Here’s an excerpt from a fascinating post about “Plain Language in the Workplace”
Literacy and the reading habits are of major importance in communicating with your audience. A document may be “plain” for one set of readers and not for others. Writers often wrongly assume that their audience is of the same class of readers.They are often surprised to learn that very large numbers of readers cannot read what they have written.
The first literacy surveys in the U.S. done in 1935, showed that the average reader was an adult of limited reading ability. At that time, when the average reading level was 7.8, equivalent to readers in the eighth month of the seventh year in school. The reading levels have remained consistently the same over the years, showing slight improvement each year.
… and this…
Forty-three (43) percent of adults with low literacy skills live in poverty, 17% receive food stamps, and 70% have no job or part-time job. Over 60 % of front-line workers in the goods-producing sector have difficulty applying information from a text to a required task.
More than 20% of adults read at or below the fifth-grade level, far below the level needed to earn a living wage. Adults at Level 1 earned a median income of $240 per week, compared to $681 for those at Level 5. Seventy percent of prisoners are in the two lowest levels. The number of companies reporting shortages of skilled workers doubled between 1995 to 1998. Ninety percent of Fortune 1000 executives reported that low literacy is hurting productivity and profitability.
The studies show that low literacy is not primarily the problem of immigrants, the elderly, high-school dropouts, or people whose first language is not English. Low literacy is a problem that knows no age, education, economic boundaries, or national origins. Most people with low literacy skills were born in this country or have English as their first language.
It does no good to complain that “the schools are not doing their job.” Over 80% of the year 2000 workforce are already out of school. It is a problem that industry, schools, health providers, churches, libraries, and public agencies must address aggressively. In fact, in spite of continuing cuts in school budgets, reading scores have continued to rise, even in inner-city schools.
And…
The studies show that low literacy is not primarily the problem of immigrants, the elderly, high-school dropouts, or people whose first language is not English. Low literacy is a problem that knows no age, education, economic boundaries, or national origins. Most people with low literacy skills were born in this country or have English as their first language.
It does no good to complain that “the schools are not doing their job.” Over 80% of the year 2000 workforce are already out of school. It is a problem that industry, schools, health providers, churches, libraries, and public agencies must address aggressively. In fact, in spite of continuing cuts in school budgets, reading scores have continued to rise, even in inner-city schools.
To read the entire article, follow this link…
http://www.impact-information.com/impactinfo/literacy.htm
For more ideas and resources about literacy, check out the following:
- Google’s Literacy Project: http://www.google.com/literacy/
- State Literacy Resource Center:http://www.literacynet.org/slrc/slrchome.html
- Canadian National Literary Secretariat: http://www.nald.ca/nls.htm
- National Association for Family Literacy: http://www.famlit.org/
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William H. DuBay 15903 Vincent Rd. N.W. Poulsbo, WA 98370 Phone: 360 261 8955 Email: info@impact-information.com |
Mister Journalism: "Reading, Sharing, Discussing, Learning" 