What does low proficiency in literacy really mean? Adult Skills in Focus

What doeslow proficiencyin literacyreally mean?

In designing policies and programmes targeting populations with poor literacy skills, it is important to take into account differences in the level of these skills within and among these populations. For example, native speakers of the mainstream language may require different language-development training than non-native speakers; and most adults who have poor literacy skills have more trouble comprehending what they read than recognising individual words. Also, low proficiency populations across countries differ in the level of their basic reading skills and will thus require varying degree of assistance in the basic literacy training. Countries can use the evidence gathered through the Survey of Adult Skills to finetune their assistance to the least proficient adults.

PISA results show that reading to children when they are very young is strongly related to how well those children read and how much they enjoy reading later on. In short, many types of parental involvement that are associated with better literacy skills require relatively little time and no specialised knowledge. -