those in
low-income communities. The organization primarily works with Title I public elementary schools, focusing on students who face significant educational barriers due to poverty. Reading Partners implements a structured curriculum aligned with Common Core State Standards
to ensure consistency with national education benchmarks. The
curriculum includes pre- and post-reading questions to develop critical
thinking skills, mid-semester STAR assessments to reinforce vocabulary
and comprehension, and the use of visual aids such as large-print texts
and colorful illustrations to enhance engagement.
Research supports Reading Partners’ tutoring model, which
emphasizes individualized instruction in word recognition and reading
comprehension. Studies have shown that combining these two elements
leads to significant improvements in phonological decoding and overall
literacy skills. One study found that students participating in the
program for one year improved from the 15th percentile to the 21st
percentile in reading ability.
Adult literacy education
Literacy has particular importance in adulthood since the changing
dynamics of the American job market demand greater skills and knowledge
of entry-level workers. In the 2003 National Assessment of Adult
Literacy, young adults without a post-secondary education
experienced difficulty obtaining career positions. A multi-variable
analysis indicated that low and below-basic literacy rates were
characteristic of individuals without higher education, and improving and sustaining mass literacy at earlier stages of
education has become a focus of American leaders and policymakers.
Adult and adolescent literacy levels are under greater scrutiny
in the U.S., with a number of reports and studies published annually to
monitor the nation's status. Initiatives to improve literacy rates have
taken the form of government provisions and external funding, which have
been driving forces behind national education reform from primary
school to higher education.
At the college education level the reading and writing connection
is often overlooked. The two are addressed in separate curriculums. However they are intertwined with each other. The curriculum in K-12 education focuses on the connection between
reading and writing, but this focus shifts once students get to college.
In college, students take courses focused on writing and the focus on
reading is often overlooked. It is important to make sure both are still
being focused on because just like technology evolves so does literacy.
Students will become less equipped to be able to read closely and
deeply when needed.
Writing practices can help students improve reading skills and comprehension, while reading can also help with writing skills. For example, reading activities are helpful for students developing
comprehension skills. It encourages active participation and expands
their ability to write because they become more familiar with how texts
are written. Focusing on reading and writing skills simultaneously will help
students engage with sources to make thoughtful statements which will
enhance writing. Learning to read like a writer is key. When students learn to read like a writer, they focus on how the author
constructs sentences, develops arguments, and builds narrative flow.
Literacy standards and tests also apply to non-English speaking populations in schools. Implemented in 2010, Common Core
serves as the national education curriculum and standards by which most
public schools must abide. It serves as the latest vision of literacy
in America, including comprehension skills in writing and reading and
methods to achieve annual standards. Common Core's aim is to improve and
expand literacy for students by the end of their high school careers.
Within this system there are principals to address English language learners (ELL),
and their placement within classrooms of native English speakers. This
area of curriculum is designed to offer an extra layer of support for
ELL. The US Department of Education and National Center for Education
Statistics have found discrepancies within Common Core's curriculum that
do not fully address the needs of ELL populations. Educational gaps are
created by inequality within classrooms, in this case, a separation
between ELL and native English speakers are due in part by Common Core's
lack of support.
ELL have remained "stuck" at an intermediate level of proficiency
brought on by expectations and standardized testing that places them
behind and distances them from their English-speaking peers. These
expectations produce a cycle of needing to "catch up" or needing to be
at the same level as other students without the extra accommodations. A
study from 2011 concluded that 65% of Bay Area, eighth grade ELL
students scored "Below Basic" on standardized writing assessments, with
only 1% scoring at the "Proficient" level.
Public library outreach efforts
The public library has long been a force promoting literacy in many countries. In the US, the American Library Association
promotes literacy through the Office for Literacy and Outreach
Services. This committee is tasked with ensuring equitable access to
information and advocating for adult new and non-readers.
The release of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy report
in 2005 revealed that approximately 14% of US adults function at the
lowest level of literacy and 29% at the basic functional literacy level
and cannot help their children with homework beyond the first few
grades. A lack of reading skills hinders adults from reaching their full
potential—they might have difficulty getting and maintaining a job,
providing for their families, or even reading a story to their children.
For adults, the library might be the only source for a literacy
program.
Literacy is the ability to read and write, and illiteracy
is the inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the
study of literacy as a concept can be divided into two periods: the
period before 1950, when literacy was understood solely as alphabetical
literacy (understanding the meanings of words without necessarily being
able to use words);
and the period after 1950, when literacy slowly began to be considered
as a wider concept and process, including the social and cultural
aspects of reading, writing, and functional literacy.
Definition
World illiteracy halved between 1970 and 2015.Literate and illiterate world population over timeIlliteracy rate in France in the 18th and 19th centuries
The range of definitions of literacy used by NGOs, think tanks, and advocacy groups
since the 1990s suggests that this shift in understanding from
"discrete skill" to "social practice" is both ongoing and uneven. Some
definitions remain fairly closely aligned with the traditional "ability
to read and write" connotation, whereas others take a broader view:
The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (USA) included "quantitative literacy" (numeracy)
in its treatment of literacy. It defined literacy as "the ability to
use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve
one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential." It included three types of adult literacy: prose (e.g., a newspaper
article), documents (e.g., a bus schedule), and quantitative literacy
(e.g., the use of arithmetic operations in a product advertisement).
In 2015, the United Nations Statistics Division defined the youth
literacy rate as "the percentage of the population aged 15–24 years who
can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on
everyday life."
In 2016, the European Literacy Policy Network defined literacy as "the ability to read and write [...] in all media (print or electronic), including digital literacy."
In 2018, UNESCO
included "printed and written materials" and "varying contexts" in its
definition of literacy, i.e., "the ability to identify, understand,
interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written
materials associated with varying contexts."
In 2019, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in its Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies
(PIAAC) adult skills surveys, included "written texts" in its
definition of literacy, i.e., "the ability to understand, evaluate, use
and engage with written texts in order to participate in society,
achieve one's goals, and develop one's knowledge and potential. Also, it treats numeracy and problem solving using technology as separate considerations.
As of 2021, the International Literacy Association
uses "the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, compute,
and communicate using visual, audible, and digital materials across
disciplines and in any context."
The expression "reading literacy" is used by the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which has monitored international trends in reading achievement at the fourth grade level since 2001.
Other organizations might include numeracy skills and technology skills separately but alongside literacy skills; still others emphasize the increasing involvement of computers and
other digital technologies in communication that necessitates additional
skills (e.g., interfacing with web browsers and word processing programs, organizing and altering the configuration of files, etc.).
Some researchers define literacy as "particular ways of thinking
about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding
or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context
of use. In this view, humans in literate societies have sets of practices for producing and consuming writing, and they also have beliefs about these practices. Reading, in this view, is always reading something for some purpose;
writing is always writing something for someone for some purpose. Beliefs about reading and writing and their value for society and for
the individual always influence the ways literacy is taught, learned,
and practiced.
The concept of multiliteracies
has gained currency, particularly in English Language Arts curricula,
on the grounds that reading "is interactive and informative, and occurs
in ever-increasingly technological settings where information is part of
spatial, audio, and visual patterns (Rhodes & Robnolt, 2009)". Objections have been raised that this concept downplays the importance
of reading instruction that focuses on "alphabetic representations". However, these are not mutually exclusive, as children can become proficient in word-reading while engaging with multiliteracies.
Word reading is fundamental for multiple forms of communication. Beginning in the 1940s, the term literacy has often been used to mean having knowledge or skill in a particular field, such as:
Statistical literacy – Ability to understand and reason with statistics and data
Critical literacy – Ability to find embedded discrimination in media
Disaster literacy – Proposed model for the ability to understand and
use life-saving information, including the ability to respond and
recover from disasters effectively
Ecological literacy – Ability to understand natural systems and their interactions
Social literacy – Literacy gained through social interactions
Mathematical literacy, also called numeracy – Ability to apply numerical concepts
Visual literacy – Ability to interpret information in images, e.g., body language, pictures, maps, and video
Musical literacy – Refers to culturally determined systems of knowledge in music and to musical abilities.
Classicist Eric Havelock
developed a continuum for a culture's literacy, from pre-literate,
through craft-literate, recitation-literate and script-literate to
type-literate.
Inability to use reading, writing, and calculation skills for their own and their community's development.
Inability to read well enough to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level.
Inability to understand complex texts despite adequate schooling, language skills, elementary reading skills, age, and IQ.
