ScholarlyCommons

Title

Who's a Literate? Assessment Issues in a Global Perspective

Author(s)

Daniel A. Wagner, University of PennsylvaniaFollow

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of this Version

3-1990

Publication Source

Psychology and Developing Societies

Volume

2

Issue

1

Start Page

5

Last Page

16

DOI

10.1177/097133369000200102

Abstract

Demographic and economic changes around the world and the linkage between literacy and development have made literacy a critical issue especially in the developing countries. But the uncertainty about the nature and extent of literacy has necessitated taking a new look at literacy assessment. Policy-makers have been hampered not only by too little data, but also by a failure to capture varying types and levels of literacy in each society. Dichotomies like "literate—illiterate" are inappropriate for conceptualising the problem and limit the potential for more effective decision-making. The paper analyses the problems of determining reliable and valid criteria for literacy. The way in which the problem of "who's a literate?" is resolved has serious policy implications.

Copyright/Permission Statement

Wagner, D.A., Who's a Literate? Assessment Issues in a Global Perspective, Psychology and Developing Societies 2, no. 1: pp. 5-16. Copyright © 1990 Department of Psychology, University of Allahabad. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.

This is a pre-publication version. The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/097133369000200102

Recommended Citation

Wagner, Daniel A., "Who's a Literate? Assessment Issues in a Global Perspective" (1990). Journal Articles (Literacy.org). 32.
https://repository.upenn.edu/literacyorg_articles/32