Defining and measuring literacy: facing the reality
Date
2011-08Publisher
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.Author
Ahmed, ManzoorMetadata
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Ahmed, M. (2011). Defining and measuring literacy: Facing the reality. International Review of Education, 57(1), 179-195. doi:10.1007/s11159-011-9188-xAbstract
Increasing recognition of a broadened concept of literacy challenges policy-makers and practitioners to re-define literacy operationally, develop and apply appropriate methods of assessing literacy and consider and act upon the consequent policy implications. This task is given a new urgency by the call of the Belém Framework for Action to "recognise literacy as a continuum" in the framework of lifelong learning; and to develop "appropriate assessment methods and instruments" in surveys and collection of data. This paper reviews the evolution of the concept of literacy and the emerging new consensus about it. It examines the initial experience of the Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP) of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics as a methodology in assessing literacy and the potential of "simpler" alternatives, taking the Education Watch survey in Bangladesh as an example. The policy implications for literacy programmes of the broadened definition and a new assessment approach are noted.
Keywords
Bangladesh literacy assessment; Definition of literacy; LAMP; Literacy and lifelong learning; Measurement of literacy; Tested literacyDescription
This review was published in the International Review of Education [© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.] and the definite version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-011-9188-x The review website is at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11159-011-9188-xPublisher Link
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11159-011-9188-xDepartment
Institute of Education Development, BRAC UniversityCollections
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