Functional illiteracy is distinguished from primary illiteracy (i.e., the inability to read and write a short, simple statement concerning one's own everyday life) and learning difficulties (e.g., dyslexia). These categories have been contested—as has the concept of "illiteracy"
itself—for being predicated on narrow assumptions, primarily derived
from school-based contexts, about what counts as reading and writing
(e.g., comprehending and following instructions).
Bill of sale of a male slave and a building in Shuruppak, Sumerian tablet, c. 2600 BCE
Between 3500 BCE and 3000 BCE, in southern Mesopotamia, the ancient Sumerians invented writing. During this era, literacy was "a largely functional matter, propelled
by the need to manage the new quantities of information and the new type
of governance created by trade and large scale production". Early writing systems first emerged as a recording system in which
people used tokens with impressed markings to manage trade and
agricultural production. The token system served as a precursor to early cuneiform writing once people began recording information on clay tablets. Proto-Cuneiform texts exhibit not only numerical signs but also ideograms depicting objects being counted. Though the traditional view had been that cuneiform literacy was restricted to a class of scribes, assyriologists including Claus Wilcke and Dominique Charpin have argued that functional literacy was somewhat widespread by the Old Babylonian period. Nonetheless, professional scribes became central to law, finances,
accounting, government, administration, medicine, magic, divination,
literature, and prayers.
Egyptian hieroglyphs
emerged between 3300 BCE and 3100 BCE; the iconography emphasized power
among royals and other elites. The Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system
was the first notation system to have phonetic values; these symbols are called phonograms.
Writing in lowland Mesoamerica was first used by the Olmec and Zapotec civilizations in 900–400 BCE. These civilizations used glyphic writing and bar-and-dot numerical notation systems for purposes related to royal iconography and calendar systems.
The earliest written notations in China date back to the Shang dynasty
in 1200 BCE. These systematic notations, inscribed on bones, recorded
sacrifices made, tributes received, and animals hunted, which were
activities of the elite. These oracle-bone inscriptions were the early
ancestors of modern Chinese script and contained logosyllabic script and numerals. By the time of the consolidation of the Chinese Empire during the Qin and Han dynasties (c. 200 BCE),
written documents were central to the formation and policing of a
hierarchical bureaucratic governance structure reinforced through law.
Within this legal order, written records kept track of and controlled
citizen movements, created records of misdeeds, and documented the
actions and judgments of government officials.
Indus script
is largely pictorial and has not yet been deciphered; as such, it is
unknown whether it includes abstract signs. It is thought that they
wrote from right to left and that the script is logographic.
Because it has not been deciphered, linguists disagree on whether it is
a complete and independent writing system; however, it is generally
thought to be an independent writing system that emerged in the Harappa culture.
Existing evidence suggests that most early acts of literacy were,
in some areas (such as Egypt), closely tied to power and chiefly used
for management practices, and probably less than 1% of the population
was literate, as it was confined to a very small group. Scholarship by others, such as Dominique Charpin and a project from the European Union,
however, suggest that this was not the case in all ancient societies:
both Charpin and the EU's emerging scholarship suggest that writing and
literacy were far more widespread in Mesopotamia than scholars
previously thought.
Alphabetic writing
According to social anthropologist Jack Goody, there are two interpretations regarding the origin of the alphabet. Many classical scholars, such as historian Ignace Gelb, credit the Ancient Greeks for creating the first alphabetic system (c. 750 BCE) that used distinctive signs for consonants and vowels. Goody contests:
The importance of Greek culture of
the subsequent history of Western Europe has led to an over-emphasis, by
classicists and others, on the addition of specific vowel signs to the set of consonantal ones that had been developed earlier in Western Asia.
Many scholars argue that the ancient Semitic-speaking peoples of northern Canaan invented the consonantal alphabet as early as 1500 BCE. Much of this theory's development is credited to English archeologist Flinders Petrie, who, in 1905, came across a series of Canaanite inscriptions in the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadem. Ten years later, English Egyptologist Alan Gardiner reasoned that these letters contain an alphabet as well as references to the Canaanite goddess Asherah. In 1948, William F. Albright deciphered the text using new evidence, including a series of inscriptions from Ugarit. Discovered in 1929 by French archaeologist Claude F. A. Schaeffer, some of these inscriptions were mythological texts (written in an early Canaanite dialect) that consisted of a 30-letter cuneiform consonantal alphabet.
Another significant discovery was made in 1953 when three
arrowheads were uncovered, each containing identical Canaanite
inscriptions from 12th century BCE. According to Frank Moore Cross,
these inscriptions consisted of alphabetic signs that originated during
the transitional development from pictographic script to a linear
alphabet. Moreover, he asserts, "These inscriptions also provided clues
to extend the decipherment of earlier and later alphabetic texts".
The Canaanite script's consonantal system inspired alphabetical developments in later systems. During the Late Bronze Age, successor alphabets appeared throughout the Mediterranean region and were used in Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic.
According to Goody, these cuneiform scripts may have influenced
the development of the Greek alphabet several centuries later.
Historically, the Greeks contended that their writing system was modeled
after the Phoenicians. However, many Semitic scholars now believe that Ancient Greek is more consistent with an early form of Canaanite that was used c. 1100 BCE. While the earliest Greek inscriptions are dated circa 8th century BCE, epigraphical comparisons to Proto-Canaanite
suggest that the Greeks may have adopted the consonantal alphabet as
early as 1100 BCE and later "added in five characters to represent
vowels".
Phoenician, which is considered to contain the first linear
alphabet, rapidly spread to Mediterranean port cities in northern
Canaan. Some archeologists believe that Phoenician influenced the Hebrew and
Aramaic alphabets, as these languages evolved during the same time
period, share similar features, and are commonly categorized into the
same language group.
When the Israelites migrated to Canaan between 1200 and 1000 BCE, they adopted a variation of the Canaanite alphabet. Baruch ben Neriah, Jeremiah's scribe, used this alphabet to create the later scripts of the Old Testament. The early Hebrew alphabet was prominent in the Mediterranean region until Neo-Babylonian rulers exiled the Jews to Babylon in the 6th century BCE. It was then that the new script (Square Hebrew) emerged, and the older one rapidly died out.
The Aramaic alphabet
also emerged sometime between 1200 and 1000 BCE. Although early
examples are scarce, archeologists have uncovered a wide range of later
Aramaic texts, written as early as the seventh century BCE. In the Near East, it was common to record events on clay using the cuneiform script; however, writing Aramaic on leather parchments became common during the Neo-Assyrian empire. With the rise of the Persians in the 5th century BCE, Achaemenid rulers adopted Aramaic as the "diplomatic language".
Darius the Great standardized Aramaic, which became the Imperial Aramaic script. This Imperial Aramaic alphabet rapidly spread: west, to the Kingdom of Nabataea, then to the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas, eventually making its way to Africa; and east, where it later influenced the development of the Brahmi script in India. Over the next few centuries, Imperial Aramaic script in Persia evolved into Pahlavi, "as well as for a range of alphabets used by early Turkish and Mongol tribes in Siberia, Mongolia and Turkestan". During this period, literacy spread among the merchant classes, and 15-20% of the total population may have been literate.
The Aramaic language declined with the spread of Islam, which was accompanied by the spread of Arabic.
Antiquity
The idea that the majority of people were illiterate in the classical world has been challenged.
Anthony DiRenzo asserts that Roman society was "a civilization based on the book and the register" and that "no one, either free or slave, could afford to be illiterate". Similarly, Dupont points out, "The written word was all around them, in
both public and private life: laws, calendars, regulations at shrines,
and funeral epitaphs were engraved in stone or bronze. The Republic
amassed huge archives of reports on every aspect of public life." The imperial civilian administration produced masses of documentation
used in judicial, fiscal, and administrative matters, as did the
municipalities. The army kept extensive records relating to supply and
duty rosters and submitted reports. Merchants, shippers, and landowners
(and their personal staffs), especially of the larger enterprises, must
have been literate.
In the late fourth century, the Desert FatherPachomius would expect the literacy of a candidate for admission to his monasteries:
They shall give him twenty Psalms or two of the Apostles'
epistles or some other part of Scripture. And if he is illiterate he
shall go at the first, third and sixth hours to someone who can teach
and has been appointed for him. He shall stand before him and learn very
studiously and with all gratitude. The fundamentals of a syllable, the
verbs and nouns shall all be written for him and even if he does not
want to he shall be compelled to read.
