assessing adult literacy the aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools
DESCRIPTION
Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools. "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.". Presentation. Research questions Tools and methods Why screen? Why not? What to expect from screening?. Research questions. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Assessing adult literacy
The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools
![Page 2: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."
![Page 3: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
1. Research questions
2. Tools and methods
3. Why screen? Why not?
4. What to expect from screening?
Presentation
![Page 4: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Screening tools
What is the aim, use and benefits of screening tools in the process of identifying low literate adults?
Standardized screening tools
Practical usability
Broad and standardized screening instrument desirable?
Research questions
![Page 5: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Policy on literacy
Flemish government
Increase of literacy in the Flemish population
Policy documents• Strategic plan on “Increasing literacy”• Operational plan on “Increasing literacy”
Objective: phased and systematic screening of literacy among adults
![Page 6: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Tools and methodsThree qualitative research methods
A literature survey of literacy skills and the screening of those skills
A document analysis (qualitative content analysis) of 31 existing screening devices
Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 33 key figures from Flanders and The Netherlands
• Low literate individuals and representatives• Screening professionals• Policymakers• Academic experts• Professionals working in secondary
education
![Page 7: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
What is screening?
Literacy screening implies …
• … based on behaviour or performance which may or may not be induced
• … the literacy skills of an individual or group
• … are assessed and evaluated • … using a benchmark or norm• (in a short protocol)
![Page 8: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Screening: how?
Five types of screening instruments
Test – measuring an induced literacy performance using a device developed beforehand (which may or may not be standardized)
Proxy measurement - mapping out factors that show high correlation with low literacy
Self-assessment – making an estimate of one’s own literacy performance level on the basis of structured questions
Interview / discussion – oral questioning of the extent of literacy on the basis of a questionnaire
Observation – consciously observing behaviour with a view to describing and estimating literacy skills
![Page 9: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Screening: why (not)?
To strengthen adult literacy, the first step is the indentification of low-literacy (on an individual level).
Still… not al social domains (civil society organisations, health care, work place organisations, …) seem equally open to assessment by means of a standardized screening tool.
Reasons The interpretation and operationalisation of literacy itself
The adequate functionality norm for literacy (and its effects)
The very limited diagnostic information (and what to do with it?)
![Page 10: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Multi-literacies
Multiple viewpoints
Level of literacy performance (“the degree of literacy” of an individual)
• = vertical dimension
The range of contexts and situations in which an individual can function using written language
• = … horizontal dimension
● Different user perspectives (micro, meso, macro)
● Different sorts of literacy, different sorts of text (prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy, digital literacy, …)
![Page 11: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Multi-literacies
![Page 12: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Multi-literacies
“Literacy as a cover term is so broad it must almost be defined for each occasion on which it is used.”
(Kintgen et al, 1988)
“(…) there are no clean cut logical or empirical criteria that can help settle disputes about what functional
literacy is or is not. These facts should not be taken as a sign of inadequacy of the definition. The
definiendum itself is a fuzzy reality and it should not be presented as if it were not.”
(De Glopper, 1992)
![Page 13: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Multi-literacies
Consequences for screening
It seems impossible to screen all aspects of literacy…
• together• to the same extent• in the timeframe of a quick screening
protocol
Content analysis of existing screening devices: no single instrument focuses on literacy as a whole… they test separate skills (writing, listening, …) or one sort of literacy (often prose and document literacy)
![Page 14: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
The cut-off point (1)The cut-off / norm?
When is a person or group functionally literate? Where is the boundary between having and not having
adequate literacy skills (the ‘at risk’ line)
Should we use one?
From a theoretical point of view: Yes – how can we evaluate literacy skills when there
is no norm? It is necessary to identify the ‘at risk’ group opposed to a ‘not at risk’ group
But no – it can never do justice to the complexity of literacy
One or more? One - for the totality of the population More than one – for each subgroup or population
category
![Page 15: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
The cut-off point (2)The cut-off / norm?
Who should define or specify the cut-off criteria?
Intense societal or public debate International comparison … or the screened individual?
Practical consequences
Too high – a large population “at risk”… targeted policy is impossible… over-problematisation / people talked into believing they have a problem
Too low… a wrongful acceptance of a lack of minimum skills
! Screened individual has to “accept” the cut-off point…
![Page 16: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Screening: informationWhat information to expect from screening?
Realism has to rule Only a cursory and generalised portrait of performance…
(illusory effect) Offers no evidence or knowledge of the interplay between
literacy skills and experiences, no diagnostic information
But… … this makes explicit what otherwise would stay unnoticed
or intuitive
Important For most interviewees, screening is just a first step that
should not take place without a possible… Diagnosis Follow-up Training
![Page 17: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Screening: expectations
Because research data warn for unrealistic expectations…
Any (new) screening instrument should
Critical success factors … exhibit several essential features
= demonstrate adequate levels of validity, reliability= it should be neutral, fair, efficient
… should be guided by the particularities of the target group A well-defined target group is necessary A group with a uniform needs profile A group that can be reached for screening (for
instance: schools, providers of vocational training courses, …)
![Page 18: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
The use of a screening tool
Perhaps the most important element: not the screening tool itself but the way it is used…
screening should be
Be part of a formative process
Screening results should motivate the screened individual to embark on an educational process
Start from the needs of the person
Aim: strengthen adult literacy
… Not simply counting heads or labelling people ‘at risk’
![Page 19: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Assessing adult literacy
The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools
Queestions, comments, feedbag, …feedback
![Page 20: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Download the research report (in Dutch)
www.hiva.be
www.cteno.be
![Page 21: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
![Page 22: Assessing adult literacy The aim, use and benefits of standardized screening tools](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022070417/56815530550346895dc30b54/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Document analysis
Quickscan Intaketoets alfabetisering NT2
NT2 toets online
Speuren naar cijfers en letters ItemDito Nivor-toetsen lezen en schrijven
Domino 2 Diss NT2 profieltoets
Domino 3 Tool Staatsexamen NT2
Domino 4 NT2 Profieltoets alfabetisering
Centraal examen
Tibo - toets instroom beroepsopleiding
Naturalisatietoets Spel-direct
Voorbeeldtoetstaken NT2 – 1.2 Taal- en rekentoets voor reïntegratie
Staal. Schriftelijke taalvaardigheid…
Voorbeeldtoetstaken
NT 2 – 1.1
Taal en rekenen Instaptoets 1.2-2.1
Digibo 3.0 Voortgangstoetsen Havo en vwo
Intaketoets NT2 Digitale schrijftoetsen VMBO