Functional illiteracy - wikipedia Functional illiteracy This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia 's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can. ( May 2010 ) This article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. ( December 2012 ) Part of a series on Reading Language Language Writing Writing system Orthography Braille Types of Reading Slow reading Speed reading Subvocalization Learning to Read Learning to read Comprehension Spelling Vocabulary Reading disability Dyslexia Reading for special needs Reading Instruction Alphabetic principle Phonics Whole language Literacy Literacy Functional illiteracy Family literacy English orthography Lists Languages by writing system Management of dyslexia Functional illiteracy is reading and writing skills that are inadequate `` to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level ''. Functional illiteracy is contrasted with illiteracy in the strict sense, meaning the inability to read or write simple sentences in any language. Foreigners who can not read and write in the native language where they live may also be considered functionally illiterate. Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Links with poverty and crime 3 Prevalence 4 Research findings 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Characteristics This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( September 2016 ) Functional illiteracy is imprecisely defined, with different criteria from nation to nation, and study to study. However, a useful distinction can be made between pure illiteracy and functional illiteracy. Purely illiterate persons can not read or write in any capacity, for all practical purposes. In contrast, functionally illiterate persons can read and possibly write simple sentences with a limited vocabulary, but can not read or write well enough to deal with the everyday requirements of life in their own society. For example, an illiterate person may not understand the written words of cat or dog, may not recognize the letters of the alphabet, and may be unable to write their own name. In contrast, a functionally illiterate person may well understand these words and more, but might be incapable of reading and comprehending job advertisements, past - due notices, newspaper articles, banking paperwork, complex signs and posters, and so on. The characteristics of functional illiteracy vary from one culture to another, as some cultures require better reading and writing skills than others. A reading level that might be sufficient to make a farmer functionally literate in a rural area of a developing country might qualify as functional illiteracy in an urban area of a technologically advanced country. In languages with regular spelling, functional illiteracy is usually defined simply as reading too slow for practical use, inability to effectively use dictionaries and written manuals, etc. Links with poverty and crime In developed countries, the level of functional literacy of an individual is proportional to income level and inversely proportional to the risk of committing crime. For example, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics in the United States : Over 60 % of adults in the US prison system read at or below the fourth grade level 85 % of US juvenile inmates are functionally illiterate 43 % of adults at the lowest level of literacy lived below the poverty line, as opposed to 4 % of those with the highest levels of literacy. According to begintoread.com : Two - thirds of students who can not read proficiently by the fourth grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Three out of four individuals who receive food stamps read on the two lowest levels of literacy. 16 - to - 19 - year - old girls at the poverty line and below with below - average reading skills are 6 times more likely to have out - of - wedlock children than their more literate counterparts. Prevalence In the United States, according to Business magazine, an estimated 15 million functionally illiterate adults held jobs at the beginning of the 21st century. The American Council of Life Insurers reported that 75 % of the Fortune 500 companies provide some level of remedial training for their workers. All over the U.S.A. 30 million ( 14 % of adults ) are unable to perform simple and everyday literacy activities. The National Center for Education Statistics provides more detail. Literacy is broken down into three parameters : prose, document, and quantitative literacy. Each parameter has four levels : below basic, basic, intermediate, and proficient. For prose literacy, for example, a below basic level of literacy means that a person can look at a short piece of text to get a small piece of uncomplicated information, while a person who is below basic in quantitative literacy would be able to do simple addition. In the US, 14 % of the adult population is at the `` below basic '' level for prose literacy ; 12 % are at the `` below basic '' level for document literacy ; and 22 % are at that level for quantitative literacy. Only 13 % of the population is proficient in these three areas -- able to compare viewpoints in two editorials ; interpret a table