During the 4th and 5th centuries, the Church made efforts to ensure a
better clergy, especially the bishops, who were expected to have a
classical education—the hallmark of a socially acceptable person in
higher society. Even after the remnants of the Western Roman Empire
fell in the 470s, literacy continued to be a distinguishing mark of the
elite, as communication skills were still important in political and
church life (bishops were largely drawn from the senatorial class) in a
new cultural synthesis that made "Christianity the Roman religion". However, these skills were less needed in the absence of a large
imperial administrative apparatus whose middle and top echelons were
dominated by the elite. Even so, in pre-modern times, it is unlikely that literacy was found in more than about 30–40% of the population. During the Dark Ages,
the highest percentage of literacy was found among the clergy and
monks, as they made up much of the staff needed to administer the states
of western Europe.
An abundance of graffiti written in the Nabataean script
dating back to the beginning of the first millennium CE has been taken
to imply a relatively high degree of literacy among the general
population in the ancient Arabic-speaking world.
Medieval and early modern eras
The rates and forms of literacy in the European Medieval period vary
and are controversial: historian Elaine Treharne writes of "a complex
era of strategic literacy, generic fluidity, and linguistic competencies
beyond our own experiences." Historian Malcolm Parkes contrasts the different expertise of the
professionally literate class, cultivated readers, and pragmatic
readers. Historian Mark Hailwood suggests another two type of near-literacy in
Early Modern England, of "abcederian literates" who could spell out
words to read, and of people who knew the letters though not words, were
particularly common in Southern English rural areas: 50% of husbandmen
could either sign their name or provide an initial.
Post-Antiquity illiteracy was made worse by the lack of a
suitable writing medium, as when the Western Roman Empire collapsed, the
import of papyrus to Europe ceased. Since papyrus perishes easily and does not last well in the wetter European climate, parchment was used, which was expensive and accessible only by the church and the wealthy. Paper
was introduced into Europe via Spain in the 11th century and spread
north slowly over the next four centuries. Literacy saw a resurgence as a
result, and by the 15th century, paper was widespread.
Estimates of literacy rates vary by time, class, location, sex
and reliability: "Unfortunately, there is no statistical information
that allows generalizations to be made in terms of numerical proportions
or percentages, either for rates of literacy among the medieval
population or for annual book production."
However, here are some indicative estimates. Rates are often
extrapolated from the number of people who can sign their name on
official documents. First, rough estimates by economic historian Robert
Allen, based on the urban/rural split of the population:
European adult literacy
Nation
1500 (%)
1800 (%)
England
6
53
Netherlands
10
68
Belgium
10
49
Germany
6
35
France
7
37
Austria/Hungary
6
21
Poland
6
21
Italy
9
22
Spain
9
20
However:
In the late 1200s, there were 1,500 notaries in Milan, over 1% of the population, for drawing up contracts.
"By 1300, 'everyone knew someone who could read', and there were books in every church and every village."
By 1500, in England, "probably more than half the population could read, though not necessarily also write." Thomas More
in 1533 claimed that up to 60% of the population could read English, a
figure supported by some studies of London but not by others. One study
estimates that in the city of York in 1500, about 25% of upper and
middle class people were literate. This contrasts with Stevens' estimates of male literacy of 10% by the
start of the century (with almost no female literacy)), 20% by the end,
and 45% by the end of the 1600s.
In Venice in 1587, 33% of men were estimated as literate.
Inspired by the Enlightenment, Sweden implemented programs in 1723 aimed at making the population fully literate. Other countries implemented similar measures at this time. These
included Denmark in 1739, Poland in 1783, and France in 1794/5.
Literacy was well established in early 18th century England, when
books geared towards children became far more common. Near the end of
the century, as many as 50 were printed every year in major cities
around England.
In Edo-period
Japan, literacy in the three major cities has been estimated at 70% for
men, 40% for females, but 10-20% lower in the countryside.
In the 19th century, reading would become even more common in the
United Kingdom. Public notes, broadsides, handbills, catchpennies and
printed songs would have been usual street literature before newspapers
became common. Other forms of popular reading material included
advertising for events, theaters, and goods for sale. In the late 19th century, gas and electric lighting were becoming more
common in private homes, replacing candlelight and oil lamps, enabling
reading after dark and increasing the appeal of literacy. G H Lewes noted, in reference to Dickens' novel Pickwick Papers that:
even the common people, both in
town and country, are equally intense in their admiration. Frequently,
have we seen the butcher-boy, with his tray on his shoulder, reading
with the greatest avidity the last "Pickwick"; the footman (whose
fopperies are so inimitably laid bare), the maidservant, the chimney
sweep, all classes, in fact, read "Boz".
From the mid-19th century onward, the Second Industrial Revolution
saw technological improvements in paper production. The new
distribution networks, enabled by improved roads and rail, resulted in
an increased capacity to supply printed material. Social and educational
changes increased the demand for reading matter, as rising literacy
rates, particularly among the middle and working classes, created a new
mass market for printed material. Wider schooling helped increase literacy rates, which in turn helped lower the cost of publication.
Unskilled labor forces were common in Western Europe, and, as
British industry improved, more engineers and skilled workers who could
handle technical instructions and complex situations were needed.
Literacy was essential to be hired. A senior government official told Parliament in 1870:
Upon the speedy provision of
elementary education depends our industrial prosperity. It is of no use
trying to give technical teaching to our citizens without elementary
education; uneducated labourers—and many of our labourers are utterly
uneducated—are, for the most part, unskilled labourers, and if we leave
our work–folk any longer unskilled, notwithstanding their strong sinews
and determined energy, they will become overmatched in the competition
of the world.
The skills of reading and writing are not the same. In Spain, the
total rate of literacy between 1841 and 1860 was constant at almost 25%:
in 1841 most of the literate could read but not write, but by 1860 most
could read and write.
Modern proliferation (1950 – present)
Adult literacy rates have increased at a constant pace since 1950.
Data published by UNESCO
shows that the worldwide literacy rate among adults has increased, on
average, by 5 percentage points every decade since 1950, from 55.7% in
1950 to 86.2% in 2015. Due to rapid population growth,
while the percentage of adults who were illiterate decreased, the
actual number of illiterate adults increased from 700 million in 1950 to
878 million in 1990, before starting to decrease and falling to 745
million by 2015. The number of illiterate adults remains higher than in
1950, "despite decades of universal education policies, literacy
interventions and the spread of print material and information and
communications technology (ICT)".
Regional disparities
Available global data indicates significant variations in literacy rates between world regions. North America, Europe, West Asia, and Central Asia have almost achieved full literacy for men and women aged 15 or older. Most countries in East Asia and the Pacific, as well as Latin America and the Caribbean, have adult literacy rates over 90%. In other regions, illiteracy persists at higher rates; as of 2013, the adult literacy rate in South Asia and North Africa was 67.55% and 59.76% in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Literacy has rapidly spread in several regions over the last twenty-five years.
In much of the world, high youth literacy rates suggest that
illiteracy will become less common as more educated younger generations
replace less educated older ones. However, in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where the vast majority
of the world's illiterate youth live, lower school enrollment implies
that illiteracy will persist to a greater degree. According to 2013 data, the youth literacy rate (ages 15 to 24) is 84%
in South Asia and North Africa and 70% in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, the distinction between literacy and illiteracy is not
clear-cut. Given that having a literate person in the household confers
many of the benefits of literacy, some recent literature in economics,
starting with the work of Kaushik Basu and James Foster, distinguishes
between a "proximate illiterate" and an "isolated illiterate". A
"proximate illiterate" lives in a household with literate members, while
an "isolated illiterate" lives in a household where everyone is
illiterate. Isolated illiteracy is more common among older populations
in wealthier nations, where people are less likely to live in
multigenerational households with potentially literate relatives. A
2018/2019 UNESCO
report noted that "conversely, in low and lower middle income
countries, isolated illiteracy is concentrated among younger people,"
along with increased rates among rural populations and women. This
evidence indicates that illiteracy is a complex phenomenon with multiple
factors impacting rates of illiteracy and the type of illiteracy one
may experience.
Literacy has rapidly spread in several regions in the last twenty-five years, and the United Nations's global initiative with Sustainable Development Goal 4 is also gaining momentum.
Social impact and demographics
The traditional concept of literacy widened as a consensus emerged among researchers in composition studies, education research, and anthropological linguistics that it makes little sense to speak of reading or writing outside of a specific context, with linguist James Paul Gee describing it as "simply incoherent." For example, even the extremely early stages of acquiring mastery over
symbol shapes take place in a particular social context (even if that
context is "school"), and, after print acquisition, every instance of
reading or writing will be for a specific purpose and occasion with
particular readers and writers in mind. Reading and writing, therefore,
are never separable from social and cultural elements. A corollary point made by David Barton and Rosalind Ivanić, among others, is that the cognitive and societal effects of acquiring literacy are not easily predictable, since, as Brian Street
has argued, "the ways in which people address reading and writing are
themselves rooted in conceptions of knowledge, identity, and being." Consequently, as Jack Goody
has documented, historically, literacy has included the transformation
of social systems that rely on literacy and the changing uses of
literacy within those evolving systems.
