National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)

A nationally representative and continuing assessment of English language literary skills of American Adults

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Sample Hybrid Question

Below is a sample prose task and its corresponding hybrid stimulus material, which is both a narrative prose material and a list document material. The respondent must use text search skills to locate the answer—"33 lives"—with the aid of a bulleted list (which is an organizational device facilitator that draws the respondent’s attention to the answer) while not getting distracted by "6,500 lives," an inhibitor that has a similar numerical and lexical form to the correct answer.

Interviewer will read instructions to you. Look at the article "Facts about Fire." Circle how many people are killed by fire each day. Please let the interviewer know when you are finished.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). Available in the Sample Questions section of the NAAL website.

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