Frequently Asked Questions
What is the International Adult Literacy Survey?
The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) is a large-scale, international comparative assessment designed to identify and measure a range of skills linked to the social and economic characteristics of individuals across (or within) nations. As our societies become more and more information-oriented, it is clear that adults will need a broad set of skills in order to participate effectively in the labor market, in political processes, and in their communities. They will need to be literate and numerate; they will need to be capable problem-solvers; and increasingly, they will need to be familiar with information and communications technologies.
IALS provides information on the skills and attitudes of adults aged 16-65 in a number of different areas, including:
- Prose Literacy: the knowledge and skills needed to understand and use information from texts including editorials, news stories, poems, and fiction.
- 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 graphics.
- Quantitative Literacy: the knowledge and skills required to apply arithmetic operations, either alone or sequentially, to numbers embedded in printed materials, such as balancing a checkbook, calculating a tip, completing an order form, or determining the amount of interest on a loan from an advertisement.
What can we learn from IALS?
Information from IALS is designed to address questions such as:
- What is the distribution of literacy skills among American adults—that is, what proportion of Americans perform at each literacy level? How does this distribution compare to other countries? Are there particular groups of adults at risk?
- What is the relationship between these literacy skills and the economic, social, and personal characteristics of individuals? For example, do different age or linguistic groups manifest different skill levels; do males and females perform differently; at what kinds of jobs do people at various literacy levels work; what kind of wages do they earn; how do they describe their physical and mental well-being?
- What is the relationship between these skills and the economic and social characteristics of nations? For example, which industries are growing in a given country? How do the skills of the adult labor force of that country match with those growth areas?
- How familiar are adults in the United States and other countries with information and communication technologies
How were IALS data collected?
IALS consists of two components:
- Background questionnaires designed to collect general participant information like demographic details and work history.
- Assessments of the skills of participants in Prose Literacy, Document Literacy, and Quantitative Literacy.
Once the questionnaire was completed, the interviewer presented a booklet containing six simple questions. If the respondent failed to complete at least two questions correctly, the interview was adjourned. Respondents who completed two or more questions correctly were then given a much larger variety of tasks. The assessment was not timed, and respondents were urged to attempt each question.
When were the IALS data collected?
IALS data were collected by the participating countries in successive cycles of data collection between 1994 and 1998, using nationally representative samples of the adult population ages 16-65. Data in the United States were collected between October and November 1994.
How did IALS measure literacy proficiency?
IALS measured literacy proficiency for each domain on a scale of 0 to 500 points. Literacy ability in each domain was expressed by a score, defined as the point at which a person has an 80 percent chance of successful performance from among the set of tasks of varying difficult included in the assessment. The five levels of literacy that correspond to measured ranges of scores achieved are:
- Level 1 indicates persons with very low skills, where the individual may, for example, be unable to determine the correct amount of medicine to give a child from information printed on the package.
- Level 2 respondents can deal only with material that is simple, clearly laid out, and in which the tasks involved are not too complex. It denotes a weak level of skill, but more than at level 1. It identifies people who can read, but test poorly. They may have developed coping skills to manage everyday literacy demands, but their low level of proficiency makes it difficult for them to face novel demands, such as learning new job skills.
- Level 3 is considered a suitable minimum for coping with the demands of everyday life and work in a complex, advanced society. It denotes roughly the skill level required for successful secondary school completion and college entry. Like higher levels, it requires the ability to integrate several sources of information and solve more complex problems.
- Levels 4 & 5 describe respondents who demonstrate command of higher-level information processing skills.