Gender
Adult literacy rate, male (%), 2015Adult literacy rate, female (%), 2015Gender
parity indices in youth literacy rates by region, 1990–2015. Progress
towards gender parity in literacy started after 1990.
According to 2015 data collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics,
about two-thirds (63%) of the world's illiterate adults are women. This
disparity was even starker in previous decades, and from 1970 to 2000,
the global gender gap in literacy decreased significantly. Around the year 2013, however, this progress stagnated, with the gender gap holding almost constant over the last two decades. In general, the gender gap in literacy was not as pronounced as the
regional gap; that is, differences between countries were often larger
than gender differences within countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa
has the lowest overall literacy rate and the widest gender gap: 52% of
adult women and 68% of adult men are literate. A similar gender
disparity exists in North Africa,
where 70% of adult women are literate versus 86% of adult men. In South
Asia, 58% of adult women and 77% of adult men are literate.
The 1990 World Conference on Education for All,
held in Jomtien, Thailand, brought attention to the literacy gender gap
and prompted many developing countries to prioritize women's literacy.
In many contexts, female illiteracy coexists with other aspects of gender inequality. Martha Nussbaum
says illiterate women are more vulnerable to becoming trapped in an
abusive marriage, given that illiteracy limits their employment
opportunities and worsens their position when negotiating within the household.
Moreover, Nussbaum links literacy to the ability for women to
effectively communicate and collaborate with one another "to participate
in a larger movement for political change."
Challenges of increasing female literacy
Social barriers can limit opportunities to increase literacy skills
among women and girls; making literacy classes available can be
ineffective when it conflicts with the use of the valuable limited time
of women and girls. School-age girls may face more expectations than their male
counterparts to perform household work and care for younger siblings. Generational dynamics can also perpetuate these disparities; illiterate
parents may not readily appreciate the value of literacy for their
daughters, particularly in traditional, rural societies with
expectations that girls will remain at home.
A World Bank and International Center for Research on Women review of academic literature concluded that child marriage, which predominantly impacts girls, tends to reduce literacy levels. A 2008 analysis of the issue in Bangladesh found that for every
additional year a girl's marriage is delayed, her likelihood of literacy
increases by 5.6%. Similarly, a 2014 study found a correlation that in sub-Saharan Africa,
marrying early significantly decreases a girl's probability of
literacy, even after accounting for other variables.
Gender gap for boys in developed countries
While women and girls comprise the majority of the global illiterate population, in many developed countries, a literacy-gender gap exists in the opposite direction. Data from the Programme for International Student Assessment has consistently shown the literacy underachievement of boys within member countries of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).[124]
In view of such findings, many education specialists have recommended
changing classroom practices to better accommodate boys' learning styles
and removing any gender stereotypes that may create the perception that
reading and writing are feminine activities.
Socioeconomic impact
Many policy analysts consider literacy rates to be a crucial measure of the value of a region's human capital.
For example, literate people can be more easily trained than illiterate
people and generally have a higher socioeconomic status; thus, they enjoy better health and employment prospects. The
international community has come to consider literacy as a key
facilitator and goal of development. In regard to the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN in 2015, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning
has declared the "central role of literacy in responding to sustainable
development challenges such as health, social equality, economic
empowerment and environmental sustainability."
A majority of prisoners have been found to be illiterate, and in
Edinburgh prison, winner of the 2010 Libraries Change Lives Award, "the
library has become the cornerstone of the prison's literacy strategy",
reducing recidivism and reoffending and allowing incarcerated people to
work toward attaining higher socioeconomic status once released.
Effects on literacy learning
As socioeconomics affects brain development and brain functions are
heavily involved in processing both input and output, a learner's
environment can affect the cognitive process of learning how to read and write. Before a child enters a school setting, their executive function is influenced by their home environment. Research demonstrates that for children who grow up in poverty, their
socioeconomic circumstances severely strain their "neuro-endocrine and
brain function". This affects a child's ability to regulate environmental stimuli,
process and structure information, and plan and effectively execute
tasks that involve their working memory—all
of these are necessary cognitive facilities to successfully learn how
to read and write. Living in poverty is stressful for all involved but
is cognitively damaging for young children.
A study done by NICHD
indicates that socioeconomics plays a role for children who are young
when the family experiences poverty, but shows no indication of adverse
effects on reading achievement or behavior for adolescents entering
poverty. The data extensively shows that children from low socioeconomic
backgrounds had poorer literacy performance, especially in reading. A
study done by the OECD, which included over 25 countries in Europe,
found that in all studied countries, students who lived in low-income
households scored lower in reading than students who lived in
high-income households.
Parenting also affects a child's literacy. Field research was
done by collecting data from families that were upper, middle, or lower
class, or on welfare. The results found that, in a 100-hour week,
children in upper-class households experienced an average of over
200,000 words, those in middle- and lower-class households heard about
125,000 words, and children from households on welfare were exposed to
the fewest words—62,000 words. This indicates that a child from an
upper-class family would be exposed to 8 million more words than a child
from a family on welfare. Outside of word exposure, which is essential for word acquisition, the
National Center for Educational Statistics found that 41.9% of children
from low-income families scored substantially lower on most reading
achievements for grades 4, 8, and 12 in 2013.
According to a study performed by ANOVA,
multiple socioeconomic variables influence children, such as parental
education level, parental occupation, health history, and even usage of
technology within the home. With these factors in mind, their study
showed that young children are especially susceptible to environmental
factors, meaning socioeconomics affects them cognitively and can have
adverse effects as their brains continue to develop. However, another study done by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) around 2012 suggested a slightly different conclusion. While the study agrees that poverty negatively affects childhood
literacy, some nuances are added. In both studies, children who
experienced poverty scored lower in reading assessments, but the NLSY's
study noted that the duration of poverty altered the literacy outcome. It found that children ages 5–11 who experienced "persistent poverty" were more adversely affected than their peers
who never experienced poverty. The study acknowledged that other
factors affected these children's reading scores, particularly maternal
influence. The mothers of these households were scaled based on a "home
environment" score, which measured their emotional and verbal
responsiveness, acceptance, and involvement with the child and
organization. Households experiencing poverty tended to have lower
scores, and lower scores correlated
with lower reading levels. The study also showed that the effects of
poverty on child literacy differed by ethnicity, culture, and gender.
Health impacts
Print illiteracy generally corresponds with less knowledge about
modern health, hygiene, and nutritional practices, and a lack of
knowledge can exacerbate a range of health issues. Within developing countries in particular, literacy rates also have implications for child mortality; in these contexts, children of literate mothers are 50% more likely to live past age 5 than children of illiterate mothers. Therefore, public health research has increasingly focused on the
potential for literacy skills to allow women to more successfully access
healthcare and thereby facilitate gains in child health. Literacy significantly influences healthcare utilization and is a
primary predictor for subnational health insurance enrollment
disparities.
A 2014 descriptive research survey project correlates literacy levels with the socioeconomic status of women in Oyo State,
Nigeria. The study shows that developing literacy in the region will
bring "economic empowerment and will encourage rural women to practice
hygiene, which will in turn lead to the reduction of birth and death
rates."
Economic impacts
Literacy can increase job opportunities and access to higher education. In 2009, the National Adult Literacy Agency in Ireland commissioned a cost–benefit analysis
of adult literacy training, which concluded that there were economic
gains for the individuals, the companies they worked for, and the Exchequer, as well as the economy and the country as a whole (e.g., increased GDP).
Korotayev
and coauthors found a rather significant correlation between the level
of literacy in the early 19th century and successful modernization and
economic breakthroughs in the late 20th century, as "literate people
could be characterized by a greater innovative-activity level, which
provides opportunities for modernization, development, and economic
growth."
Lifespan development and promotion efforts
While informal learning within the home can play an important role in
literacy development, gains in childhood literacy often occur in
primary school settings. Continuing the global expansion of public
education is thus a frequent focus of literacy advocates. These kinds of broad improvements in education often require
centralized efforts by national governments; however, local literacy
projects implemented by NGOs can play an important role, particularly in
rural contexts.
Funding for both youth and adult literacy programs often comes from large international development organizations. USAID, for example, steered donors like the Gates Foundation and the Global Partnership for Education toward the issue of childhood literacy by developing the Early Grade Reading Assessment. Advocacy groups like the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education have frequently called upon international organizations such as UNESCO, the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank to prioritize support for adult women's literacy. Efforts to increase adult literacy often encompass other development
priorities as well; for example, initiatives in Ethiopia, Morocco, and
India have combined adult literacy programs with vocational skills
trainings in order to encourage program enrollment and address the
complex needs of women (and other marginalized groups) who lack economic
opportunities.
