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proportional to income level and inversely proportional to the risk of committing certain kinds of crime. In Russia, where more than 99% of the population is technically literate, only one-third of high school graduates can comprehend the content of scientific and literary texts, according to a 2015 study. The UK government's
Department for Education reported in 2006 that 47% of school children left school at age 16 without having achieved a basic level in functional mathematics, and 42% fail to achieve a basic level of functional English. Every year, 100,000 pupils leave school functionally illiterate in the UK. In the United States, according to
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literacy means that a person can look at a short piece of text to get a small piece of uncomplicated information, while a person who is below basic in quantitative literacy would be able to do simple addition. In the US, 14% of the adult population is at the "below basic" level for prose literacy; 12% are at the "below basic" level for document literacy, and 22% are at that level for quantitative literacy. Only 13% of the population is proficient in each of these three areas—able to compare viewpoints in two editorials; interpret a table about blood pressure, age, and physical activity; or compute and compare the cost per ounce of food items.
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among the lower stratum of young people nearing the end of their formal academic studies. This correspondence suggests that the capacity of schools to ensure students attain the functional literacy required to comprehend the basic texts and documents associated with competent citizenship contributes
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The
National Center for Education Statistics provides more detail. Literacy is broken down into three parameters: prose, document, and quantitative literacy. Each parameter has four levels: below basic, basic, intermediate, and proficient. For prose literacy, for example, a below basic level of
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skills that are inadequate "to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level". Those who read and write only in a language other than the predominant language of their environs may also be considered functionally illiterate. Functional illiteracy is
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A reading level that might be sufficient to make a farmer functionally literate in a rural area of a developing country might qualify as functional illiteracy in an urban area of a technologically advanced country. In developed countries, the level of functional literacy of an individual is
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A person is functionally illiterate who cannot engage in all those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning of his group and community and also for enabling him to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his own and the community’s development.
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A Literacy at Work study, published by the
Northeast Institute in 2001, found that business losses attributed to basic skill deficiencies run into billions of dollars a year due to low productivity, errors, and accidents attributed to functional illiteracy. The
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About 70% of adults in the U.S. prison system read at or below the fourth-grade level, according to the 2003 National Adult
Literacy Survey, noting that a "link between academic failure and delinquency, violence and crime is welded to reading
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magazine, an estimated 15 million functionally illiterate adults held jobs at the beginning of the 21st century. According to the
National Center for Educational Statistics in the United States:
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The characteristics of functional illiteracy vary from one culture to another, as some cultures require more advanced reading and writing skills than do others. In languages with
660:, functional illiteracy might be defined simply as reading too slowly for practical use, an inability to effectively use dictionaries and written manuals, and other factors.
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companies provide some level of remedial training for their workers. As of 2003, 30 million (14% of adults) were unable to perform simple and everyday literacy activities.
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research has demonstrated that countries with lower levels of functional illiteracy among their adult populations tend to be those with the highest levels of
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843:— Civic Literacy: How Informed Citizens Make Democracy Work Henry Milner, Umeå University and Université Laval, accessed May 2006
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A person is illiterate who cannot with understanding both read and write a short simple statement on his everyday life.
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in the strict sense, meaning the inability to read or write complete, correctly spelled sentences in any language.
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1000:"National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) – Data Files from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy"
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Illiteracy, as well as functional illiteracy, were defined on the 20th session of UNESCO in 1978 as follows:
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Shaking Up the
Schoolhouse: How to Support and Sustain Educational Innovation, Ch. 1, Introduction
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Reading and writing skills that are inadequate to manage daily living and employment tasks
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978:"Early elementary reading skills can impact future success. How to help your child"
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Deepening
Functional Adult Literacy for Social-economic transformation in Uganda
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1021:"National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) – Demographics – Overall"
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1042:"Records of the 20th General Conference of UNESCO: Resolutions"
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43% of adults at the lowest level of literacy lived below the
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854:"The Relationship Between Incarceration and Low Literacy"
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85% of US juvenile inmates are functionally illiterate
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948:"The Health Literacy of America's Adults"
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669:to a society's level of civic literacy.
197:Directed listening and thinking activity
1208:National Council of Teachers of English
823:. Makerere University Library: SCECSAL.
