Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL)

3. KEY CONCEPTS

Four skill domains are conceptualized in ALL: prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy, and problem solving. Two of them, namely, prose and document literacy, are defined and measured in the same manner as in IALS (see IALS chapter). Numeracy and problem solving are new domains.

Prose Literacy. The knowledge and skills needed to understand and use information from texts, including editorials, news stories, brochures, and instruction manuals.

Document Literacy. The knowledge and skills required to locate and use information contained in various formats, including job applications, payroll forms, transportation schedules, maps, tables, and charts.

Numeracy. The knowledge and skills required to effectively manage the mathematical demands of diverse situations.

Problem Solving. Problem solving involves goal–directed thinking and action in situations for which no routine solution procedure is available. The problem solver has a more or less well–defined goal, but does not immediately know how to reach it. The incongruence of goals and admissible operators constitutes a problem. The understanding of the problem situation and its step–by–step transformation based on planning and reasoning constitute the process of problem solving.

Literacy Scale. For each skill assessment domain, proficiency is denoted on a scale ranging from 0 to 500 points. Each score denotes a point at which a person has an 80 percent chance of successfully completing tasks that are associated with a similar level of difficulty. For the prose and document literacy domains as well as the numeracy domain, experts defined five broad levels of difficulty, each corresponding to a range of scores. For the problem–solving domain, experts defined four broad levels of difficulty.