In 2013, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning published a set of case studies on programs that successfully improved female literacy rates. The
report features countries from a variety of regions and differing income
levels, reflecting the general global consensus on "the need to empower
women through the acquisition of literacy skills."
Part of the impetus for UNESCO's focus on literacy is a broader effort
to respond to globalization and "the shift towards knowledge-based
societies" that it has produced. While globalization presents emerging challenges, it also provides new
opportunities. Many education and development specialists are hopeful
that new ICTs
will expand literacy learning opportunities for children and adults,
even in countries that have historically struggled to improve literacy
rates through more conventional means.
Although most people acquire literacy during childhood, it continues to develop throughout life; literacy is not a skill that is fixed once a person leaves school but
remains malleable across the entire lifespan. Among adults, both gains
and losses in literacy occur in roughly equal measure, sometimes over
relatively short periods of a few years. Even adults with very low literacy levels can acquire literacy over time. Whether a person experiences gains or losses depends on a range of
factors, and one of the key factors are the demands and opportunities to
engage in literary practices in the workplace, home, or other contexts.
Literacy as a development indicator
Youth and adult literacy rate, 2000–2016 and projections to 2030
The Human Development Index, produced by the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), uses education as one of its three indicators. Originally,
adult literacy represented two-thirds of this education index weight. In
2010, however, the UNDP replaced the adult literacy measure with mean
years of schooling. A 2011 UNDP research paper frames this change as a
way to "ensure current relevance", arguing that gains in global literacy
already achieved between 1970 and 2010 mean that literacy will be
"unlikely to be as informative of the future." Other scholars, however, have since warned against overlooking the
importance of literacy as an indicator and goal for development,
particularly for marginalized groups such as women and rural
populations.
The World Bank, along with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics,
has developed the Learning Poverty concept and an associated measure
that measures the proportion of students who are unable to read and
understand a simple story by age 10. In low- and middle-income
countries, 53% of children are "learning-poor", as are up to 80% of
children in poor countries. In fact, these new measures indicate that these high rates of illiteracy are an "early warning sign that SDG 4 for education and all related global goals are in jeopardy." Current progress in improving literacy rates is seen as much too slow
to meet the SDG goals, as at the current rate, approximately 43% of
children will still be learning poorly by 2030.
The Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA) assesses children on reading and math skills at age 15. PISA-D
encourages and facilitates PISA testing in low- and middle-income
countries. In 2019, "PISA-D results reveal exceptionally low scores for
participating countries. Only 23 percent of students tested achieved the
minimum level of proficiency in reading, compared with 80 percent of
OECD." Minimum proficiency requires students to "read 'simple and familiar
texts and understand them literally', as well as demonstrating some
ability to connect pieces of information and draw inferences."
In 2020, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimated the global literacy rate at 86.68%. It is important to understand how literacy rates have been measured in
the past as well as how they are currently being measured. Starting in
1975, the head of a household answered a simple yes-or-no question
asking whether household members could read and write; in 1988, some
countries started using self-reporting as well.
Self-reported data is subjective and has several limitations.
First, a simple yes-or-no question does not capture the continuum of
literacy. Second, self-reports are dependent on what each individual
interprets "reading" and "writing" to mean. In some cultures, drawing a
picture may be understood as writing one's name. Lastly, many of the
surveys asked one individual to report literacy on behalf of others,
which "introduces further noise, in particular when it comes to
estimating literacy among women and children, since these groups are
less often considered 'head of household'".
In 2007, several countries began introducing literacy tests as a more
accurate measurement of literacy rates, including Liberia, South Korea,
Guyana, Kenya, and Bangladesh. However, in 2016, the majority of counties still reported literacy
through either self-reported measures or other indirect estimates.
Students in grade 2 who can't read a single word
These indirect measurements are potentially problematic, as many
countries measure literacy based on years of schooling. In Greece, an
individual is considered literate if they have finished six years of
primary education, while in Paraguay, individuals are considered
literate if they have completed just two years of primary school.
However, emerging research reveals that educational attainment
(e.g., years of schooling) does not perfectly correlate with literacy.
Literacy tests show that in many low-income countries, a large
proportion of students who have attended two years of primary school
cannot read a single word. These rates are as high as 90% of
second-grade students in Malawi, 85.4% in rural India, 83% in Ghana, and
64% in Uganda. In India, over 50% of Grade 5 students have not mastered Grade 2
literacy. In Nigeria, only about 1 in 10 women who completed Grade 6 can
read a single sentence in their native language. This data reveals that literacy rates measured by using years of
schooling as a proxy are potentially unreliable and do not reflect the
true literacy rates of populations.
Literacy as a human right
Unlike medieval times, when reading and writing skills were
restricted to a few elites and the clergy, literacy skills are now
expected from every member of society. Literacy is therefore considered a human right, essential for lifelong learning
and social change, as supported by the 1996 Report of the International
Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century and the 1997
Hamburg Declaration:
Literacy, broadly conceived as the
basic knowledge and skills needed by all in a rapidly changing world, is
a fundamental human right. (...) There are millions, the majority of
whom are women, who lack opportunities to learn or who have insufficient
skills to be able to assert this right. The challenge is to enable them
to do so. This will often imply the creation of preconditions for
learning through awareness raising and empowerment. Literacy is also a
catalyst for participation in social, cultural, political and economic
activities, and for learning throughout life.
In 2016, the European Literacy Policy Network (an association of
European literacy professionals) published a document entitled the European Declaration of the Right to Literacy. It states that:
Everyone in Europe has the right to
acquire literacy. EU Member States should ensure that people of all
ages, regardless of social class, religion, ethnicity, origin and
gender, are provided with the necessary resources and opportunities to
develop sufficient and sustainable literacy skills in order to
effectively understand and use written communication be in handwritten,
in print or digital form.
In school, reading and writing are often taught as separate skills.
However, children show curiosity about the written word and begin to
experiment with both in a process of emergent literacy and making sense of (and using) the writing system they see used around them. Every new piece of writing draws on previous reading through a process of intertextuality, sometimes explicitly through citation, as in academic writing, and writing about reading is one of the major approaches for teaching writing in higher education Intertextuality, however, can also be implicit through well-known, recognizable phrases from specific works or genres or through the development of a distinct writing style.
Evidence has supported the integration of reading and writing at all
levels of schooling, as improvement in one area supports the other. A series of metastudies have examined the effectiveness of various
methods of teaching writing, revealing that attention to context,
cognitive/motivational factors, and the instruction strategy, among
other things, are important.
Critiques of autonomous models of literacy notwithstanding, the belief that reading
development is key to literacy remains dominant, at least in the United
States, where it is understood as the progression of skills that begins
with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words
and culminates in the deep understanding of the text. Reading
development involves a range of complex language underpinnings,
including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), syntax, and patterns of word formation (morphology),
all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and
comprehension. Once these skills are acquired, it is believed a reader
can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to apply
to printed material critical analysis,
inference, and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to
use information and insights from text as the basis for informed
decisions and creative thought.
For this reason, teaching English reading literacy in the United
States is dominated by a focus on a set of discrete decoding skills.
From this perspective, literacy—or rather, reading—comprises a number of
sub-skills that can be taught to students. These sub-skills include phonological awareness, phonics decoding, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. Mastering each of these sub-skills is necessary for students to become proficient readers.
From this same perspective, readers of alphabetic languages must understand the alphabetic principle to master basic reading skills. For this purpose, a writing system is "alphabetic" if it uses symbols to represent phonemes (individual language sounds), though the degree of correspondence between letters and sounds varies between alphabetic languages. Syllabic writing systems (such as Japanesekana) use a symbol to represent a single syllable, and logographic writing systems (such as Chinese) use a symbol to represent a morpheme.
There are a number of approaches to teaching reading. Each is shaped by its assumptions about what literacy is and how it is best learned by students. Phonics instruction, for example, focuses on reading at the level of letters or symbols and their sounds (i.e., sublexical). It teaches readers to decode the letters, or groups of letters, that make up a word. A common method of teaching phonics is synthetic phonics,
in which a novice reader pronounces each individual sound and blends
them to pronounce the whole word. Another approach is embedded phonics
instruction, used more often in whole language
reading instruction, in which novice readers learn about the individual
letters in words on a just-in-time, just-in-place basis that is
tailored to meet each student's reading and writing learning needs. That is, teachers provide phonics instruction opportunistically, within
the context of stories or student writing that feature repeat instances
of a particular letter or group of letters. Embedded instruction
combines letter-sound knowledge with the use of meaningful context to
read new and difficult words. Techniques such as directed listening and thinking activities can be used to aid children in learning how to read and in reading comprehension.
