Literacy skills Definition
Example Creativity skills
The ability to write freely anything the learner wants to write
Numeracy A mastery of the basic
symbols and processes of arithmetic
Numbers Addition subtraction
Simple multiplication division Simple weights and measures
Money counting Telling time
Reading calendar
Source: Glossary of literacy terms in the LinguaLinks library
2.6 Performance levels of adult literacy
A set of valid and appropriate performance levels of adult literacy can provide a good means of understanding, interpreting, and reporting the result of literacy assessment
to the various audiences concerned about adult literacy. It also permits comparisons different assessment results in different time periods. The National Resource Council
NRC, 2005 describes in detail the processes and procedures of developing performance levels, and defines several terms related to the determination of performance levels as
follows: • Performance level: a range of scores that reflect similar levels of
knowledge, skills, and capabilities as measured on a test • Performance-level description: the description of the knowledge, skills,
and capabilities test takers need to demonstrate in order to be classified into a specific performance level
• Cut score: the score that separates one performance level from another performance level
• Standard setting: the procedures used to determine the cut scores. The NRC developed five performance levels for each of the three types of English
literacy for the 2003 NAAL results: non-literate, below basic literacy, basic literacy, intermediate literacy, and advanced literacy. A brief description of each level is as
follows NRC, 2005:6: • Non-literate: may recognize some letters, numbers, or common sight
words in everyday contexts. • Below Basic Literacy: may sometimes be able to locate and use simple
words, phrases, and numbers in everyday contexts and perform simple one-step arithmetic operations.
• Basic Literacy: is able to read simple words, phrases, and numbers in everyday contexts when the information is easily located and able to solve
one-step problems. • Intermediate Literacy: is able to read and use written materials to locate
information in denser, less commonplace texts, summarize information, draw simple inferences, and make use of quantitative information when
the arithmetic operation is not easily inferred. • Advanced Literacy: is able to read and use more complex written material
to integrate multiple pieces of information, perform analytical tasks, draw more sophisticated inferences, and make use of quantitative information
when more complex relationships are involved.
In his 1990 article, Wagner proposed four literacy levels for assessment: non-
literate, low literate, moderate literate, and high literate. Then, he revised them as none or non-readerwriter level, prerequisite level, basic level and advanced level, more
specifically based on a matrix of reading, wiring and numeracy skills in his 2004 paper. For the research of reading skills of the Machiguenga, an ethnolinguistic group of
the southern jungle of Peru, Davis 2004:124 adopted Barr and Johnson ‘s definition of
reading – reading is a relationship between comprehension, prior knowledge, and skill
with print. She devised three different test sets for three literacy levels, setting the standards for the Machiguenga readers as follows ibid.:127-129:
• Basic or functional level: Able to read material familiar in daily experience and language genre which, potentially, employs all of the
syllables of the language, while meeting at least the following minimum standard: 92 percent accuracy, a score of 2 for fluency on a scale of 1 to
5, a score of 3- in comprehension on a scale of 1 to 5, and a rate of
eighty syllables per minute. • Intermediate level: Able to read with comprehension material unrestricted
as to vocabulary and syllable patterning but moderately sophisticated in language genre and partially unknown in content, while meeting at least
the preset minimum standards listed above. • Advanced full skill: Able to read unrestricted texts of formal genre
which contain new information and abstract concepts, while meeting at least the preset minimum standards listed above.
In addition, she employed two other working definitions of non-semi-literate as
follows: • Nonliterate: A person who does not know how to read or write and has
had no literacy instruction of any kind. • Semiliterate: A person who has acquired some notions of reading but who,
on an easy story about everyday events, could not meet the preset minimum standards listed above.
Along with Davis ‘ study, the
Eritrea national reading survey
Ministry of Education of the State of Eritrea, 2005 also provides a valuable resource for setting
tentative standards for the Eastern Tamang readers since the situation of Nepal is much more similar to Eritrea than that of the developed western society. As far as I understand,
there exist no standards or criteria of literacy levels officially developed for adult learners in Nepal. Therefore, Davis
‘ and the Eritrea study as well as the SQC approach based on the BLCs assessment model see Table 8 would become great resources to refer to for
my attempt to set tentative standards or criteria for the Tamang and other minority peoples in Nepal. Depending on how many literacy levels can be set for the Eastern
Tamang adult learners, different sets of test item pool would be devised according to these levels.
2.7 Pilot testing the assessment instrument