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955:United States Department of Education
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789:Schlechty, Phillip C. (2004-04-27).
563:adding citations to reliable sources
322:Reading differences and disabilities
883:. Nauka i Zhizn (Science and Life).
860:. Literacy Mid-South. 16 March 2016
1198:International Literacy Association
1145:List of countries by literacy rate
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703:American Council of Life Insurers
881:"Illiteracy — why? (In Russian)"
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120:The active view of reading model
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550:needs additional citations for
1375:Occupational Safety and Health
976:Pate, Natalie (29 June 2022).
93:Scientific theories and models
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920:Kirsty Scott (10 July 2007).
756:Literacy in the United States
819:Haumba, Eric Nelson (2014).
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1203:International Literacy Day
924:. Education.guardian.co.uk
879:Yasukova, Ludmila (2015).
115:Scarborough's Reading Rope
980:. Salem Statesman Journal
705:reported that 75% of the
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232:Sustained silent reading
895:"Crib Sheet: Education"
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366:Alphabetic principle
299:Automatic assessment
1518:Composition studies
1234:Ruth Johnson Colvin
1099:Adolescent literacy
1047:. 1978. p. 18.
922:"Sounds incredible"
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666:scientific literacy
386:History of printing
222:Reciprocal teaching
207:Independent reading
174:Reading instruction
133:Cognitive processes
80:Vocabulary learning
18:Functional literacy
901:. 27 February 2007
839:2006-06-29 at the
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1355:Geo-literacy
1280:Agricultural
1259:Brian Street
1239:Paulo Freire
1191:Institutions
1166:New Zealand
1113:
1036:
1025:. Retrieved
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1004:. Retrieved
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982:. Retrieved
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926:. Retrieved
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905:22 September
903:. Retrieved
899:The Guardian
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862:. Retrieved
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690:poverty line
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662:Sociological
655:
640:consists of
637:
636:
621:
612:
602:
595:
588:
581:
569:
557:Please help
552:verification
549:
472:
267:Slow reading
255:Reading rate
187:Basal reader
1467:Statistical
1382:Information
1268:Other types
961:23 February
707:Fortune 500
478:Great books
401:Orthography
291:Readability
1583:Categories
1457:Scientific
1330:Ecological
1229:Marie Clay
1027:2014-06-10
1006:2014-06-10
928:2014-06-10
777:References
651:illiteracy
585:newspapers
493:Children's
488:Literature
416:Vocabulary
411:Sight word
334:Hyperlexia
304:Legibility
1589:Knowledge
1503:Aliteracy
1452:Religious
1350:Financial
1340:Emotional
1335:Electracy
1138:Locations
984:11 August
736:Aliteracy
682:failure."
1604:Literacy
1528:Dyslexia
1437:Physical
1417:Numeracy
1325:Diaspora
1310:Cultural
1305:Critical
1295:Computer
1092:Learning
1085:Literacy
837:Archived
751:Literacy
730:See also
675:Business
445:Literacy
396:Morpheme
391:Language
381:Grapheme
358:Language
329:Dyslexia
35:a series
33:Part of
1563:Writing
1558:Reading
1543:Orality
1496:Related
1412:Musical
1320:Digital
1285:Braille
1177:Romania
1170:Tokelau
1119:Phonics
864:24 July
766:Reading
646:writing
642:reading
599:scholar
426:Writing
406:Phoneme
371:Braille
262:Fluency
217:Phonics
43:Reading
1482:Visual
1462:Social
1447:Racial
1422:Object
1365:Health
1290:Carbon
1222:People
1150:Canada
957:. 2006
802:
601:
594:
587:
580:
572:
1432:Power
1427:Oracy
1402:Media
1397:Legal
1360:Graph
1345:Faith
1160:Bihar
1155:India
1045:(PDF)
951:(PDF)
796:(PDF)
606:JSTOR
592:books
1315:Data
986:2022
963:2010
907:2019
866:2022
800:ISBN
644:and
578:news
1487:Web
561:by
1585::
1275:AI
953:.
937:^
897:.
856:.
37:on
1077:e
1070:t
1063:v
1030:.
1009:.
988:.
965:.
931:.
909:.
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808:.
628:)
622:(
617:)
613:(
603:·
596:·
589:·
582:·
555:.
524:e
517:t
510:v
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