ion, literacy is not generally considered just to apply to words, or language, anymore. Although the technical term for inability to use numbers is innumeracy, both of these are often considered as aspects of literacy problems. Benson Snyder (1990) indicated that literacy and numeracy are two different ways in which people are able to get knowledge of their world and perform the functions that enable them to operate effectively within the world. For the most part, people who are literate are also numerate, although often at different skill levels. Correspondingly, people who are illiterate most often also have innumeracy problems, too.
The Department of Education conducted a national survey to determine the general level of literacy in the country and in various regions of the country looking at problems both of literacy and numeracy. They started with a survey of 16,000 individuals chosen through a random sample to represent a cross section of the U.S. Population. To that was added a sample of 1,000 adults in each of 12 states and 1,100 inmates from 80 different prisons. In all, 26,000 adults were surveyed (Adult literacy in America, 1993).
The survey involved a one hour testing situation in which individuals had to complete diverse tasks. Individuals were then given proficiency scores for levels of prose, document, and quantitative literacy. Results indicated that half of the total population had significant literacy problems. Approximately 21 23 percent of the sample demonstrated literacy skills at the very lowest levels (Level 1), with some at this level being almost completely incapable of performing the given tasks. An additional 25 28 percent scored at the next higher level (Level 2), which still left them with significant deficits and incapacities in completing ordinary literacy tasks (Adult literacy in America, 1993).
On the other hand, and somewhat surprisingly, approximately 66 75 percent of the individ...