For students at both primary and secondary levels, writing about what
they read as they are learning to write has been found to also be
effective in improving their reading skills.
The two most commonly used approaches to reading instruction are structured literacy instruction and balanced literacy
instruction. The structured literacy approach explicitly and
systematically focuses on phonological awareness, word recognition,
phonics, decoding, spelling, and syntax at both the sentence and
paragraph levels. The balanced literacy approach, as the name suggests, balances emphasis
on phonics and decoding; shared, guided, and independent reading; and grapheme representations with context and imagery. Both approaches have their critics—those who oppose structured literacy
claim that by restricting students to phonemes, their fluency
development is limited; critics of balanced literacy claim that if
phonics and decoding instruction are neglected, students will have to
rely on compensatory strategies when confronted with unfamiliar text.
These strategies are taught to students as part of the balanced
literacy approach based on a theory about reading development called the
three-cueing system.
As the name suggests, the three-cueing system uses three cues to
determine the meaning of words: grapho-phonetic cues (letter-sound
relationships); syntactic cues (grammatical structure); and semantic
cues (a word making sense in context).[citation needed]
However, cognitive neuroscientist Mark Seidenberg and professor Timothy
Shanahan do not support the theory. They say the three-cueing system's
value in reading instruction "is a magnificent work of the imagination",
and it developed not because teachers lack integrity, commitment,
motivation, sincerity, or intelligence, but because they "were poorly
trained and advised" about the science of reading. In England, the simple view of reading and synthetic phonics are intended to replace "the searchlights multi-cueing model".
In his 2009 book Reading in the Brain, cognitive neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene
said "cognitive psychology directly refutes any notion of teaching via a
'global' or 'whole language' method." He goes on to talk about "the
myth of whole-word reading", saying it has been refuted by experiment.
"We do not recognize a printed word through a holistic grasping of its
contours, because our brain breaks it down into letters and graphemes." However, a 2012 hypothesis proposed that reading might be
acquired naturally, in the same manner as spoken language, if print is
constantly available at an early age. According to this theory, if an appropriate form of written text is
made available before formal schooling begins, reading should be learned
inductively, emerge naturally, and have no significant negative
consequences. This proposal challenges the commonly held belief that
written language requires formal instruction and schooling; thus, its
success would change current views of literacy and schooling. Using
developments in behavioral science and technology, Technology-Assisted
Reading Acquisition (TARA), an interactive system, would enable young
pre-literate children to accurately perceive and learn the properties of
written language through simple exposure to the written form.
In Australia, a number of state governments have introduced
Reading Challenges to improve literacy. The Premier's Reading Challenge
in South Australia, launched by Premier Mike Rann,
has one of the highest participation rates in the world for reading
challenges. It has been embraced by more than 95% of public, private,
and religious schools.
Post-conflict settings
Programs have been implemented in regions that have an ongoing
conflict or are in a post-conflict stage. The Norwegian Refugee Council
Pack program has been used in 13 post-conflict countries since 2003. The
program organizers believe that daily routines and otherwise
predictable activities help ease the transition from war to peace.
Learners can select one area of vocational training for a year-long
period; they also complete required courses in agriculture, life skills,
literacy, and numeracy. Results have shown that active participation
and management of the members of the program are important to the
success of the program. These programs share the use of integrated basic
education, e.g., literacy, numeracy, scientific knowledge, local
history and culture, native and mainstream language skills, and
apprenticeships.
Teaching migrant, immigrant, and non-native users
Although there is considerable awareness that language deficiencies,
including a lack of proficiency, are disadvantageous to immigrants
settling into a new country, there is a lack of pedagogical
approaches to teaching literacy to migrant English-language learners
(ELLs). Harvard scholar Catherine Snow called for the gap to be
addressed: "The TESOL field needs a concerted research effort to inform
literacy instruction for such children—to determine when to start
literacy instruction and how to adapt it to the LS reader's needs." Recent developments to address the gap in teaching literacy to foreign language learners have been ongoing, with promising results seen with a curricular
framework from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, which
integrates Teaching for Understanding.
A series of pilot projects have been carried out in the Middle East and Africa, and significant interest from the learners has been seen in the use of
visual arts as springboards for literacy-oriented instruction. In one
project, migrant women were provided with cameras and took the
instructor on a walking tour of their village. There, they photographed
places and activities that would later be used for writings about their
daily lives—in essence, a narrative of life. Other primers for writing
activities include painting, sketching, and other craft projects.
Sample milestone sketch
In another series of pilot studies, alternatives to instructing literacy to migrant English-language learners were investigated, starting with simple trials aiming to test the effects of teaching
photography to participants with no prior photography background and
then painting and sketching activities that could later be integrated
into a larger pedagogical initiative. In efforts to develop alternative
approaches for literacy instruction utilizing visual arts, work was
carried out with Afghan laborers, Bangladeshi tailors, Emirati media
students, internal Ethiopian migrants (both laborers and university
students), and a street child.
Reviewing photos after a photowalk
It should be pointed out that in these challenging contexts,
sometimes the teaching of literacy may have unforeseen barriers. The EL Gazette
reported that in the trials carried out in Ethiopia, for example, it
was found that all ten of the participants had problems with vision. In order to overcome this or avoid such challenges, preliminary health
checks can help inform pre-teaching in order to better assist in the
teaching and learning of literacy.
Using a visual arts approach to literacy instruction can provide
benefits by incorporating a traditional literacy approach (reading and
writing) while also addressing 21st-century digital literacy through the
use of digital cameras and posting images onto the web. Many scholars,
such as Hutchison and Woodward, feel that it is necessary to include
digital literacy under the traditional umbrella of literacy instruction,
specifically when engaging second language learners.
A visual arts approach to literary instruction for migrant populations can also be blended with core curricular goals.
Integrating Common Core content into language training with MELL
A pressing challenge in education is the instruction of literacy to
migrant English-language learners (MELLs), a term coined by Pellerine
and not limited to English. "Due to the growing share of immigrants in
many Western societies, there has been increasing concern for the degree
to which immigrants acquire language that is spoken in the destination
country".
While learning literacy in one's first language can be
challenging, the challenge becomes even more cognitively demanding when
learning a second language. The task can become considerably more
difficult when confronted by a migrant who has made a sudden change by
immigrating and requires the second language immediately upon arrival.
In most instances, a migrant will not have the opportunity to start
school again in grade one and acquire the language naturally; instead,
alternative interventions need to take place. In these cases, a visual
arts approach can be helpful—taking a photo, sketching an event, or
painting an image have been seen as effective ways to understand the
intention of the learner as they can incorporate orality.
Including orality
In the above image, from left to right:
An image taken during a phototour of the participant's village.
This image is of the individual at her shop with one of the products she
sells: dung for cooking fuel. The image helps the instructor understand
the realities of the participant's daily life, and most importantly, it
gives the participant the opportunity to determine what is important to
them.
An image of a student explaining to a group and elaborating on a
drawn series of milestones in her life. This student had a very basic
ability and, with some help, was able to write brief captions under the
images. While she speaks, her story is recorded to help her understand
and develop it in the new language.
A painting created by composite in a graphics editing program. With
further training, participants can learn how to blend images, thereby
introducing elements of digital literacy that are beneficial in many
spheres of life in the 21st century.
In a study based in Ethiopia, participants were asked to rate their
preference for activity on a scale of 1–10. The survey prompt was: "On a
scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate photography as an activity that
helped you get inspiration for your writing activities (think of
enjoyment and usefulness)?" The activities used as primers for writing
were rated, in order of preference:
Photography: 97%
Oral presentations/sharing your art: 92%
Process painting: 84%
Painting: 82%
Sketching: 78%
Gluing activities: 72%
Stencil/tracing activities: 60%
More research would need to be conducted to confirm such trends.
Authorship programs have been successful in bringing student work
together in book format as part of the program's culmination. These
books can be used to document learning, and more importantly, to
reinforce language and content goals.
Sample covers of completed authorship-created books
The collection of such writings into books can trigger both intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation. Feedback by students involved in such
initiatives indicates that the healthy pressures of collective and
collaborative work were beneficial.
Most illiterate people now live in southern Asia or sub-Saharan Africa.
Europe
United Kingdom
On average, girls do better than boys at English, yet nearly one in
ten young adult women have poor reading and writing skills in the UK in
the 21st century, which seriously damages their employment prospects.