about blood pressure, age, and physical activity ; or compute and compare the cost per ounce of food items. The UK government 's Department for Education reported in 2006 that 47 % of school children left school at age 16 without having achieved a basic level in functional mathematics, and 42 % fail to achieve a basic level of functional English. Every year, 100,000 pupils leave school functionally illiterate in the UK. Nation Functionally illiterate people ( % at age 16 -- 65 ) 1994 -- 2003 Italy 47.0 Mexico 43.2 Ireland 22.6 United Kingdom 21.8 United States 20.0 Flanders ( Belgium ) 18.4 New Zealand 18.4 Australia 17.0 Switzerland 15.9 Canada 14.6 Germany 14.4 Netherlands 10.5 Finland 10.4 Denmark 9.6 Norway 7.9 Sweden 7.5 Research findings A Literacy at Work study, published by the Northeast Institute in 2001, found that business losses attributed to basic skill deficiencies run into billions of dollars a year due to low productivity, errors, and accidents attributed to functional illiteracy. Sociological research has demonstrated that countries with lower levels of functional illiteracy among their adult populations tend to be those with the highest levels of scientific literacy among the lower stratum of young people nearing the end of their formal academic studies. This correspondence suggests that a contributing factor to a society 's level of civic literacy is the capacity of schools to ensure students attain the functional literacy required to comprehend the basic texts and documents associated with competent citizenship. See also Aliteracy Functional English Health literacy Literacy Postliterate society Scientific literacy References Jump up ^ Schlechty, Phillip C. `` Shaking Up the Schoolhouse : How to Support and Sustain Educational Innovation '' ( Pdf ). Catdir.loc.gov. Jump up ^ Giere, Ursula ( 1987 ). `` Functional Illiteracy and Literacy Provision in Developed Countries '' ( PDF ). Unesdoc.unesco.org. Jump up ^ `` The Health Literacy of America 's Adults '' ( PDF ). United States Department of Education. 2006. Retrieved 23 February 2010. Jump up ^ `` Literacy Statistics ''. BegintoRead.com. Retrieved 23 February 2010. Jump up ^ `` National Assessment of Adult Literacy ( NAAL ) - Demographics - Overall ''. Nces.ed.gov. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 10. Jump up ^ `` National Assessment of Adult Literacy ( NAAL ) - Data Files from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy ''. Nces.ed.gov. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 10. Jump up ^ Kirsty Scott. `` Sounds incredible ''. Education.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 10. Jump up ^ `` Human Development Report 2009 ''. undp.org. Retrieved 2014 - 08 - 28. Jump up ^ SASE - Society for the Advancement of Socio - Economics -- Civic Literacy : How Informed Citizens Make Democracy Work Henry Milner, Umeå University and Université Laval, accessed May 2006 External links Begin to Read QuickReads Literacy Teaching literacy Reading education in the US Phonics Whole language Dick and Jane National Council of Teachers of English No Child Left Behind Act Family literacy Adolescent literacy Defining literacy Functional illiteracy Critical literacy Literacy internationally International Literacy Association List of countries by literacy rate Literacy in India International Literacy Day List of Chinese administrative divisions by illiteracy rate Major contributors to literacy Frank Laubach Ruth Johnson Colvin Paulo Freire Griffith Jones Marie Clay James Paul Gee Related concepts Agricultural literacy Aliteracy Asemic writing Computer literacy Cultural literacy Data literacy Dyslexia Diaspora literacy Early literacy Ecological literacy Electracy Emergent literacy Emotional literacy Financial literacy Graph literacy Health literacy Information literacy Information and media literacy Literacy test Media consumption Media literacy Mental health literacy New literacies Numeracy Oracy Orality Oral literature Postliterate society Racial literacy Scientific literacy Statistical literacy Technological literacy Transliteracy Visual literacy Writing system Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Functional_illiteracy&oldid=797200158 '' Categories : Knowledge Reading ( process ) Sociolinguistics Literacy Hidden categories : Articles needing cleanup from May 2010 All pages needing cleanup Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from May 2010 Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from May 2010 Articles needing POV - check from December 2012 Articles needing additional references from September 2016 All articles needing additional references Talk Contents About Wikipedia Bân - lâm - gú Български Català Deutsch Español Euskara فارسی Français Galego Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Malagasy Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Ripoarisch Română Русский Sicilianu Simple English Suomi Svenska 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 25 August 2017, at 15 : 03. 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Question: an illiterate person can also be called as
Answer: Purely illiterate persons cannot read or write in any capacity