Word: reads
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
From this continuum one can separate out three groups--a basic literacy group who either cannot read at all or can read only the simplest signs and labels (about 1 million); a group who are often classified as functionally literate; they can read simple materials--but only at an elementary school level (about 25 million); and a group who are able to read elementary level materials, but who cannot cope with the more complex materials of an information high-tech society (about 50 million...
Thus, the largest numbers of adults can read something; the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported this year that 98 percent of young adults (21 to 25) could "read and understand the written or printed word at some level." But very few of these young adults could read at more complex levels. Only 37 percent could read and understand the main argument in a column by Tom Wicker from The New York Times...
There have been other thrusts in past years. But the current adult literacy thrust seems to stem from the recognition that, while a little bit of literacy is better than none, it is not good enough today. What is needed today is the ability to read highly complex materials and to use it to solve problems and to learn on one's own. This level of literacy cannot be taught by engaging in a few reading excercises. It requires higher levels of language development, higher levels of reasoning, and advanced reading and study strategies...
Perhaps, the best way to solve the adult literacy problem is by prevention--with better instruction and services for all children, and particularly for those that tend to lag behind. We need to provide help to the millions of children who have special problems in learning to read and who tend to remain behind in reading and related academic subjects during elementary and high school...
JEANNE S. CHALL is professor of Education, director of the Harvard Reading Laboratory and chairman of the Reading, Language and Learning Disabilities program at the Graduate School of Education. She is an educational psychologist and has written widely on development and the psychology of reading, including "Learning to Read: The Great Debate" and "Stages of Reading Development...