Book Chapters (Literacy.org)
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of this Version
1997
Publication Source
Adult Basic Skills: Innovations in Measurement and Policy Analysis
Start Page
57
Last Page
71
ISBN
1572730420
Abstract
In an ever-shrinking world, there are increasing efforts among many countries to understand their economic, social, and educational policies in the relative light of other nations' successes and failures. Largely begun by anthropologiests in the colonial era, cross-cultural studies examined and compared human behavior ranging from childrearing practices and initiation rites to the training of craftsmen and sedentary agriculturists. Cross-cultural and cross-national comparisons of literacy ability are of rather more recent vintage; for example, studies of the cultural specificities of reading in different languages and scripts, the cognitive consequences of literacy in cultural groups, and skill performance across industrialized countries. This chapter considers the policy implications of these different approaches on such issues as the classification of literacy levels, use of mother-tongue and second languages in assessment, comparability of assessment across time and cultures, and the measurement of the social consequences of literacy attainment. Several important limitations and opportunities in the comparative use of literacy assessments are described, particularly with respect to the distinction between emic and etic perspectives on assessment.
Copyright/Permission Statement
Originally published in Adult Basic Skills: Innovations in Measurement and Policy Analysis © 1997 Hampton Press. Reproduced with permission.
Recommended Citation
Wagner, D.A. (1997). Adult Literacy in Assessment in Comparative Contexts. In Tuijnman, A.C., Kirsch, I.S., & Wagner, D.A. (Eds.), Adult Basic Skills: Innovations in Measurement and Policy Analysis, 57-71. Cresskill NJ: Hampton Press.
Included in
Adult and Continuing Education Commons, Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, International and Comparative Education Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons
Date Posted: 31 May 2018