International assessment of low reading proficiency in the adult population

A question of components or lower rungs

Bibliographic Data

ID4199925
AuthorsAnke Grotlüschen (0000-0003-3072-1741, Universität Hamburg, corresponding author), Barbara Nienkemper (0000-0002-4870-2998), Caroline Duncker-Euringer (Akademie der Polizei Hamburg)
Year2020
Volume66
Issue2-3
Pages235-265
Publication date2020-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Review of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8566 • E-ISSN: 1573-0638
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s11159-020-09829-y
OpenAlexW3014695806
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited13

Among the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched in 2015, the fourth goal (SDG 4) is dedicated to education, and one of the ten targets within that goal specifically addresses adult literacy and numeracy skills. Efforts to reach this target involve monitoring, which in turn involves assessment. The most powerful instrument for assessing literacy proficiency is the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It has five hierarchically organised proficiency levels for literacy. A sixth category, labelled "below Level 1", lumps together low proficiencies at the bottom end of the proficiency continuum. To boost effective action in addressing SDG 4, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) recently launched the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning (GAML), which aims to support national assessment strategies and to develop internationally comparable indicators and methodological measurement tools. While PIAAC Levels 1-5 are already broadly suitable for international comparison, the "below Level 1" category has so far only been assessed by individual countries (e.g. Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany) using instruments developed nationally. Focusing on the reading aspect of literacy, the authors of this article investigate how these nationally developed low proficiency assessment instruments might be adjusted to facilitate international comparability

Alliance · Comparability · Economic growth · Economics · International comparisons · Literacy · Mathematics education · Numeracy · Pedagogy · Political science · Population · Reading (process · Sociology · Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development

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Open DOIOpen Access