Many are trapped in poverty but hide their lack of reading skills due to
social stigma.
England
Literacy is first documented to have occurred in the area of modern England on 24 September 54 BCE, when Julius Caesar and Quintus Cicero wrote to Marcus Cicero "from the nearest shores of Britain". Literacy was widespread under Roman rule but became very rare, limited almost entirely to churchmen, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In 12th and 13th century England, the ability to recite a particular passage from the Bible (Psalm 51) in Latin entitled a common law defendant to the benefit of clergy and trial before an ecclesiastical court,
where sentences were more lenient, instead of a secular one, where
hanging was a likely sentence. Thus, literate defendants often claimed
the benefit of clergy, while an illiterate person who had memorized the
psalm used in the literacy test could also claim the benefit of clergy.
Despite lacking a system of free and compulsory primary
schooling, England reached near universal literacy in the 19th century
as a result of shared, informal learning provided by family members,
fellow workers, or benevolent employers. Even with near-universal
literacy, the gap between male and female rates persisted until the
early 20th century. Many women in the West during the 19th century were
able to read but unable to write.
Wales
Formal higher education in the arts and sciences in Wales,
from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, was limited to the wealthy
and the clergy. Following the Roman occupation and the conquest by the
English, education in Wales was at a low point during the early modern period; in particular, formal education was only available in English while the majority of the population spoke only Welsh. The first modern grammar schools were established in Welsh towns such as Ruthin, Brecon, and Cowbridge. One of the first modern national education methods to use the native Welsh language was started by Griffith Jones in 1731. Jones became rector of Llanddowror
in 1716 and remained there for the rest of his life. He organized and
introduced a Welsh language-circulating school system, which was
attractive and effective for Welsh speakers, while also teaching them
English, which gave them access to broader educational sources. The
circulating schools may have taught half the country's population to
read. Literacy rates in Wales by the mid-18th century were one of the
highest.
Continental Europe
Dutch schoolmaster and children, 1662Until the beginning of 20th century, most of the population in the Russian Empire was illiterate (map of 1897 census literacy data).
The ability to read did not necessarily mean the ability to write. The 1686 church law (kyrkolagen) of the Kingdom of Sweden (modern Sweden, Finland, Latvia, and Estonia) made literacy compulsory, and by 1800, the percent of people able to read was close to 100%. This was directly dependent on the need to read religious texts in the Lutheran faith in Sweden and Finland; as a result, literacy in these countries was specifically focused on reading. However, as late as the 19th century, many Swedes, especially women, could not write. Iceland
was an exception, as it achieved widespread literacy without formal
schooling, libraries, or printed books via informal tuition by religious
leaders and peasant teachers.
Historian Ernest Gellner argues that Continental European
countries were far more successful in implementing educational reform
because their governments were more willing to invest in the population
as a whole. Government oversight allowed countries to standardize curriculum and
secure funding through legislation, thus enabling educational programs
to have a broader reach.
Although present-day concepts of literacy have much to do with the 15th-century invention of the movable typeprinting press, it was not until the Industrial Revolution
of the mid-19th century that paper and books became affordable to all
classes of industrialized society. Until then, only a small percent of
the population was literate, as only wealthy individuals and
institutions could afford the materials. Even today, the cost of paper and books is a barrier to universal literacy in some developing nations.
On the other hand, historian Harvey Graff argues that the introduction of compulsory education was, in part, an effort to control the type of literacy the working class
had access to. According to Graff, learning was increasing outside of
formal settings (e.g., schools), and this uncontrolled reading could
lead to increased radicalization of the populace. In his view, mass
schooling was meant to temper and control literacy, not spread it. Graff also says, using the example of Sweden, that mass literacy can be
achieved without formal schooling or instruction in writing.
In the last 40 years, the rate of illiteracy in Mexico
has been steadily decreasing. In the 1960s, because the majority of the
residents of the federal capital were illiterate, the planners of the Mexico City Metro designed a series of unique icons to identify each station in the system in addition to its formal name. The INEGI's
census data in 1970 showed a national average illiteracy rate of 25.8%,
which had decreased to under 7% by the 2010 census. Mexico still has a
gender educational bias—the illiteracy rate for women was 8.1% compared
with 5.6% for men.
Rates differ across regions and states. The states with the
highest poverty rate had greater than 15% illiteracy in 2010: 17.8% in Chiapas, 16.7% in Guerrero, and 16.3% in Oaxaca. In contrast, the illiteracy rates in the Federal District (now part of Mexico City) and in some northern states like Nuevo León, Baja California, and Coahuila were below 3% in the 2010 census (2.1%, 2.2%, 2.6%, and 2.6%, respectively).
In 1964, Paulo Freire was arrested and exiled for teaching peasants to read. However, since democracy returned to Brazil, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of literate people. Educators with the Axé project in the city of Salvador, Bahía, attempt to improve literacy rates among urban youth,
especially youth living on the streets, through the use of cultural
music and dances. Then, "they are encouraged to go on learning and
become professional artists."
Africa
The literacy rates in Africa vary significantly between countries. The registered literacy rate in Libya was 86.1% in 2004, and UNESCO says that the literacy rate in the region of Equatorial Guinea is approximately 95%, while the literacy rate in South Sudan is approximately 27%.
In sub-Saharan Africa, youth from wealthier families often have
more educational opportunities to become literate than poorer youth, who
may need to leave school because they are needed at home to farm or
care for siblings. Additionally, the rate of literacy has not improved enough to
compensate for the effects of demographic growth. As a result, the
number of illiterate adults has risen by 27% over the last 20 years,
reaching 169 million in 2010. Thus, out of the 775 million illiterate adults in the world in 2010,
more than one fifth (20%) were in sub-Saharan Africa. The countries with
the lowest levels of literacy in the world are also concentrated in
this region, where adult literacy rates can be well below 50%.
The literacy rate in Algeria is 81.4%, attributable to the fact that education is compulsory and free up to age 17.
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso has a very low literacy rate of 28.7%, defined as anyone at least 15 years of age who can read and write. To improve the literacy rate, the government has received at least 80
volunteer teachers. A severe lack of primary school teachers causes
problems for any attempt to improve the literacy rate and school
enrollment.
Egypt
Egypt has a relatively high literacy rate. The adult literacy rate in 2010 was estimated at 72%.
Ethiopia
The Ethiopians are among the first literate people in sub-saharan
Africa, having written, read, and created manuscripts in the ancient Ge'ez language (an Amharic language) since the 2nd century CE. All boys learned to read the Psalms
around the age of 7. The national literacy campaign introduced in 1978
increased literacy rates to between 37% (unofficial) and 63% (official)
by 1984.
Guinea
Guinea has a literacy rate of 41%, defined as anyone at least 15 years old who can read or write. Guinea was the first to use the Literacy, Conflict Resolution, and
Peacebuilding (LCRP) project. This project was developed to increase
agriculture production, develop key skills, resolve conflict, and
improve literacy and numeracy skills. The LCRP worked within refugee
camps near the border of Sierra Leone; however, this project only lasted
from 1999 to 2001. There are several other international projects
working within the country that have similar goals.
Kenya
The literacy rate in Kenya
among people below 20 years of age is over 70%, as the first 8 years of
primary school are provided tuition-free by the government. In January
2008, the government began offering a limited program of free secondary
education. Literacy is much higher among the young than among the older
population, with the total being about 81.54% for the country. Most of
this literacy, however, is at an elementary level—not secondary or
advanced.
In Mali
in 2015, the adult literacy rate was 33%, one of the lowest in the
world, with males having a 43.1% literacy rate and females having a
24.6% rate. The government defines literacy as anyone at least 15 who can read or write. In recent years, the government of Mali and international organizations
have taken steps to improve the literacy rate. The government
recognized the slow progress and began creating ministries for basic
education and literacy in their national languages in 2007; they also
increased the education budget by 3%, when it was at 35% in 2007. The
lack of literate adults causes the programs to be slowed—they need
qualified female instructors, which is problematic as many men refuse to
send female family members to be trained by male teachers.
Mauritius
The adult literacy rate in Mauritius was estimated at 89.8% in 2011. Male literacy was 92.3%, and female literacy was 87.3%.
Niger
Niger
has an extremely low literacy rate of 28.7%, in part due to the gender
gap—men have a literacy rate of 42.9%, while for women it is only 15.1%.
The Nigerien government defines literacy as anyone who can read or write over the age of 15. The Niass Tijāniyyah, a Sufi order, has started anti-poverty, empowerment, and literacy campaigns. The women in Kiota
had not attempted to improve their education or economic standing until
Saida Oumul Khadiri Niass, known as Maman and married to a leader of
the Niass Tijaniyya, talked to men and women throughout the community,
changing the community's beliefs on appropriate behavior for women.
