A response to critiques of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS)

by Stan Jones,
Center for the Study of Adult
Literacy, Carleton University

Harvey Graff (1996) and Brian Street (1996) have both claimed in recent issues of this newsletter that the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) misrepresents what literacy is and makes false claims about the relationship between literacy and other characteristics of individuals and societies.

As the author of the data analysis chapters in the IALS international report, Literacy Economy and Society, and in the Canadian report, Reading the Future: A Portrait of Literacy in Canada, I take grave exception to these charges.

Graff and Street represent a view of literacy and a view of learning and social science research in general, that has had a brief prominence, but has failed to deliver insights which are helpful and which move policy forward. I want to thank Literacy Across the Curriculum for the opportunity to address their misunderstandings and to show why the views that motivate the concept of literacy in IALS provide a credible basis for policy and action.