Maman's efforts have allowed women in Kiota to own small businesses,
sell in the market, attend literacy classes, and organize small
associations that can give microloans. Maman personally teaches children
in and around Kiota, with special attention to girls. Maman has her
students require instructor permission to allow the girls' parents to
marry their daughters early, increasing the amount of education these
girls receive as well as delaying marriage, pregnancy, and having
children.
Senegal
Senegal has a literacy rate of 49.7%, defined as anyone who is at least 15 and can read and write. However, many students do not attend school long enough to be
considered literate. The government did not begin actively attempting to
improve the literacy rate until 1971, when it gave the responsibility
to the Department for Vocational Training at the Secretariat for Youth
and Sports. This department, and those that followed, had no clear
policy on literacy until the Department of Literacy and Basic Education
was formed in 1986. The government of Senegal relies heavily on funding
from the World Bank to fund its school system.
Somalia
There is no reliable data on the nationwide literacy rate in Somalia. A 2013 FSNAU survey indicates considerable differences per region, with the autonomous northeastern Puntland region having the highest registered literacy rate at 72%.
Sierra Leone
The Sierra Leone government defines literacy as anyone over the age of 15 who can read and write in English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic. Official statistics put the literacy rate at 43.3%. Sierra Leone was the second country to use the Literacy, Conflict
Resolution and Peacebuilding project. However, fighting near the city
where the project was centered caused a delay until an arms amnesty was
in place.
According to UNESCO, Afghanistan
has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. As of 2020, over 10
million youth and adults are illiterate. However, since 2016, the
country has made significant progress. While in 2016–2017 the literacy
rate was 34.8%, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics recently confirmed
that it has increased to 43%. "That is a remarkable 8 percent increase."
In addition, the literacy rate for youths aged 15–24 has substantially
increased and now stands at 65%.
However, there are still a large number of people who lack
literacy and opportunities to access continuing education. There is also
a substantial gender gap: the literacy rate for men stands at 55%,
while for women it is only 29.8%. The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong
Learning has provided technical support to the government of Afghanistan
since 2012, with the aim of improving the literacy skills of an
estimated 1.2 million people.
To improve the literacy rate, the US military taught Afghan Army
recruits how to read before teaching them how to fire a weapon. In 2009,
US commanders estimated that as many as 65% of recruits may be
illiterate.
While literacy in Chinese can be assessed by reading comprehension
tests, just as in other languages, historically, literacy has often been
judged by the number of Chinese characters introduced during the
speaker's schooling, with a few thousand considered the minimum for
practical literacy.
The CIA World Factbook says 96.7% of Chinese people are literate. In classical Chinese civilization, access to literacy for all classes originated with Confucianism, where previously literacy was generally limited to the aristocracy, merchants, and priests.
Literacy is defined by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India
as the ability of "a person aged 7 years and above to both write and
read with understanding in any language." According to the 2011 census, the literacy rate stood at 74%.
Iran
In 2023, the Iranian government stopped a literacy campaign that had
begun in 1930, despite 9 million people still being reported as
illiterate. The government reported that elementary school education cost 5–40
million toman (approximately US$12–95 or €11–89) per child per year, and 27% of children did not sign up for first grade because of the cost.
Laos
Three Laotian girls sit outside their school reading.
Obstacles to literacy vary by country and culture, as writing
systems, quality of education, availability of written material,
competition from other sources (television, video games, cell phones,
and family obligations), and culture all influence literacy levels. In
Laos, which has a phonetic alphabet, reading is relatively easy to learn—especially compared to English, where spelling and pronunciation rules are filled with exceptions, and Chinese,
with thousands of symbols to be memorized. However, a lack of books and
other written materials has hindered functional literacy in Laos. Many children and adults read so haltingly that the skill is hardly beneficial.
A literacy project in Laos addresses this by using what it calls "books that make literacy fun!" The project, Big Brother Mouse,
publishes colorful, easy-to-read books, then delivers them during book
parties at rural schools. Some of the books are modeled on successful
Western books by authors such as Dr. Seuss;
the most popular, however, are traditional Laotian fairy tales. Two
popular collections of folktales were written by Siphone Vouthisakdee,
who comes from a village where only five children finished primary
school.
Big Brother Mouse has also created village reading rooms and
published books for adult readers about subjects such as Buddhism,
health, and baby care.
Illiteracy in Pakistan has fallen
over two decades, thanks to the government and people of Pakistan for
their efforts working toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Today, 70 percent of Pakistani youths can read and write. In 20 years, illiterate population has been reduced significantly.
She also emphasized the need to do more to improve literacy in the country, saying:
The proportion of population in
Pakistan lacking basic reading and writing is too high. This is a
serious obstacle for individual fulfillment, to the development of
societies, and to mutual understanding between peoples.
Referring to the recent national survey carried out by the Ministry
of Education, Trainings and Standards in Higher Education with the
support of UNESCO, UNICEF,
and provincial and area departments of education, Nagata pointed out
that in Pakistan, although 70% of children finish primary school, a
gender gap still exists as 68% of girls finish compared to 71% of boys.
Referring specifically to Punjab,
she said that while the primary school completion rate is higher at
76%, there is a gender gap of 8 percentage points: 72% of girls compared
to 80% for boys. She also noted that the average cost per primary
school student (ages five–nine) was higher in Punjab at Rs 6,998
(approximately US$24 or €22.5).
In Balochistan,
although almost the same amount (Rs 6,985) is spent per child as in
Punjab, the primary school completion rate is only 53%: 54% for girls
and 52% for boys.
The Literate Pakistan Foundation, a non-profit organization
established in 2003, is a case study bringing to light solutions for
improving literacy rates in Pakistan. Their data shows that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
the primary school completion rate is 67%, which is lower than the
national average of 70%. Furthermore, a gender gap exists, with only 65%
of girls completing primary school compared to 68% of boys. In Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, the education expenditure per student at the primary school
level (age five–nine) is Rs 8,638 ($30, €28).
In Sindh,
the primary school completion rate is 63%, with a gender gap of 67% of
girls completing primary school compared to 60% of boys. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the education expenditure per student at the
primary school level (age five–nine) is Rs 5,019 ($17.50, €16.50).
Nagata, referencing the report, said that the most common reason
for children ages 10–18 (both boys and girls) leaving school is "the
child not willing to go to school", which may be related to quality
and learning outcome. She added that the second-highest reason for
girls living in rural communities dropping out is that their "parents
did not allow" them to continue school, which might be related to
prejudice and cultural norms surrounding girls.
About 91.6% of Filipinos ages 10–64 were functionally literate in
2019, according to the results of the 2019 Functional Literacy,
Education and Mass Media Survey; this translates to around 73.0 million
out of the population of 79.7 million. Starting in 300 BCE, early Filipinos devised and used their own writing system derived from the Brahmic family of scripts of ancient India. Baybayin
became the most widespread of these derived scripts by the 11th
century. Early chroniclers, who came during the first Spanish
expeditions to the islands, noted the proficiency of some of the
natives, especially the chieftain and local kings, in Sanskrit, Old Javanese, Old Malay, and several other languages.
During the Spanish colonization of the islands, reading materials
were destroyed far less than during the Spanish colonization of the
Americas. Education and literacy were introduced solely to the Peninsulares
and remained a privilege until the arrival of Americans, who introduced
a public school system to the country, and English became the lingua franca in the Philippines. During the brief Japanese occupation of the Philippines, the Japanese were able to teach their language and teach the children their written language.
With a literacy rate of 92.5%, Sri Lanka has one of the most literate populations among developing nations. Its youth literacy rate stands at 98%, its computer literacy rate at 35%, and its primary school enrollment rate at over 99%. An education system that dictates nine years of compulsory schooling for every child is in place. The free education system, established in 1945, is a result of the initiative of C. W. W. Kannangara and A. Ratnayake. Sri Lanka is one of the few countries in the world that provides
universal free education from the primary to the tertiary stage.
Oceania
Australia
A 2016–2017 survey of adult skills conducted by the Australian Bureau
of Statistics on behalf of the OECD found that one in five adults of
working age has low literacy skills, numeracy skills, or both. The Australian Early Development Census National Report for 2021 reported that 82.6% of five-year-olds are on track to develop good language and cognitive skills. In 2012–2013, Australia had 1515 public library service points,
lending almost 174 million items to 10 million members at an average per
capita cost of just under AU$45. By 2020–2021, this had increased to a total of 1690 library outlets with just over 9 million registered or active members.
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